Tasty, creamy roasted garlic makes a wonderful topping for warm low carb bread, mashed cauliflower, or any cooked vegetable.
Creamy and almost-sweet, roasted garlic is a delicacy. It’s amazing how cooking eliminates the garlic’s sharpness, almost unbearable when it’s raw, and replaces it with a creamy sweetness.
What’s the difference between cooked and raw?
There’s a big difference! I deeply dislike raw garlic. I find its sharpness unpleasant. And I dislike the taste it leaves in my mouth, long after I’ve eaten.
I distinctly remember an episode of “Chopped” where one of the contestants made the grave mistake of using too much raw garlic in the dish, overpowering it. He was eliminated that same round, and I have to say, I emphasized with the judges!
But cooked garlic is a completely different story. I think it’s delicious, and I use it quite often in my recipes. Cooking eliminates the garlic’s sharpness and makes it creamy and mild, although it’s still very flavorful.
You can roast an entire garlic head or just the cloves
Most recipes use a whole garlic head, but I rarely have whole garlic in the house, because I can’t stand peeling garlic. So in this recipe, I use pre-peeled garlic cloves that I get at Whole Foods.
The ingredients you’ll need when making roasted garlic
You’ll only need four ingredients to make this tasty dish (exact measurements are included in the recipe card below):
- Peeled garlic cloves
- Olive oil
- kosher salt
- Black pepper
How do you roast garlic cloves in the oven?
It’s so easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed instructions. These are the basic steps:
- You coat the garlic cloves in olive oil.
- Season them with Kosher salt and black pepper.
- Then roast in the oven until they are tender, golden and creamy.
Is it healthy?
Yes. Garlic has several health benefits. Its list of benefits is long, although most studies were done on animals, and human clinical studies are unfortunately scarce.
How to use it
It’s excellent when mashed and spread on warm bread (if you eat bread), or on toasted low carb English muffins. It’s also wonderful as a topping for mashed cauliflower.
I often serve it scattered on top of any vegetable dish that I might be making that night. Tonight I steamed some broccoli and topped it with melted butter and roasted garlic. It truly elevated the simple dish.
Can I keep the leftovers?
Yes! If you have leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge for 3-4 days and gently reheat them the microwave on 50% power.
Roasted Garlic
INGREDIENTS
- 24 peeled garlic cloves
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the garlic cloves in a bowl. Add the olive oil, the Kosher salt and the black pepper and mix to coat.
- Spread the garlic cloves on the prepared baking sheet, in a single layer.
- Bake until golden-brown and fork-tender, stirring with a spatula halfway through cooking, about 30 minutes.
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., has been following a healthy real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She has taken 
