Garlic Confit Recipe: Garlic as Soft as Butter

Garlic confit is one of the things I reach for most in my kitchen. It goes into my pasta without fail, now and then into meatball mix, and sometimes I mash it with butter and spread it on bread. Cooked slowly in oil, garlic loses its bite and turns spoon-soft, gently sweet and deep in flavour. It is also very easy to make.

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Recipe

Garlic Confit

• Cook1 hr
• Makes1 jar

Ingredients

• 1 jar’s worth peeled garlic cloves (about 4 heads)
• extra virgin olive oil, enough to cover the garlic completely

For a spicy version, add

• a few dried red chillies

Method

1. Heat the oven to 120°C (250°F).
2. Pack the peeled garlic into an ovenproof jar or a small dish. If you want it spicy, add the dried chillies.
3. Pour in the olive oil until the garlic is fully submerged.
4. Cook for about 1 hour, until the cloves are soft enough to crush with a spoon and lightly golden.
5. Take it out of the oven, let it cool to room temperature and put it straight in the fridge.

Notes

• Never keep it at room temperature. Keep it in the fridge in a clean, closed container for no more than 1 week; to keep it longer, freeze the garlic and its oil in ice cube trays.

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How to store it

Garlic kept in oil at room temperature, in a sealed jar, carries a risk of botulism, and cooking it in the oven does not remove that risk. So:

• Never keep garlic confit at room temperature, in a cupboard or on a shelf.
• Keep it in the fridge, in a clean, closed container, for no more than 1 week.
• To keep it longer, divide the garlic and its oil between ice cube trays and freeze; take out only what you need.

When I first shared this recipe years ago, I wrote that the jar keeps for a long time. Food safety guidance today is clear: refrigerate it and use it within days. These days I make small batches and finish them within a week, or freeze them.

How I use it

• Pasta: I warm my tomato sauce in the confit oil and crush a few cloves into the sauce.
• Yalancı mantı (lazy mantı): a few cloves of confit and a spoonful of its oil stirred into strained yoghurt instead of raw garlic. The yoghurt tastes of garlic without turning sharp.
• Bread: mashed with butter and a good pinch of salt, spread on toast.
• Pizza: the oil brushed over the crust as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven.
• Meatballs and dolma: a few cloves in meatball mix, or inside dried aubergine dolma.
• Meze: in hummus, cacık and dips, in place of raw garlic.