Roasting full heads of garlic in olive oil results in meltingly tender and caramelized cloves with a rich, sweet and concentrated garlic flavor! And the infused garlic olive is just as equally valuable!
Slowly roasting garlic in lots of oil and fresh herbs will fill your home with the most deliciously dreamy of aromas.
Why this Recipe Works
- Transforms that brash raw garlic flavor!Slow roasting whole heads of garlic with olive oil caramelizes the cloves, bringing out their sweetness and concentrating their flavor. The results are tender, rich, sweet and jammy cloves that melt in your mouth.
- Save time since there’s no need to peel the individual cloves! Trim the tops of the garlic heads to expose their cloves and forgo peeling each individual one! Once they’re roasted you can easily squeeze them out!
- Multi-use recipe that stores well!This super basic garlic confit recipe and resulting garlic infused oil can be used infinite ways! Make it once and store in the fridge, for up to 2 weeks, for multiple uses.
- Recipe is versatile!Quantity can easily be halved or doubled. Herbs can be easily swapped out and spices can be added in to infuse the garlic confit with!
- The infused garlic oil!The resulting fragrant and complexly flavored oil is as equally valuable!!!!
I’m an allium confit lover. Garlic, onions, shallots… I’ll take any allium, confit style, any day!
Let’s get Confit-ing!
Which means cooking food, slowly, in fat. Our fat of choice here is olive oil.
It’s an old French technique for persevering meat in its own fat. But any veggie or fruit can be confit’ed too! It sounds all fancy just cause it’s a French word but it’s surprisingly easy to do!
How to Make this Recipe
Trim the tops of the garlic heads to expose the cloves. Place in a baking dish or pot. Add herbs and olive oil to just cover the garlic. Cover with foil, place in the oven and wait for garlic confit magic to happen!
Uses for Garlic Confit & Garlic Infused Oil
User these meltingly tender, spreadable and sweet garlic confit cloves and resulting deliciously fragrant garlic infused oil in so very many ways!
Place the heads, whole, on a cheeseboard, squish the cloves out and spread on toast, pizza, flatbreads or sandwiches, add to roasted, steamed, grilled or sautéed veggies, to dips such as hummus or any that you’d use garlic in, whisk the garlic infused oil into a dressing, drizzle over pasta, sauces or soups. Any dish that you’d think to add raw or roasted garlicor olive oil can be taken to whole new heights with the garlic confit and resulting garlic infused oil! The possibilities really are endless!
Have a favorite use for these meltingly soft jewels of caramelized garlic or garlic infused oil? Please lemme know in the comments below! Personally, I have a hard time not eating an entire head as soon as their ready, squishing the cloves out and popping them in my mouth.
Cooks Tips
- When possible buy local and organic garlic.
- DO NOT toss out the resulting garlic infused olive oil! Rather, guard it with your life and pour it over everything!
- Don’t forget to refrigerate the garlic confit! It cannot be stored at room temperature. And let cool before refrigerating.
- Feel free to play/experiment with cooking time, from a lighter to darker caramelized garlic result.
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #wavesinthekitchen. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let's make waves in the kitchen!
Garlic Confit
Ingredients
- 8 heads of garlic
- 12 sprigs or thyme and/or oregano other herbs, spices and bay leaves can be added
- 2 cups of olive oil use more as necessary to cover garlic heads
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Using your fingers, peel off the loose, papery outer layers around the head of garlic. Trim the tops of the garlic heads with a knife to expose the cloves (about the top 1/3-1/4 off of the head of garlic).
- Place garlic, with exposed cloves, cut side up, in a baking dish or pot. Add herbs and olive oil to just cover the garlic. Depending on the size of the dish or pot, you may need to add more olive oil to cover the heads of garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and transfer baking dish or pot to the oven.
- Bake until heads of garlic are soft, fragrant and lightly browned; 1hr – 1hr 15min.
- Let cool completely and transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 weeks. Oil can be strained after a day or two and refrigerated separately.
Notes
- When possible buy local and organic garlic.
- DO NOT toss out the resulting garlic infused olive oil! Rather, guard it with your life and pour it over everything!
- Don’t forget to refrigerate the garlic confit! It cannot be stored at room temperature. And let cool before refrigerating.
- Feel free to play/experiment with cooking time, from a lighter to darker caramelized garlic result.
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