Name: How to Cook Garlic - Easy Roasted Garlic Bulbs Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 3
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 3 heads of garlic; 3 tablespoons of olive oil; Salt; Fresh cracked pepper

It’s time to learn how to cook garlic with this easy roasted garlic recipe. The roasting process bring out the garlic’s natural sugars, producing cloves which have a deep, mellow and slightly sweet flavor.

While some recipes can benefit from the sharp bite of fresh garlic, roasted garlic has a more nuanced flavor that enhances any dish it’s added to. Roasting garlic also saves you the time and effort involved with peeling garlic.

If you’re going to be roasting more than one head of garlic, try to choose ones that are roughly the same size, so they’ll cook evenly and avoid choosing any with soft or discolored spots.

Keep reading for an easy recipe for roasted garlic with a printable recipe card included at the bottom of the page. If you’re a visual learner, you can watch our YouTube video tutorial for how to roast garlic bulbs.

Easy roasted garlic bulbs recipe

Start by peeling off the papery outer layers covering your garlic. You’ll want to peel most of them away, leaving only the inner peel that is touching the garlic cloves.

Then use a sharp knife to cut off a quarter of an inch to a half an inch from the top of the garlic. All the cloves of garlic should be exposed. If they’re not, use your knife to trim them so they are.

Make sure to save any of the garlic you’ve cut off from the top to make homemade vegetable stock later.

Place the heads of garlic on aluminum foil and coat them olive oil. You want to use enough so all the cloves have olive oil on them, about 2 teaspoons to one tablespoon per head of garlic.

Season them with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Fold up the sides of the aluminum foil so that it completely encloses the garlic bulbs in a pouch. Place these garlic pouches onto a baking sheet to avoid any olive oil leaking out into your oven.

Cook your heads of garlic in a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit (190 degree Celsius) oven and roast for anywhere between 40 to 70 minutes. Your roasting time will depend on the size of your garlic.

Check them around the 40 minute mark and adjust your time as needed. When you’re checking them, you want to see that the cloves of garlic are golden brown.

Once the garlic is cool enough to touch, you’re ready to enjoy it!

You can either squeeze out the garlic with your hands, or use a spoon to release each clove of garlic. If you’re using a spoon, gently run it around the clove of garlic, loosening it and pushing it upwards until it’s freed from the garlic bulb.

How to use roasted garlic

One of the easiest ways to use your oven baked garlic is by spreading it on toast. The cloves will be so soft that you can spread them with a butter knife. Simply add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil and you’ve got a snack that’s full of flavor.

There are so many uses for roasted garlic in addition to toast. You can add it to mashed potatoes, pasta dishes, hummus, salad dressings and aiolis. It also adds a depth of flavor when used as a spread on sandwiches and pizza crusts.

Here are a few recipes that would pair perfectly with roasted garlic:

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Admin note: This post with an oven roasted garlic recipe first appeared on the blog in June of 2013. I have updated the post to add all new photos, a printable recipe card and a video showing you how to cook garlic in the oven.

Yield: 3 roasted garlic bulbs