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Roasted garlic has incredible flavor that will enhance your food and make your taste buds and guests so happy. This post walks you through how to make roasted garlic, how to store roasted garlic (including freezing options), as well as 15 uses for your roasted garlic.
Why Roast Garlic Cloves?
Roasting garlic cloves is an extremely simple process, yet it yields an incredibly delicious result.
Fresh garlic is zesty, spicy, and strong. Sauteed garlic is mellowed a bit, and has more of the traditional garlic flavor. But roasting the garlic enhances the sweetness, tames the spice, and provides a really incredible flavor to use almost anywhere you'd use un-roasted garlic.
Tools & ingredients needed to make roasted garlic
You don't need much to make roasted garlic cloves. Here are the essentials.
- Garlic cloves
- Aluminum foil - this kind is made from recycled materials - BONUS!
- Olive oil - we use this kind.
- Salt - we've become hooked on this salt and love that the trace minerals are still intact.
How to Roast Garlic in the Oven
Sometimes in cooking, you have to go to great lengths to get incredible flavor. But that's not the case with roasted garlic. I'll walk you through it step by step to make it even simpler to roast whole garlic heads in the oven.
I like to roast whole heads of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil. By doing it this way, I can easily do a dozen heads of garlic at once OR just pop one or two heads in while I've already got the oven turned on.
- Preheat your oven to 400 (F).
- Slice the tops off the heads of garlic to expose a little bit of each clove.
- Put each head of garlic on a small sheet of aluminum foil, cut side up.
- Drizzle olive oil over the garlic cloves and add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Fold the foil up over the heads of garlic and pinch them closed at the top.
- Bake these foil balls in the oven for about 30 minutes. You'll know they're done cooking when the cloves are soft.
- To get the cloves out, squeeze the head of garlic like a tube of toothpaste. Flip it upside down, start squeezing from the base to the cut side.
With this method of roasting garlic you can stick a some in while your chicken is roasting, or roast a dozen heads of garlic at once.
How to Store Roasted Garlic & How Long Will Roasted Garlic Keep?
You've got two options when deciding how to store roasted garlic.
1. In the Fridge
- Whole heads: You can store whole heads of roasted garlic in an airtight bag for up to 4 days.
- Roasted garlic cloves: Another option for easier access when you need it is to squeeze out the roasted garlic (it'll be soft, remember?) and store it outside of the paper wrapping. Put it in a jar or container and cover it with olive oil to keep it
- Roasted garlic paste: My favorite way to store roasted garlic is squeezing out the cloves and mashing them with a fork into a paste (you can use a food processor or immersion blender if you'd rather). Put the paste into a jar, cover it with a thin layer of olive oil, and refrigerate for about a week.
2. In the Freezer
Can you freeze roasted garlic? Yes! If you want to freeze your roasted garlic, I highly recommend making roasted garlic paste (see above) and putting a scoop into an ice cube tray, then sticking it in the freezer.
The garlic will keep for months, and you can throw it into soup, sauces, or sauteed veggies for a boost of flavor whenever you need it.
How to Use Roasted Garlic - What do you eat roasted garlic with?
To use your roasted garlic, you'll first need to get the soft garlic cloves out of the paper wrapping.
The easiest way I've found to do this is to squeeze it out (like you would toothpaste). Let the cloves cool a bit before you try this or you'll burn your fingers. Start at the base and start squeezing towards the open top. The roasted garlic cloves will slide out the top, into the bowl.
15 ways to use oven roasted garlic
- Herb and garlic spread - Mix mayonnaise with herbs and roasted garlic, then use it as a dip for sweet potato fries, veggies, or spread it on a sandwich.
- Use it on bruschetta - Spread the roasted garlic on some toasted bread, followed by your topping of choice (tomato and basil is a classic). This is great for an appetizer, side, or snack. I highly recommend these slow roasted tomatoes.
- Roasted garlic pesto - Use it in pesto in place of fresh garlic or garlic powder. Chop up a handful of basil, a little olive oil, small handful of nuts (pine nuts, almonds, or walnuts will work), some parmesan, roasted garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Here's a delicious recipe for a basil walnut pesto.
- On A Baked Potato - Spread it on your next baked potato for a delicious boost of flavor.
