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Garlic Confit Recipe

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This delicious garlic confit recipe is incredibly simple to make and tastes intensely flavorful!

It's so versatile! You can use it in so many ways on crostinis, pasta, salad dressings, soups, roasted vegetables, or hummus.

The garlic slowly cooks in the oil till caramelized and tender.

This recipe only takes a few minutes to prep - especially if you buy pre-peeled garlic!

Garlic confit in oil in a white bowl.
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Homemade garlic confit is an easy way to upgrade a sauce, pizza, mashed potatoes, and more. The garlic does take a few hours to roast, but it's largely hands-off time, and it results in absolutely fabulous little flavor bombs.

If you are a garlic lover, one of the easiest ways to enjoy this recipe is to spread it on a slice of crusty bread.

Peeling the garlic is the hardest part of this recipe, but if you want to save time, buy pre-peeled garlic from the store.

Ingredients

You don't need much to make this fantastic confit recipe!

Garlic cloves, oil, and fresh herbs.
  • Raw garlic cloves, with their skins removed
  • Olive oil or another oil of your choice (you don't need to use extra virgin olive oil)
  • Fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, and oregano

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Peel your heads of garlic if they are not pre-peeled.

Place garlic cloves in small, oven-safe dishes.

Garlic cloves in two white ramekins.

Cover the garlic cloves in the oil. You should use enough oil to cover all the garlic cloves. Add any fresh herbs you'd like.

Garlic cloves in oil with herbs before going in the oven.

Bake the garlic for 2 hours until the cloves are golden brown.

Garlic confit after coming out of the oven.

Allow the confit to come to room temperature before storing it in the refrigerator or using it immediately.

Use the garlic confit to spread on bread, in soups, salad dressings, pasta sauces, or in mashed potatoes. Enjoy your spreadable garlic cloves!

Save the extra oil - the garlic oil will keep for several months and you can use it in pasta, dressings, or as a topping for roasted vegetables.

Garlic confit spread on a toasted baguette.

What is Confit?

Confit is any type of ingredient slowly cooked, at a low temperature, in oil or another kind of fat. The term confit is from the french word "confire" meaning to preserve.

You may have heard of duck confit, a famous French dish where duck legs are salted and slowly cooked in their own fat.

Confit garlic follows a similar cooking process in that it is often cooked at 200 or 250 degrees F for a long period of time.

Cherries and melon are often cooked this way as well. Please note the safety warnings under that storage section as anything you cook in this method should be refrigerated.

Storage

The most important part of storing garlic confit is that it should be kept in the refrigerator and not at room temperature. Store in a mason jar, Tupperware, or another type of glass container.

Garlic confit is low in acid and cooked at a lower temperature. Because of this, if it is stored on the countertop or at room temperature, there is a risk of food botulism. You can read more about it on the CDC website.

Tips for Making this Recipe

Cooking Tips - Depending on the size of the garlic, type of oil you are using, and type of pan you use the garlic may take a shorter or longer time to cook. Test your garlic after 1 ½ hours in the oven - if it spreads easily on a piece of bread or cracker it's done.

Reheating - The oil will solidify when you store the confit in the refrigerator. Spoon out the amount you will use and reheat it in the microwave if adding it to a sauce or dressing. If it's going into something warm like a soup, add it straight in, and it will warm up on its own.

Freezing - You can freeze garlic confit in a freezer-safe bag or ice cube tray (or in another type of airtight container) for up to 3 months.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Connect with us on Instagram and share your photos, or leave us a rating.

Yield: Makes 1 cup

Garlic Confit

Garlic confit in a small white bowl.

This delicious garlic confit recipe is easy to make and an absolute flavor bomb of a condiment.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup garlic cloves, skins removed
  • 1 ½ cups of olive oil
  • several sprigs of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. 
  2. Add the garlic cloves to a small, oven-safe dish or ramekins. Cover with the olive oil. Add fresh herbs to the dishes. 
  3. Bake for 2 hours and remove when the garlic is golden brown. 
  4. Allow the garlic to cool before removing the cloves with a slotted spoon and placing in a refrigerator safe jar or tupperware. Discard the herbs. Add a small amount of the oil to the garlic cloves and place in the refrigerator. Save the remaining oil and use in dressings, salads, and sauces. 
  5. The garlic confit will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

30

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 103Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g

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