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How to Roast Garlic Cloves

How to Roast Garlic Cloves

Last Updated on 24th February 2022 by

By roasting garlic cloves, you can help really bring out the flavor and make them more fragrant. Adding garlic cloves to your dishes can make them much more savory and delicious, and they’re a great addition to dishes like pasta, rice, stir fry, and more.

How to quickly roast garlic? What most people will do is take an entire head of garlic and cut the top of it off, wrapping the head of garlic in aluminum foil with some olive oil drizzled inside.

This is a pretty quick and simple method, but you still have to take the cloves apart to serve with your dish, so I’ll show you a method for how to roast garlic cloves that’s quick and simple.

How to Roast Individual Garlic Cloves

I definitely recommend cooking them in the oven, because you can roast garlic cloves in large quantities at once. It is probably the quickest way to cook a bunch of them up at the same time. It’s a lot simpler than cooking them up in a frying pan on the stove. It’s also much healthier, as you don’t need to use a lot of butter oil to roast them in the oven.

I’m keeping this method for how to roast peeled garlic cloves really simple. If you don’t want to peel them, you can use the exact same recipe and method for how to roast individual unpeeled garlic cloves.

It’s up to you. They will peel easier once they’ve been cooked, so that’s worth keeping in mind. I don’t think they’re difficult to peel, but some people have a little trouble with them, so if you want to make things easier for yourself, you can cook them up first in the oven, wait for them to cool, and then peel off the skin.

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or foil. You could also use a silicon mat, if you have one available.
  3. Place the garlic cloves onto the baking sheet in a single layer, with no overlap and with a little space between each piece, if possible. Drizzle the garlic cloves with olive oil to lightly coat them and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Allow the garlic cloves to roast for about 45 minutes and as long as 60 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, you should give the pan a gentle shake.
  5. You’ll know the garlic cloves have finished cooking when they’re tender when you poke them with a fork and they have a golden brown appearance.

How Long to Roast Garlic Cloves

It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to roast around a cup of garlic cloves that are peeled. The cooking time doesn’t really change if they’re peeled, but you may need to cook them for longer if you’re cooking more cloves at once. You may also need to spread them onto multiple pans.

You can tell that the garlic cloves are done cooking when they take on a golden brown look. You can also pierce them with a fork to see if they’re tender. The fork should go through easily, and if there’s a lot of resistance, then they need to cook for longer.

How to Roast Garlic Cloves Fast

Did you know that you could roast garlic cloves in the microwave? It only takes a couple minutes, and they turn out pretty good too. How to roast peeled garlic cloves in the microwave?

They won’t turn out quite as brown as they would in the oven and won’t have that aromatic kind of fragrant smell to them, but they taste really good. If you’re looking for a way to save some time, this will work in a pinch.

If the method for how to cook garlic cloves in the oven is way too time consuming for you, this is an excellent alternative.

Directions:

  1. Start by cutting off the ends of the garlic so that garlic is exposed.
  2. Place the garlic into a microwave safe dish (cut side facing up) and add a little water to the sides of the garlic. Then, add some olive oil on top of the garlic to cover it.
  3. If possible, lower the microwave power to about 40% and cook for five minutes. Your cooking time may change based on the settings and power of your microwave.
  4. The garlic should be taken out of the microwave as soon as it’s done cooking and remove from the bowl. Squeeze out the garlic from the cloves into a separate bowl, and then use that as you would roasted garlic.

How to Roast Garlic Cloves in Air Fryer

Another easy way to cook garlic is to prepare it in the air fryer.

Directions:

  1. Preheat the air fryer to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure you do not add the garlic until the fryer is fully heated.
  2. Cut the top of the garlic cloves off to expose the garlic inside and then place your garlic in a piece of aluminum foil.
  3. Drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper over the garlic and then wrap completely in foil, closing the foil tightly to make a pouch. Cook the garlic in the air fryer for 16 to 20 minutes, until the garlic becomes soft and can be easily pierced with a fork.
  4. When taking the garlic out of the floor, open the pouch carefully, since hot air will be trapped inside and will come out when it is opened.

How to Roast Garlic without Oil

You can cook your garlic in the oven without using any oil. This will change how you cook it somewhat, but not by much.
You should start by cutting the head of the garlic off and then seal the garlic cloves in foil.

Close it up tightly and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the garlic for 50-60 minutes, until it is tender.

Open the foil carefully and watch for escaping steam. Before taking off the papery skin, you should let the cloves cool completely. Then, you can squeeze the garlic out and use it.

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Pauline Loughlin

I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!