Roasting tames garlic’s sharp bite into something sweet, nutty and spreadable, almost like garlic butter. It’s nearly effortless: trim, drizzle, wrap and forget it in the oven. When the oven is on to roast butternut squash and sweet potatoes, you can roast a head of garlic too.
Storage: Keep whole garlic heads somewhere cool, dry and airy, like a basket or paper bag, not the fridge. Fresh, well-cured heads keep for months.
Makes 2–4 heads · 5 minutes prep, 45 minutes in the oven
Ingredients
- 2–4 whole heads of garlic
- 1 teaspoon olive oil per head
- A pinch of salt
Directions
- Heat the oven to 400°F.
- Peel off the loose, papery outer layers, leaving the head whole. Slice about 1/4 inch off the top to expose the tips of the cloves.
- Set each head on a square of foil, cut-side up. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and wrap loosely. A small baking dish with a lid works too.
- Roast 40–50 minutes, until the cloves are golden and completely soft when pressed.
- Let cool a few minutes, then squeeze the soft cloves out of their skins.
How to use it: Spread it on warm bread or crackers. Mash it into potatoes or sweet potatoes. Whisk a clove or two into the house vinaigrette. Stir it into the butternut soup, pasta, hummus or melted leeks.
Keeps: Store the squeezed-out cloves in a covered container in the fridge and use within a few days. For longer storage, freeze them in small portions, where they keep for months.
A note on safety: Never keep roasted or raw garlic covered in oil at room temperature, because that can allow the bacteria that cause botulism to grow. Garlic in oil should be refrigerated and used within 4 days, or frozen.
Save time: Roast garlic alongside the squash and sweet potatoes for the soup. Same oven, same temperature.