How to Make Roasted Garlic - The Easy Way

Name: How to Make Roasted Garlic - The Easy Way
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 4-5 Whole Heads of Garlic; 2-3 TBS Olive Oil (or Avocado Oil); 1/4 TSP Salt

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You will be happy you know how to make your own Roasted Garlic. It's super simple and will add so much more flavor to your favorite dishes.

Cooked roasted garlic sitting in a white baking dish surrounded by garlic pieces, a bottle of olive oil and a small ramekin of salt ready to be used or stored for later.

When it comes to garlic most people are usually garlic lovers or garlic haters. That's because typical garlic is raw and raw garlic has a very strong, potent flavor profile which can turn some people off. That's why when someone tells me they don't like garlic I ask them if they know how to make roasted garlic.

Unlike raw garlic, roasted garlic isn't strong in, instead it changes to this mild, almost sweet flavor. The texture also changes from hard and crunchy to a creamy texture that you can squeeze out of the head and into whatever you want to add it to.

Why make roasted garlic?

We are all guilty of buying heads of garlic for one or two recipes and then forgetting about them sitting around the in basket on the kitchen counters. Well, even if you have some older heads sitting around, you can still turn them into delicious roasted garlic. Don't let them go to waste and grow mold; roast them instead.

It adds so much depth of flavor to your favorite recipes.
Is different than your typical strong garlic flavor.
Super easy to add in all kinds of recipes.
It's cheap to make!

What You Need

Making roasted garlic you only need three simple ingredients.

Raw Garlic - Heads of garlic are easily found at any grocery store, usually by the tomatoes. I will usually buy a few heads when I am making roasted garlic so that I can have it on hand for a while.
Olive Oil - You can also use avocado oil for this, but I prefer olive oil.
Salt - You don't need a whole lot, but a tiny pinch when the garlic is roasting brings out even more flavor.

Roasted garlic ingredients laid out with salt, olive oil and fresh raw garlic with the tops cut off.

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Tools Needed

Knife - to cut the top off the head of garlic.
Baking Sheet/ Dish - to place the garlic in the oven with.
Parchment Paper is not necessary, but I prefer to have the garlic cooked against it instead of directly on foil as it doesn't stick as much as it can on the foil alone.
Aluminum Foil - To wrap everything in and protect the garlic as it roasts in the oven.

How to Make

This process is super simple to do and it only takes a few steps.Cut - Prepare the garlic by cutting off the tip of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves inside.

Place - Put the exposed garlic into parchment and foil.
Drizzle - The tops of the cut garlic head lightly with olive or avocado oil.
Sprinkle - The salt on top of the garlic heads.
Wrap - The heads into balls with the parchment paper and foil around the heads of garlic.
Roast - Place the garlic into a 400-degree oven and let it roast.

A head of garlic is sitting on parchment paper over a piece of aluminum with it's top cut off, drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. All that's left to do is wrap it up and roast it.

Remove Garlic From Head

Once the head of garlic is roasted, you are probably wondering how to get it out now so you can use it. All you have to do is gently push on the head of garlic, and the cloves will slide out. Don't worry if some look soft and squish as they come out (more like a paste). This is normal; it means it was roasted longer than if it comes out whole. It's still delicious.

FAQS

Storing Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic will stay good in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.
If you want to extend its shelflife, you can cover it in olive oil, and it will stay for about two weeks.

You can also freeze roasted garlic and then thaw it as you are ready to use it.

DO NOT store roasted garlic at room temperature.

What if my garlic started to sprout?

Garlic that has sprouted or started to turn green inside is still perfectly safe to eat. The green areas are just more bitter than before they started to sprout. Roasting garlic that has started to turn green and sprout can help improve the flavor and help preserve it a little longer.

Using Roasted Garlic

Now that you have all this delicious roasted garlic what are you going to use it in?

The short answer, any recipe you use garlic in, you can more than likely use roasted garlic instead. Some of my favorite recipes to add this to are my Creamy Roasted Garlic Parmesan Pizza Sauce and my Three Cheese Alfredo Sauce.

There is no wrong way to use delicious homemade roasted garlic.