Roasted Garlic is an easy way to add great flavor to your savory dishes. A wonderful addition to soups and stews, roasting garlic mellows and sweetens the garlic's distinctive sharp taste and gives it a deep flavor and silky texture. Roasted Garlic can also be used in place of raw garlic in your favorite recipes.
The cloves slip out of their skins after roasting. Just mash them up and add to your soups, dressings. You will get roughly a tablespoon of mashed garlic from each whole bulb.
How to Select and Purchase Garlic
Purchase garlic at your local farmer's market or your favorite grocery store. Look for large bulbs that are firm and feel solid. If they are old and dehydrating, the paper will crumble when you squeeze it. Sprouting bulbs are an indication the garlic is past its prime. You can use it for cooking by cutting away the green sprouts, but it is not ideal for roasting.
What You Need
- Whole bulbs of fresh garlic (organic is preferred)
- Olive Oil
- Salt
How to Roast Garlic
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the top quarter off each bulb, exposing the garlic's flesh.
- Leaving the stem intact, pull the cloves apart slightly with your fingers so they are not so tight.
- Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt onto the garlic's exposed flesh.
- Loosely wrap each head of garlic in aluminum foil.
- Place the packets on a sheet pan.
- Check the garlic after 40 minutes. Open one packet and squeeze it to see if the center clove is tender. Seal it back up if more time is needed and roast another ten minutes until caramelized and deep golden brown.
- Let garlic cool, and then squeeze the pulp out of each clove.
- Mash the garlic with the back of a fork until pureed and pack into a small glass jar until ready to use.
Roasted Garlic will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can mash up the garlic up and freeze in a sealed container for up to one month.
What To Do with Roasted Garlic
- Roasted Garlic makes a great raw vegetable dip--straight up!
- You can add a few mashed cloves to ground beef before grilling.
- Slather on a cooked steak with a pat of butter.
- Mix it into your omelets and scrambled eggs.
- Make a compound butter with 2 tablespoons of roasted garlic per stick of butter.
- Combine with mayonnaise for garlic aioli.
- Use in place of raw garlic in your favorite vinaigrette.
If you like this recipe, try Roasted Garlic Cauliflower and Roasted Broccoli.
Roasted Garlic
Ingredients
- 4 heads garlic
- 4 teaspoons olive or avocado oil
- salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees with oven rack set in middle position of oven.
- Slice off one inch from the top of every bulb (the papery end) to expose the individual cloves of garlic. Pull the cloves apart a little so they are not so tight.
- Drizzle the exposed cloves with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and loosely wrap each bulb separately in aluminum foil. Place packs of garlic on a sheet pan or directly on the oven rack.
- Roast 50 minutes or until very soft, checking occasionally. Remove pan from the oven and let cool. When cool, squeeze each clove to remove the pulp.
- Refrigerate accumulated garlic in an airtight container or jar for 3-5 days.
