What to Serve with French Bread? 7 BEST Side Dishes

French bread rocks our socks off. Seriously, it’s like the universal hand-held comfort wand. Bold, right? Yet here we are, wondering what magical sides can live up to its glory.

Here’s the deal. We’ve all been there, at the table, bread in one hand, confusion in the other. “What next?” we muse. Our mission? To solve that very question.

We’ve dug deep into our own kitchens, memories full of hits and misses. Now, we’re ready to share the top picks. These aren’t just sides; they’re the partners in crime to your beloved loaf.

Ready to elevate your French bread game?

Why Consider Serving Side Dishes with French Bread?

Bread is a delicious and filling food, but it isn’t practical to consume it alone.

It’s food that you have to enjoy with other items.

Though tasty, you can’t experience the authentic flavor if you don’t eat any other item with bread.

Moreover, serving only French bread when you have guests will look odd.

But since it’s versatile, there are plenty of foods that you can serve alongside it.

In the following paragraphs, we’ll find out what you can have with French bread.

What to Serve with French Bread? 7 BEST Side Dishes

Let’s take a look at what you can have with French bread.

1 – French Onion Soup

Bread and soup make a pleasing combination.

So, why not begin the list with French onion soup? It’s a brothy soup of rich beef stock, caramelized onions, and chicken stock, topped off with melted cheese and toasted bread or croutons.

Making the soup is also easy as you require only a few ingredients and can make it in different ways.

You can use a Dutch oven, slow cooker, or a large soup pot for the dish.

Chefs say your soup will have a more profound flavor if you make it on the stove than in a slow cooker.

However, it will work fine with a slow cooker if you don’t have plenty of time or if you don’t have the right equipment.

2 – Scrambled Eggs with Cheese

It takes about five minutes to make scrambled eggs, but the finished product is one of the tastiest.

The dish is also compatible with French bread, so you can enjoy its flavors together.

You also don’t need many ingredients except eggs, cheese, and butter.

However, you can add salt, pepper, and herbs if you wish.

Eating eggs in moderate quantities can also be beneficial as they’re rich in nutrients.

They have vitamins, fatty acids, proteins, and minerals.

Since the dish is so simple, you can make plenty at once if you have many guests at your place.

3 – Creamy Mushroom Sauce

A good sauce can enhance your meal even more, so let’s add a creamy mushroom sauce to the list.

It’s usually served with steak, but it also tastes great with French bread, and it isn’t hard to make.

You can use any variety to make the sauce, but button or cremini mushroom are the top choices.

You also need unsalted butter, olive oil, minced garlic, shallots, kosher salt, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.

You also need beef, chicken or vegetable broth, lemon juice, lemon juice, thyme leaves, and Dijon mustard.

You can also use white wine, but if it’s not available, then it’s fine.

It takes just about five minutes to prep and twenty minutes to cook the sauce, and you can serve it hot with French bread.

4 – Strawberry Jam

Any jam is delicious with French bread, but since we can’t put them all on the list, we included strawberry as it’s the most widely eaten jam.

You can also find strawberry jam in most places and not have to search high and low.

What’s more, if you have access to fresh strawberries, you can make jam from scratch at home.

To make a simple but delicious jam, you need fresh strawberries or strawberry purée, granulated sugar, and lemon juice.

You can check out tutorials like how to make strawberry jam because it’s easy.

If you plan to serve the jam with bread during a party, make it in advance so that it’s well set when you serve it.

If you don’t have time to make it, you can buy readymade strawberry jam.

5 – Peanut Butter

Most French people don’t eat butter with bread, but there isn’t any law that says you shouldn’t.

Peanut butter can also be a fine accompaniment to French bread, especially during breakfast.

If you’re in a hurry and don’t have anything else to go with the bread, you can put peanut butter on it and enjoy it with coffee, tea, or milk.

Peanut butter is readily available on the market, so you can choose the best brands.

You can also serve it during parties but require large amounts.

In that case, it would be best to serve several other dishes along with the butter.

6 – Creamy Potato Salad

The humble spuds taste great with everything, including bread.

Hence, we decided to include a creamy potato salad on the list.

Potatoes can satisfy hunger, so the salad will pair nicely with French bread as you can satiate your cravings.

Potato salad comes in many forms, as every region has a specific recipe.

So, you have many to choose from.

However, creamy potato salad is easy to make, so you can go with it.

It’s vital to choose the proper spuds for the salads, too, so get fingerlings or new potatoes for the dish.

But in case you don’t have either, you can use the Yukon Gold variety also.

7 – Classic Chicken Soup

Soup and bread are like a match made in heaven.

So, we have added another variety of soups to the list.

Trust us; you won’t be disappointed when you see everyone wiping the remaining sauce from their bowl or plate with the bread.

Chicken soup is one of the most popular soups in the world.

It’s comfort food that satisfies your hunger without overwhelming your palate.

The combination is to die for when you eat it with French bread.

It’s also easy to make classic chicken soup, and you can cook massive amounts.

The main ingredients required for the dish are chicken broth, pieces of meat, or vegetables.

You can also add roux if you want a creamy version and herbs and spices.

Conclusion

Bread is compatible with almost anything, so you have numerous choices.

The seven dishes mentioned above are among the best to pair with French bread.

However, it also depends on individual choices as everyone likes different things.

Hence, you can also try other items like Almond bacon cheese crostini, Italian baked egg and sausage, and honey and cheese,.

Mozzarella mushrooms with garlic toast, cooked tuna with finely diced tomato, and, Wurstsalat are other items you can choose to serve.