Learn how to roast garlic in the oven and how to incorporate it into a delicious, creamy roasted garlic compound butter! Use compound butter on anything from bread to corn on the cob.
Roasted garlic is one of life’s pleasures. Not only does it taste amazing added to a variety of dishes, but it makes your kitchen smell like an Italian pizzeria. Roasted garlic is much less acidic and pungent than raw garlic– roasting the cloves brings out the sweetness. Once you roast the whole head, it basically just squeezes out of the clove like butter.
The first step in roasting garlic is to carefully slice off the tip of the head of garlic, to expose the top layer of the garlic cloves. This allows the garlic to be evenly roasted on the inside.
Next, you’ll drizzle a bit of olive or avocado oil directly onto the head of garlic, covering the exposed cloves.
Time to tuck them into bed: wrap in foil to create a little pouch. I like to make the tops pointy so they’re easy to grab with my oven mitts.
Then you’ll simply pop them directly onto your rack in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. If you head of garlic is a bit on the smaller size, check at about 30 minutes. You want the cloves to be light brown/golden in color. Don’t let them get too dark or they’ll be burned.
Side note– they also make cast iron garlic roasters
Once you take the roasted garlic out of the oven, let it cool before adding to any recipe. I like to roast two heads of garlic and mix them with one stick of softened, room temperature butter.
Simply mash it all together with a spoon! Feel free to add herbs here as well: basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, whatever you’d like. Nothing like a bowl of golden butter and golden garlic cloves! I used a small marble bowl
I used this roasted garlic compound butter on freshly roasted corn on the cob. I actually bake my corn in the oven (see the previous link) and it creates a juicy, steamed corn. This roasted garlic butter tasted amazing slathered all over this beauty!
Try roasted garlic in the following dishes!
Here are the printable directions for how to roast garlic in your oven:
How to Roast Garlic in the Oven + Roasted Garlic Compound Butter
Learn how to roast garlic in the oven and how to incorporate it into a delicious, creamy roasted garlic compound butter! Use compound butter on anything from bread to corn on the cob.
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil
- foil
For compound butter
- 1/2 stick salted butter, room temperature
- 1-2 Tbsp chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano)
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, slice the top off the head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown.
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To make compound butter, let garlic come to room temperature after roasting. Squeeze the garlic out of the cloves and into a small bowl with the butter and herbs. Mix well. Store covered tightly in the fridge for up to a week.
Hi! I’m Emily, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and self-taught intuitive chef. I firmly believe that cooking is the simplest and most important step we can take to improve our minds and bodies and build healthier communities. Join me and let’s bring food back to the kitchen!