Roast your garlic without the use of foil and try this hack instead!
Plus, let's show you how to freeze it in ready to use portions, and give you all the inspiration you need to use it in so many recipes!
Roasted garlic anything is pretty much gold. But, taking the extra time to roast garlic to use as an ingredients is one long extra step to do when assembling dinner.
Problem solved - roast multiple bulbs at once using this no waste method. Then, freeze them in pre portioned amounts. Ready to go in your freezer to use at anytime!
Use these tips to buy garlic
There are a couple of popular varieties of garlic readily available - you can roast any of them!
- Elephant garlic - elephant garlic isn't actually garlic. It is actually part of the leek family and is less potent than regular garlic. This garlic variety is used just as "regular" garlic, but it is much more mild in intensity.
- Hard neck - this variety is mostly found at farmers markets - especially up here in Canada. this variety does really well in colder climates. I also notice the cloves are much larger and more potent in flavor than soft neck varieties.
- Soft neck - this is the variety of garlic you will see most often in grocery stores and is readily available.
Regardless of the variety, you want to choose garlic that has limited blemishes, and firm cloves.
Store your garlic bulbs in your pantry and keep them out of the fridge!
How to roast garlic - the no foil way!
Typical garlic roasting methods have you wrapping each individual bulb in foil. Not anymore!
It is time to ditch the foil and use two muffin tins instead. I have these silicone muffin pans and I absolutely love them (affiliate link).
- Frist, you want to cut off about ¼ inch off the top. The top of the garlic is the more narrow end - where the stalk grows out of.
- Place the garlic into the wells of the muffin tins with the freshly cut side up.
- Season with salt and pepper and pour your oil of choice (olive or avocado work great) over the bulbs. Don't be afraid to be generous here.
- Place the second muffin tin on top of the bulbs.
- If using a silicone pan, ensure you use a baking sheet so you don't loose all your garlic on the floor when you lift it to transport to the oven.
- Roast at 400F for 30-45 minutes. Exact time will depend on how large your cloves. I always keep a close eye around the 25 minute mark. It can take as long as 60 minutes for very large cloves.
- When the garlic is soft but not burnt(!) remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
- When the garlic is cooled enough to touch, squeeze out each clove one by one. It should look like a paste at this point. Do this for each bulb of garlic you roasted.
How to freeze roasted garlic
The best way to freeze roasted garlic is in small 1-2 tablespoon portions that you can easily toss into recipes as you go.
I use these 2 tablespoon Souper Cube silicone trays for this. Affiliate link.
You can use a regular ice cube tray too, but it is much easier to pop them out of the silicone trays, and the Souper Cube brand doesn't retain the smells like a plastic ice cube tray will.
Nobody wants garlic tasting ice cubes later!
Once frozen, you can pop them out and place into a freezer safe container!
How to use up roasted garlic? Let me count the ways!
I prefer to let the roasted garlic "cubes" thaw for 15 minutes before I use them, but I am honestly not sure it really matters. Just a preference, I guess.
Now that you have a freezer stocked with roasted garlic, let's start looking at what to put on your meal plans to use it up!
- Make this aoli
- Whip up this roasted garlic soup
- Roasted Garlic Pesto
- Garlic Lovers Dipping oil
- Instant Pot Roasted Garlic Marinara
- Garlic Hummus
- On pizza or in pizza sauce
- Creamy roasted garlic pasta
- Creamy roasted garlic salad dressing
Did I miss anything epic that you use your roasted garlic for?! Tell me in the comments so I can add it to this list!
When you try this no waste, no foil roasted garlic hack, I want to see! Tag me @mealplanaddict on Instagram! OR, come share your photos in the Meal Plan Addict Community!
No Foil Roasted Garlic Hack
Ingredients
- Garlic bulbs as many as you want!
- Olive Oil approx 1 tablespoon per bulb
- Salt and Pepper a pinch on each bulb
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Slice ¼" inch off the top of the garlic.
- Place each bulb with the cut side up into each well of the muffin tin.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Drizzle with oil.
- Use the second muffin tin to cover the bulbs.
- Place into the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes - until the cloves are soft and like a paste.
- Remove the trays from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
- When the bulbs are cooled enough to handle, squeeze each clove out.
- To freeze : squeeze cloves into a souper cubes tray (see post) or into an ice cube tray.
- Once frozen, pop the frozen garlic cubes out and transfer to a freezer safe container.
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