I did this last year, and I did it again this year. I bought a 3-lb. bag of fresh peeled garlic cloves (brand: Christopher Ranch, “superior California garlic”) at Costco. You’ll need to keep your eyes peeled for these in the cooler in the produce department; they are only available for a short period of time–around September/October.
- I spread them on a baking sheet covered with Reynold’s non-stick aluminum foil, roasted them at about 350 degrees for about an hour (or until they were lightly golden–not brown, so watch closely at the end), shaking the pan occasionally. If you use oil, Misto them with olive oil. You can also roast without oil.
- Cool.
- Put in containers and freeze.
It’s so easy to use the peeled cloves. (Have you ever peeled heads of garlic? It can be maddening.)
Lastly, roasted garlic is delicious! It tastes mellow and buttery. I smash them with a spoon against the side of the pot as I stir, and they disintegrate.
Put several frozen roasted garlic cloves on a paper plate, and microwave on “high” for a few seconds to thaw. They are wonderful in vinaigrettes, salsas, soups, stews, bean dishes, etc.
Hope you enjoy this hint! A year’s worth of roasted garlic in your freezer is like money in the bank.
[Note: Lorna Sass, my favorite pressure cooker cookbook author, has you roast garlic heads at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, in Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, page 20.]
I can’t imagine roasting peeled cloves for an hour at 350!! I recently roasted some garlic cloves, as directed in some recipe, for about 15 minutes and they were burnt!!
Wow…you definitely have to compensate for your oven. Mine is convection. I wonder if that makes a difference somehow? Always keep an eye on your roasted garlic…especially towards the end. You want them to be “golden” and that’s a good place to stop.
I just made some roasted garlic, following the directions, and this time they were done in about 30-minutes? It was the same convection oven. The garlic might have been less fresh (with less water content) but many of these cloves were HUGE? So definitely keep a close eye on yours every ten minutes, initially…and every five minutes after 20 minutes in the oven.