How To Roast Garlic in the Oven

updated Aug 11, 2022
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How To Roast Garlic in the Oven
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Warning: This will fill your home with the most maddening, irresistible, and mouth-watering aromas imaginable!

We’re talking about whole heads of garlic roasted with olive oil until each individual clove is completely golden and butter-soft — perfect for spreading on a spare piece of baguette or mashing into a salad dressing. Perfect, really, for just about anything.

As far as near-magical transformations go, roasted garlic should get a standing ovation. Through the simple alchemy of hot oven heat, garlic starts off raw and crunchy and astringent, and it emerges soft and caramelized with a gentler flavor that borders on sweetness. It’s like night and day.

How to Prepare Garlic for Roasting

Roasting garlic is easy and only requires a few minutes of hands-on time. Most of the work happens in the oven while you are sitting by casually reading a book or drinking a glass of wine. Here’s all you need to know.

  • Use your fingers to peel away all the loose, papery outer layers around the head of garlic. Leave the head itself intact with all the cloves connected.
  • Trim about 1/4 inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves.
  • Drizzle 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil over the exposed surface of the garlic, letting the oil sink down into the cloves.
  • Wrap the garlic in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 40 minutes and then begin checking the garlic.
  • The garlic is done when a center clove is completely soft when pierced with a paring knife. Even once soft, you can continue roasting until deeply golden for a more caramelized flavor — check the garlic every 10 minutes. Exact roasting time will depend on the size of your garlic, the variety, and its age.
  • Let the garlic cool slightly, and then serve. Press on the bottom of a clove to push it out of its paper.

How Long Do You Roast Garlic?

The garlic I roasted here came from a friend’s garden; it was soft enough to spread after 45 minutes, but was even better when I cooked it for 75 minutes. The cloves never got deeply colored, but they tasted so good I didn’t mind at all!

I’ve found that the exact cooking time and depth of the golden color depend on several factors.

  • Generally, heads of garlic will roast to softness in about 45 minutes.
  • The size of the heads, the variety, and their age can affect the exact cooking time.
  • Start checking them around 40 minutes and continue cooking as long as you like — it’s very hard to overcook garlic!

Can You Freeze Roasted Garlic? How Long Does It Keep?

Roasted garlic is something you can never have too much of. Fortunately, it can be frozen for up to three months.

This is a particularly fine thing to do with older heads of garlic that have been languishing in the cupboard for a little too long, but you needn’t wait that long for your roasted garlic fix — fresh heads are just as tasty, if not more so!

Roasted garlic can also be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks if freezing isn’t your thing.

Roast one head if that’s what you have, or several at once.

Credit: Emma Christensen

How to Use Roasted Garlic

I recommend throwing a head of garlic in the oven whenever you’re making a slow-cooked braise or casserole. The soft cloves make an excellent appetizer while you’re waiting for your meal to be ready.

  • Spread on bread or crackers for a quick and easy appetizer.
  • Mashed into salad dressing.
  • Mashed into hummus, baba ganoush, or other spreads.
  • Used in place of raw garlic in soups, casseroles, and sauces.

How To Roast Garlic in the Oven

Prep time 5 minutes to 10 minutes

Cook time 40 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes

Makes1 head of roasted garlic

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 1

    or more heads garlic

  • Olive oil

Equipment

Instructions

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  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 400ºF.

  2. Peel (most of) the paper off the garlic. Use your fingers to peel away all the loose, papery, outer layers around the head of garlic. Leave the head itself intact with all the cloves connected.

  3. Trim the top off the head of garlic. Trim about 1/4 inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves.

  4. Drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil over the exposed surface of the garlic, letting the oil sink down into the cloves.

  5. Wrap in foil and bake. Wrap the garlic in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

  6. Begin checking the garlic. After 40 minutes, begin checking the garlic. The garlic is done when a center clove is completely soft when pierced with a paring knife. Even once soft, you can continue roasting until deeply golden for a more caramelized flavor — check the garlic every 10 minutes. Exact roasting time will depend on the size of your garlic, the variety, and its age.

  7. Use or store the garlic. Let the garlic cool slightly, and then serve. Press on the bottom of a clove to push it out of its paper. Roasted garlic can also be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes

  • Speedy roasted garlic trick: While less visually stunning, separating the head of garlic into individual cloves will make the cloves roast more quickly. Leave the cloves intact and covered with their paper skin, toss with olive oil, and roast in a foil packet until soft.