Oven roasted garlic is a delicious and easy flavor burst for your food. It's made by roasting whole garlic cloves in the oven until soft and creamy. Roasted garlic can be used as a dip, or to complement pasta, salad, soup, and more.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
You will use this oven roasted garlic in so many ways. If you are making a focaccia bread sprinkle some of the soft roasted garlic cloves on the rising dough with a drizzle of olive oil.
Roasted garlic is the secret ingredient in Roasted Garlic Alfredo sauce also! Oven roasted garlic stores for several weeks in a covered jar as a garlic confit or spread!
Imagine it added to salad dressings, mashed potatoes, or even on it's on on a charcuterie tray! And, best of all, it's so very easy to make!
What is Garlic Confit you ask?
A confit is any slow roasted fruit or vegetable, often in oil, that is then jarred up, topped off with olive oil, and used as a condiment for flavor bursts in other dishes. In this case we are using garlic cloves because they roast up sweet and mellow.
Some uses for a garlic confit are:
- On top of Flatbreads, Pizza, and Focaccia breads.
- Additions to sauces such as Carbonara and Alfredo sauces.
- Add to poultry stuffings or just add to the roasting bird.
- Add minced roasted garlic cloves to your next Herbed Dipping Oil.
- Cover a baked Brie with this soft roasted garlic.
- Condiment for meat & cheese platters.
Jump to:
- Why You Will Love This Recipe
- What is Garlic Confit you ask?
- Ingredients
- How to Roast Garlic in Oil
- How to Make a Garlic Confit
- Serving Suggestions
- Related Recipes
- Substitutions and Variations
- Ways To use Oven Roasted Garlic
- Equipment
- Storage
- Tips for Success
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Food Safety
- Some Other Recipes We Are Sure You Will Love
- Connect with Smells Like Delish!
- 📖 Recipe
Ingredients
Inspect the garlic bulbs when you buy them, look for as fresh as you can find with no bruised or discolored areas.
The reason we can store a roasted garlic spread or garlic confit is because the garlic is completely baked to a soft mushy level. Any chance of botulism has been eliminated, as temperatures are hot enough to destroy it.
PRO TIP: Please don't ever infuse raw garlic cloves in oil and store for more than the meal it is made for though.
- Fresh garlic bulbs
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Sage
- Fresh Thyme
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Roast Garlic in Oil
- Prepare your baking dish. It should be about the height of the bulbs of garlic and hold all six comfortably without squeezing them together. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Prepare the Herbs
- Wash the fresh herbs, trimming any brown leaves of spots off the sprigs. Pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Pour half of the olive oil into the bottom of the casserole or baking dish. Lay the herb springs in the oil.
Prepare the Garlic Bulbs
- Cut the top â…“ off of each garlic bulb, exposing the cloves inside. You should see a cross section of the tops of the cloves.
- Lay all six bulbs in the baking dish. Arrange them so they don't crowd each other. Brush the tops of each bulb, pushing oil into the nooks and crannies on the top of each bulb.
- Sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Lay a sprig or two of fresh herbs on top.
Roast the Garlic Bulbs
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and put in the preheated oven to roast. Take the foil off during the last 5 minutes if you plan to serve the baking dish on a table for guests to scoop our their own garlic.
- If saving the roasted garlic to make garlic confit, then let cool completely first.
How to Make a Garlic Confit
- To make a garlic confit, first let the garlic cool completely (recipe in recipe card below).
- After cooling, gently squeeze the bulbs from the bottom, pressing up. The cloves of garlic will slide up and out. Collect in clean Ball canning jar or air tight bail jar.
- Fill the jar to about 1" to 1 ½" from the top. Cover with either oil from the baking pan, or fresh olive oil. You can tuck a roasted herb sprig in also. Do NOT tuck in fresh, uncooked herbs.
- Using a table knife, slip the knife in between the side of the jar and the roasted garlic cloves. This will help remove any pockets of air. Add more olive oil to cover the tops of all the garlic cloves. Store up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
You can pair this oven roasted garlic confit with our Heirloom Cherry Tomato Confit for a really beautiful taste treat also. What makes a confit so great is that the flavor is concentrated. With garlic, the flavor of the garlic becomes sweet and mellow. It takes on hints of the herbs it is baked with also.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this striking dish as is on a buffet table with small spoons that guests can spoon out the soft, freshly roasted garlic cloves. Or, serve each bulb individually in small serving dishes.
