How to Roast Garlic in 4 Easy Steps

Garlic. You either love it or hate it but there's no denying it is a main ingredient in many gourmet dishes, and many people just love the taste of garlic bread, garlic bread sticks, and even bruchetta with garlic. Additionally it has been known to have many health benefits from helping your cardiovascular system to antibiotic properties. It's no surprise that there is a big industry in garlic pills and powders for vitamin supplements.

If you are one of those people that just loves the taste of garlic then here is how to make perfect roasted garlic you can eat straight up with your fingers, or smeared on your favorite artisan bread or crackers. Additionally you can use roasted garlic in your home made sauces, on your pizza toppings or in your pasta dishes.

1. You can use a garlic roasting dish designed especially for roasting garlic, however I have found them to be limited in size if I want to roast a lot of garlic. A metal baking pan or glass baking dish will work just as good. Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of your baking pan or dish. Do not overdo it or the oil will splatter in the oven, and this is dangerous.

2. Break the bulb of garlic and separate the cloves. Do your best to peel off the shallow paper like thin skin as much as possible. It is the excess skin between the cloves you are removing, but you will leave each individual clove's skin in tact.

3. Place the garlic in your baking dish or pan. You can even use muffin pans if you like if you want to roast some bulbs whole. Now drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the laid out garlic. Take aluminum foil and tightly cover the pan or baking dish so that it retains the moisture and the garlic does not get dried out or overcooked and hard.

4. Bake at 375 degrees F (preheated oven) for approximately 20-25 minutes or until the garlic is soft when pressed with a small cocktail fork.