Learn How To Make Garlic Confit With Olive Oil

Learn how easy it is to make garlic confit with olive oil in the oven. With only 5 minutes of prep time, you can have your first batch of garlic confit slow roasting in the oven. These tender caramelized cloves of garlic are slow-roasted and stored in extra virgin olive oil. Add a couple of these mild-flavored cloves of garlic to so many recipes. The garlic oil can be used for cooking or for marinating.

Our family is made up of a bunch of garlic lovers so I use a lot in my cooking. I do prefer fresh garlic but the convince of buying jarred minced garlic has a hold on me.

Walking into this new year I have decided to try and cut my grocery bill as much as I can. And also try to make as many homemade things as possible. I have been successful in quite a few of my homemade copycat recipes.

Like my recipe for simple homemade onion soup mix. This recipe made a lot of sense to me to make at home since I had all the ingredients. So looking at that recipe got me thinking about my love of using jarred minced garlic.

How could I still have the convince of using jarred garlic at home without having to mince garlic every time I needed it? As much as I love garlic I don't love having my hands smell like it for days.

So I did a lot of research to find the best way to accomplish this. During my research, I was led to TikTok where I watched a wonderful lady make garlic confit. Knowing this was the answer to my quest. I was left with more questions. So that led me to do more research.

What Is Garlic Confit

The first question I was plagued with was what is garlic confit. Generally, confit refers to anything that has been cooked slowly to create a rich succulent flavor.

Confit garlic is whole garlic cloves that are slow-roasted in generous amounts of fat in a low temperature oven or on the stovetop. The fat I chose was extra virgin olive oil, but from what I have read grapeseed or avocado oil will also work. I was hooked on the idea of roasted garlic in olive oil so I knew that this was a recipe I was going to be mastering and making time and time again.

Now that I knew what garlic confit was I needed to know how to make it. And that is pretty simple there is a couple of different ways to make slow roasted garlic. The cooking method I choose was the oven, it can be done on the stovetop as well. Stovetop garlic confit would take a shorter period of time but it would have to be kept from coming to a boil.

Remove the cloves from the head of garlic, then remove the peels from the cloves. Place the raw garlic cloves into a small saucepan that is oven-proof or in a small baking dish. Cover the cloves of garlic with olive oil, I used 1 ¼ cups of extra virgin olive oil. Depending on the size of the baking dish used you may need to use more oil.

Now if you want a little herb infused into your garlic confit this would be the time to add some fresh herbs in. Rosemary sprigs would be a great option along with some fresh thyme. Or make it a bit spicy by adding in some red chili flakes or black peppercorns.

The garlic confit will need to slow roast in a preheated 195℉ oven or at the lowest setting of your oven.

How long will garlic confit need to slow roast? The goal is to get the garlic cloves to be fork-tender so they can be spreadable. It took my oven 2 hours at 195℉ to get the cloves of garlic fork tender. Large garlic cloves may take longer to become fork tender. The longer the garlic confit is slow roasted more golden brown and tender the garlic will become.

How To Store

The biggest question I had was about storage because I was worried about the risk of botulism or any food-borne illness. From what I have read the garlic confit will need to be quickly chilled. And stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Never leave confit garlic at room temperature.

Once the garlic is fork tender remove the garlic cloves with a slotted spoon and place garlic into a sterilized jar, I used a jelly jar but a mason jar will work. When all the garlic cloves are in the jar cover them with olive oil. Make sure there is enough oil to cover all the cloves with. I had extra olive oil that wouldn't fit in my jelly jar with the garlic cloves. So I added it into a squeeze bottle and used it as garlic-infused oil.

Allow the jarred garlic confit time to cool before refrigerating it. I placed my jar in an ice bath for 10 minutes before refrigerating.

Now that leads me to the next question I had and that was how long will it last in the fridge? I have read for one week as well as two weeks. So for me, I decided that I would only keep it for no more than two weeks. That is also why I went with making a smaller batch of confit garlic.

Garlic confit can also be frozen, simply add a couple of cloves to an ice cube tray. Use the olive oil that the garlic was cooked in to fill the cubes with. To use remove a frozen cube and defrost then use it as desired. Garlic confit can be frozen for up to two months.

How To Use

The last question I had was how to use garlic confit. At first, I just planned to use it as a replacement for that store bought jarred mince garlic I have been so hooked on. With doing all my research I discovered so many delicious ways to enjoy this amazing recipe. The first way I used it was by adding a clove to butter and spreading it on a loaf of crusty bread. This made some amazing garlic bread and was a big hit at our table.

Add cloves of this roasted garlic into mashed potatoes, pasta sauces, marinara, salad dressings, and vinaigrettes. Or use these spreadable cloves on your favorite sandwich. There are so many delicious ways and I for one will be making this easy slow roasted garlic confit many times over.

If you enjoyed this homemade garlic confit recipe then you may also enjoy these other homemade recipes.

• Easy Recipe For Pickled Red Onions
• Herb Butter With Garlic
• 3 Ingredient Steak Marinade
• Sriracha Dipping Sauce