Check out my recipe for making roasted garlic the easy way!
If you ask me, there's nothing better than roasted garlic! It's so rich, creamy, and oh-so-delicious! You can smear it on bread, add it to recipes, make compound butter out of it...just eat it as a snack or appetizer! Yes! I love roasted garlic that sometimes I make it and just eat it all by itself!
Making roasted garlic is so easy to do, it's strange that I don't do it more often. Roasted garlic tastes much different than fresh garlic. While I would never think to eat a whole head of raw garlic, I don't think twice about eating a whole head of roasted garlic!
I like to keep it pretty simple when making roasted garlic because I just love the garlic flavor so much! But, you can add some fresh herbs and spices to the roasted garlic if you would like. Feel free to sprinkle on some salt or pepper. Go easy on the salt though because garlic tends to provide a lot of rich and salty flavor all on its own. You can also add flavor by adding thyme, rosemary, or even some red pepper flakes.
There are two ways to make roasted garlic. You can either cook the entire head of garlic with the cloves intact or cook the cloves after they have been separated and peeled.
The first one is the more traditional way where you cook the entire head of garlic with the cloves still intact. To make roasted garlic the traditional way, simply cut off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tops of the individual cloves of garlic. Place the whole heads of garlic into a roasting pan, foil packet, or muffin tin, drizzle with a couple of teaspoons of Olive oil, cover with a piece of aluminum foil, and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes.
The second, and easier...less messy, way is to peel all of the cloves of garlic before roasting them! It's a bit more time-consuming at the beginning because you have to peel the garlic (unless you can find it pre-peeled at your grocery store), but it's so much easier to eat after it's been roasted.
The main advantage of peeling the garlic before roasting it is easy of serving and storing it after it's been roasted. The traditional method requires you to squeeze all of the garlic out of the head. Not only is this messy, but it also wastes a lot of garlic. And...there's nothing worse than trying to serve a whole head of garlic to your dinner guests. Who squeezes it? And then what do you do with it? I don't love the idea of sharing partially squeezed garlic. You could make whole garlic bulbs for everyone...but that could be a lot of garlic!
Tips for making Roasted Garlic:
In general, garlic is good for you and does have some health benefits. Garlic has Vitamins B-1, B-6, and C. Amongst various other benefits, garlic helps to boost immunity, is an anti-inflammatory, is good for your arteries and blood pressure, helps improve your complexion, can fight fungus, and kill bacteria. For more information on the health benefits of eating garlic, check out this post.
The easy answer is because it tastes soooo good! While raw garlic has a very bitter and spicy taste to it, roasted garlic has a rich, buttery taste that goes with an endless number of things! It's so good that you can eat it all by itself, or you can smear it on bread, add it to pasta sauces, mix it into mashed potatoes, or use it to make compound butter!
Roasted garlic should be stored in the Olive oil that it was cooked in, in a sealed, airtight container, in the refrigerator. When stored properly, roasted garlic can last for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. You can also freeze roasted garlic. Do so by mashing the garlic into a paste and then put the mashed garlic into an ice cube tray. Freeze until hard and then remove from the icecube tray and place in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
No. Roasted garlic needs to be refrigerated or frozen.
Roasted garlic is so delicious that you could literally just eat the roasted garlic cloves. But, if you want to serve it with something, try crusty bread, adding it to pasta sauces, mixing it into mashed potatoes, using as a pizza topping, or making a compound butter with it. You really can't go wrong. Roasted garlic can go with just about anything!
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Ingredients for making Roasted Garlic:
Ingredient substitutions and tips for making Roasted Garlic:
The full ingredient list is found at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Garlic- Use fresh, whole cloves of garlic for this recipe. Do not use minced, chopped, or diced garlic as it will not provide the same results. Use regular white garlic that you find in the produce department at the grocery store. If you can find it, you can also use pre-peeled whole cloves of garlic. Some grocery stores sell bags of peeled garlic in the refrigerator section. You can use the pre-peeled garlic, and it will save a ton of time peeling it!
Olive Oil- I prefer to use Olive Oil. If you prefer, you can use another light flavored oil. You will taste the oil, so do not use something that has a strong flavor. Do not use butter instead of Olive Oil.
Steps for making Roasted Garlic-Peel the Garlic:
Steps for making Roasted Garlic-Prepare the garlic for the oven:
Directions for making Roasted Garlic:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 204 degrees Celcius.
2. Separate the cloves of garlic from the garlic stalk. Discard the stalk and all the extra paper that flakes off of the garlic.
3. Peel the garlic by smashing it on a cutting board with the back of a large knife or a pastry scraper.
4. Trim the hard papery end off of each clove of garlic with a knife. Don't trim too much off. You only want to cut off the part that looks dry and woody.
5. Remove all of the inner peel/paper from the garlic cloves. Sometimes, it will slide off easily when you are trimming the hard papery part off.
6. Put all of the trimmed and peeled garlic cloves in a small roasting pan and drizzle with Olive oil. Use a spoon to move the garlic cloves around in the pan and make sure that all cloves have been coated with the oil.
7. Cover the roasting pan with foil.
8. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 204 degrees Celcius for 45 minutes.
9. After 45 minutes, remove from the oven and serve with crusty bread, add to pasta, or use to make compound butter. Enjoy!
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Roasted Garlic
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- Oven
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 204 degrees Celcius.
- Separate the cloves of garlic from the garlic stalk. Discard the stalk and all the extra paper that flakes off of the garlic.
- Peel the garlic by smashing it on a cutting board with the back of a large knife or a pastry scraper.
- Trim the hard papery end off of each clove of garlic with a knife. Don't trim too much off. You only want to cut off the part that looks dry and woody.
- Remove all of the inner peel/paper from the garlic cloves. Sometimes, it will slide off easily when you are trimming the hard papery part off.
- Put all of the trimmed and peeled garlic cloves in a small roasting pan and drizzle with Olive oil. Use a spoon to move the garlic cloves around in the pan and make sure that all cloves have been coated with the oil.
- Cover the roasting pan with foil.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 204 degrees Celcius for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, remove from the oven and serve with crusty bread, add to pasta, or use to make compound butter. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.
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Lauren Cardona
Tasty Traveler #1
Hi, I’m Lauren but you can call me Tasty Traveler #1!
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