- Hummus - Add your roasted garlic to this hummus recipe in place of the garlic powder for a big boost of flavor.
- As a pizza topping - Use your oven roasted garlic as a pizza topping! Mash the roasted garlic into a paste and "drop" it in small chunks around the pizza. Here's an easy tomato paste pizza sauce recipe that we use for weekly pizza night!
- Pizza sauce - Spread the roasted garlic paste on your pizza dough instead of tomato sauce if you're looking to try something new, or mix it into your tomato based pizza sauce.
- Garlic butter - Combine some of your garlic with butter and use it anywhere you would use butter (on toast, cooking veggies, baked potato, etc.). Probably NOT in cookies though :).
- Charcuterie board - Mash some roasted garlic in a ramekin and put it on a charcuterie board with cheeses and meats for your next party. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cracker Dip - Another tasty option is to spread some of your roasted garlic on these almond flour "cheese" crackers (or your favorite snacking crackers).
- Garlic on Popcorn - Mix some of your roasted garlic with olive oil using an immersion blender and drizzle it over popcorn. I use this one and highly recommend it. My first two smoked and couldn't handle much blending. This one has been going strong for years.
- Avocado Garlic Spread - Mix some of this delicious avocado mayonnaise dip with your garlic spread. Use as a dip for vegetables, or spread it on a sandwich.
- Add To Your Stir Fry - Put some in the pan with your vegetables when you're making stir fry and it'll WAYYYY up the flavors for you.
- In your bread - If you make your own bread, put a few cloves in your dough when you're shaping it for a delicious flavored bread (and a great smelling house).
- On grilled corn - Spread some delicious oven roasted garlic on your grilled corn at your next summer BBQ. Delicious grilled corn with butter, salt, and roasted garlic. Can you beat that? I don't think so.
FAQ & Troubleshooting: Oven Roasted Garlic
You can store your roasted garlic in the fridge or the freezer. If you're going to keep it in the fridge, squeeze the cloves out and cover with olive oil, or store the whole heads of garlic in an airtight bag (like a Ziplock).
You can also freeze the roasted garlic. I like to squeeze the garlic out of the paper wrapping, mash it all up into a paste and store it in an ice cube tray in the freezer.
Yes! Just squeeze out the cloves onto a sheet pan and stick it in the freezer. When the cloves are frozen, you can transfer them to an air-tight bag or container to keep in your freezer longer term.
You can also make a roasted garlic paste by mashing up the cloves and freezing them in an ice cube tray by the teaspoon or tablespoon.
You can keep roasted garlic in the fridge, covered with olive oil for about a week. Alternatively, If you choose to freeze it, it should keep several months in the freezer.
How to Make Roasted Garlic
We wrap heads of garlic in foil and roast in the oven until soft for a huge flavor boost in your meal.
Ingredients
- 12 Heads of Garlic
- Olive oil (to drizzle)
- Pinch of Salt
- Pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 (F).
- Slice the tops off the heads of garlic to expose a little bit of each clove.
- Put each head of garlic on a small sheet of aluminum foil, cut side up.
- Drizzle olive oil over the garlic cloves and add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Fold the foil up over the heads of garlic and pinch them closed at the top.
- Bake these foil balls in the oven for about 30 minutes. You'll know they're done cooking when the cloves are soft.
- To get the cloves out, squeeze the head of garlic like a tube of toothpaste. Flip it upside down, start squeezing from the base to the cut side.
Notes
To store roasted garlic:
- Store the whole heads: You can store whole heads of roasted garlic in an airtight bag in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Store roasted garlic cloves: Another option for easier access when you need it is to squeeze out the roasted garlic and store it. Put the cloves in a jar or container and cover it with olive oil to keep it for about a week in the fridge.
- Store it as roasted garlic paste: My favorite way to store roasted garlic is squeezing out the cloves and mashing them with a fork into a paste (you can use a food processor or immersion blender if you'd rather). Put the paste into a jar, cover it with a thin layer of olive oil, and refrigerate for about a week OR freeze it in ice cube trays (my personal favorite).
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Larry says
I've had roasted garlic before in a restaurant and have always wanted to try it. Meghan and I love garlic so we will being trying this recipe for sure. Thanks for the post.
Megan says
Larry, Yes! Definitely try it. We just had some on our pizza last night and it was tasty!