Few ingredients can elevate a home-cooked meal quite like fresh garlic, but dealing with its short shelf life can be frustrating. Whether you grow your own or buy it at the supermarket, fresh, unpeeled garlic has a brief expiration window. Over time, the bulbs shrivel, dry out, or attempt to sprout — and none of these…
Freezing Garlic in Oil
The secret to having garlic at your fingertips without smelling like it for days is to block out a half-hour to slow-cook your cloves in oil. You can buy garlic in bulk and peel it yourself, or just pick up one of those convenient bags of prepeeled cloves at the supermarket.
Fill a saucepan with the garlic and add just enough oil to cover it. Ordinary vegetable oil works fine, or you can use olive oil for extra flavor. Simmer over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the cloves are soft and golden brown. Once the mixture is cooled, pack it into ice cube trays (ideally a designated set so your actual ice doesn’t absorb the taste). After they are frozen solid, transfer the cubes into a heavy-duty freezer bag for storage. Stored this way, they will stay fresh for up to six months.
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Using the Frozen Garlic
Simmering garlic in oil gives it a rich, mellow flavor. The cloves become so soft that you can easily spread them on crusty bread or mash them into whatever you’re cooking. While you can thaw the cubes ahead of time, it’s usually easiest to drop them right into a hot pan and let them thaw as the dish cooks. For even greater convenience, you can puree the garlic-and-oil mixture before freezing.
If a recipe requires thawed garlic, the safest method is to let a cube sit in a container in the refrigerator overnight. Once it’s thawed, use it within four days. Storing a homemade garlic-and-oil mixture in the fridge for any longer carries a serious botulism risk because the oil creates an oxygen-free environment. It’s usually simpler to keep it in the freezer, pulling out as much as you need, whenever you need it.
