Roasted Garlic - Love and Lemons (2024)

Making mashed potatoes, a sauce, or soup? Roasted garlic will infuse it with rich, nutty flavor. Find my easy method for how to roast garlic below!

Have you ever roasted garlic in the oven? As it cooks, your kitchen fills with an amazing savory scent. It’s the kind of mouthwatering aroma that’s guaranteed to make you hungry, even if you’ve just finished lunch. If you ask me, this smell alone is enough reason to learn how to roast garlic at home.

But of course, the main reason to make roasted garlic is the taste. Unlike raw garlic, roasted garlic doesn’t have any sort of bite. Its flavor is sweet, mellow, nutty, and rich. It also softens as it roasts, becoming tender, creamy, and spreadable. Blend it into a soup or a sauce, fold it into mashed potatoes, or spread it onto bread. No matter what you’re cooking, adding roasted garlic will instantly make it more flavorful and complex.

How to Roast Garlic

In many of my recipes, I ask you to roast individual garlic cloves. In those cases, my instructions will differ from the ones you find here. You’ll wrap the unpeeled garlic in foil with a drizzle of olive oil and roast it for about 20-30 minutes. Typically, the garlic is roasting along with something else, so the oven temperatures in those recipes will vary.

If you don’t use roasted garlic often and you want to make a recipe that calls for a couple of cloves, that’s a great way to go. However, once you try oven roasted garlic, you might find yourself using it more than you’d expect. I encourage you to make it in bulk, roasting a few heads of garlic at a time. Add some to whatever you’re cooking that day, and freeze the rest. Stored in an airtight container, peeled, roasted garlic cloves will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.

For larger quantities, here’s my method for how to roast garlic:

First, trim the garlic.Use a sharp knife to slice 1/4 inch off the top of a garlic bulb.

Then, add olive oil. Place the garlic cut-side-up in a piece of aluminum foil, and drizzle olive oil over the top. Sprinkle it with salt, too. I like to use a small ramekin or baking dish so that the garlic stays cut-side-up while it bakes.

Next, bake! Wrap the garlic in foil, and roast at 350°F for 40-60 minutes, or until the cloves are deeply golden brown and tender. That’s it! Peel and freeze the garlic, or try one of the serving suggestions below.

How to Use Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is a fantastic way to add rich, nutty flavor to spreads, sauces, soups, and more! Have fun experimenting with it in your cooking. To get you started, here are a few of my favorite ways to use it:

• In dips. Blend a roasted garlic clove into white bean dip or hummus. If you want a stronger garlic flavor, add one clove at a time to suit your tastes.
• In mashed potatoes. Who doesn’t love roasted garlic mashed potatoes?! Try it in these classic mashed potatoes, this creamy cauliflower mash, or this parsnip puree. (No, the last two aren’t technically potatoes, but they’re still really great. 🙂 )
• In pasta. Blend roasted garlic into this creamy butternut squash sauce or this pumpkin pasta sauce. It’s also fantastic in the filling of my butternut squash ravioli.
• In soups. Blend roasted garlic into your favorite creamy soups! I love it in my curried cauliflower soup, creamy cauliflower soup, and vegan tomato soup.
• On pizza. Want to put roasted garlic front and center? Add whole cloves to your next homemade pizza! It’s a delectable topping for homemade focaccia too.

In the mood for something simpler? Mash the garlic into a paste, and spread it onto crusty bread like butter.

More Favorite Cooking Basics

Loved learning how to roast garlic? Check out one of these posts next:

• How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
• What is Fennel? (And How to Cook It)
• How to Cook Asparagus
• Sautéed Mushrooms
• Roasted Broccoli
• Oven Roasted Potatoes
• How to Make Cauliflower Rice