You can also make a roasted garlic spread or dip by mashing them and seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with your next Charcuterie, and in keeping with Halloween, serve with our Italian Charcuterie Board, or Halloween Meat & Cheese Platter.
For a few other party appetizers, look at our Hedgehog Cheese Ball, Traditional Pork Lumpia Rolls, and Spanish Potato & Onion Tortilla.
Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Related Recipes
Substitutions and Variations
You can substitute Elephant Garlic, just use either individual ramkins, or a large baking dish.
Ways To use Oven Roasted Garlic
Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe
- Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce- add a few tablespoons of roasted garlic to your next homemade or store bought jar of Alfredo sauce.
- Roasted Garlic Appetizer - mash the roasted garlic and serve it as an appetizer spread.
- Roasted Garlic Focaccia - sprinkle some of the whole or broken garlic cloves on a unbaked focaccia. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of the garlic infused oil (refill the garlic confit jar with fresh olive oil) and add some herbs and grated Asiago cheese. Bake and have a divine focaccia!
- Roasted Garlic Compound Butter - mix some mashed roasted garlic into softened butter, then wrap and chill. Serve slices of compound butter with steaks.
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes - add ¼ cup of oven roasted garlic to your next batch of mashed potatoes.
- Roasted Garlic Spread - add roasted garlic to any dip or spread to give it extra flavor and zing.
Equipment
You already have most the equipment to roast garlic bulbs. You will need to either save a couple jars, or purchase a couple of storage jars. Ball canning jars are ideal, and they are inexpensive and seal tightly.
Storage
You can store oven roasted garlic in your refrigerator for up to 3 week, and you can freeze it for up to three months.
Tips for Success
- Cut a full â…“ off the top, this way the roasted garlic cloves literally slip out when pressed from the bottom.
- Always fully roast garlic before storing.
- Do not add any fresh herbs to the storage jar, just the cooked herbs. You do not want to introduce water or moisture to the jar of cooked, oil covered roasted garlic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. Just make sure they fully roast. When packing the Ball canning jars, make sure the oil covers the tops of all ingredients.
Food Safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Some Other Recipes We Are Sure You Will Love
Connect with Smells Like Delish!
📖 Recipe
Oven Roasted Garlic for Garlic Confit
Ingredients
- 6 bulbs garlic
- 1 cup olive oil, divided
- fresh sprigs of thyme
- fresh sprigs of rosemary
- fresh sprigs of sage
- Salt
- cracked pepper
- extra olive oil for storing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F.
- Pour ½ cup olive oil in a casserole baker that will comfortably hold all 6 garlic bulbs. Lay the herb sprigs in the olive oil.1 cup olive oil, divided, fresh sprigs of thyme, fresh sprigs of rosemary, fresh sprigs of sage
- Slice the tops off each bulb of garlic, about â…“ of the way down. You want the cloves exposed. Lay each bulb in the casserole dish, root side down in on the bottom.6 bulbs garlic
- Brush the remaining ½ cup of olive oil all over the tops of the garlic bulbs, making sure oil gets down into the nooks and crannies of the cloves.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake for 45 minutes.Salt, cracked pepper
- Remove when done, and set aside to cool. After cooling scoop or scrap the soft garlic gloves out of the bulbs and use in cooking, dips, confit, baking and breads, sauces, and compound butters.
For the Garlic Confit
- Remove the soft, roasted garlic cloves from the roasted bulbs. Save them in a clean jar that has an air tight seal. Fill jar to 1" from the top. Top off with some of the extra olive oil. Use a table butter knife to gently slip in between the jar sides and garlic cloves to eliminate any air bubbles. Top off with more olive oil so the garlic is completely covered.extra olive oil for storing
- Add to Alfredo sauce, add to mashed potatoes, and drizzle some of the garlic infused oil and the roasted cloves on flatbread or focaccia. Mix with softened butter for a roasted garlic compound butter.
- Stores safely for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
- When removing the roasted garlic cloves from the bulb, just press at the bottom and the clove will slip up and out.
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