30 Garlic Recipes to Ward Off Kitchen Blues (and Vampires)
Garlic is a pantry staple — the basis of a good sauce, the sizzle in soup, the extra kick in your kitchen. It’s good for your health, it fills your home with a cozy aroma, and it can even be used to keep vampires away. What’s not to love?
Still, it’s often overlooked or an afterthought. It’s so small, so fiddly, so easy to forget to add to the pot. How many times have we all said, “Shoot, I forgot to add the garlic?”
But not today! We have a whole month’s worth of garlic recipes to inspire, enhance, and spice up your kitchen. Chase away winter blues and pandemic-cooking fatigue with these 30 recipes where garlic finally takes center stage.
The Basics
Have these on hand to punch up any meal.
Herby Garlic Confit: Made by steeping garlic, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves in olive oil, garlic confit adds a kick to everyday staples. Spread it on toast, add it to your next batch of mashed potatoes or toss it into your next pasta sauce. Get the recipe from Bon Appétit.
Wild Garlic Butter: As long as you can find the wild garlic leaves that are the secret to its earthy flavor, this is a quick and easy toast transformer. Just mash with butter and sea salt. If you can forage, or if you grow garlic in your garden, this will be no problem. Get the recipe from BBC Good Food.
Roasted Garlic: Reimagine garlic as not just an ingredient but a food in its own right. Roasting whole heads of garlic mellows its pungency and brings out a delicious nutty flavor. Simply drizzle trimmed garlic with olive oil, wrap it in foil, and pop it into the oven. An hour later, you’ll have the perfect puncher-upper for soups, mashed potatoes, or dips. Get the recipe from Love and Lemons.
Garlic Herb Broth: Keep this fresh, earthy, cold-curing broth at the ready for sick days or just “can’t-think-of-anything-else” days. Get the recipe from Epicurious.
Garlic Salt: Add this staple to your spice cabinet in just a few pinches. You can simply mix one part garlic powder with three parts salt or use a more intricate process with fresh garlic. Get the recipe from The Spruce Eats.
Condiments
Fill your fridge with game-changing sauces and spices to drizzle, dip, and transform everything you eat.
Homemade Chili Garlic Sauce: The secret to whipping up this popular Huy Fong brand-imitation chili sauce is sourcing the right peppers. Red jalapeño peppers have a bright, hot finish and, when pureed with garlic, salt, sugar, and vinegar, create a sizzling condiment to spice up noodles. Get the recipe from Omnivore’s Cookbook.
Garlic Mojo Sauce: This rich, flavorful condiment has roots in the Caribbean and can be used as both a topping and a marinade. Briefly sauté garlic with cumin and oregano to release the flavors, then cool and combine with chili and citrus for a punchy, tangy game-changer. Get the recipe from Epicurious.
Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum): Toum is a warm, rich sauce popularly spread over Middle Eastern dishes. With only four ingredients — garlic, oil, lemon, and salt — the result of the slow emulsification process is close to magic. Get the recipe from Feel Good Foodie.
Garlic Mayo: Upgrade your sandwiches and burgers instantly with this under-five-minute condiment. Just mince a clove of garlic into a cup of mayonnaise and spice with pinches of chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper to taste. Get the recipe from Food Network.
Garlicky Harissa: The beloved Samin Nosrat of Netflix fame turns classic harissa, a hot chili paste native to Algeria and Tunisia, into garlicky barbecue sauce in this easy, make-ahead garlic recipe. Get the recipe from Bon Appétit.
Bites
Turn snacks into events.
Garlic Naan: There’s no baking involved in this easy-to-make Indian flatbread. Instead, dough leavened with yeast and baking soda is sprinkled with garlic and basted with butter before cooked on the stovetop in a hot skillet. Get the recipe from Food & Wine.
Homemade Garlic Knots: This pizza parlor staple offers a literal twist on the ordinary breadstick. The trick is to add zesty, garlicky herb butter both before and after baking. Get the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Garlic Bread: Garlic bread is universally loved. There are plenty of ways you can go with this one, but Ambitious Kitchen claims this is the best garlic bread you will ever eat. Who are we to disagree? Get the recipe from Ambitious Kitchen.
White Bean Dip With Roasted Garlic and Rosemary: This crowd-pleasing appetizer pairs great with pita or crudités and is the perfect reason to roast garlic. Get the recipe from Food52.
Deep-Fried Garlic Cloves and Green Olives: Start your next party with these moreish, munchable deep-fried bites of garlic and olive. Antipasti will never be the same. Get the recipe from NYT Cooking.
Sides
Like at Thanksgiving, sides are often the best part of the meal — especially when lots of garlic is involved.
Garlic-Miso Butter Mashed Potatoes: Anyone can smash some garlic and add it to creamy whipped potatoes. But a few spoonfuls of miso add just the right amount of saltiness to allow the garlic to shine through. You’ll never look back. Get the recipe from Bon Appétit.
Restaurant Garlic Noodles: Something magical happens in the creation of this simple dish that whips a few ingredients into one of the most delicious bowls of noodles you will ever taste. This recipe mimics the garlic noodles you’d find at a fine Vietnamese restaurant. Get the recipe from Vicky Pham.
Slow-Cooked Scallions With Ginger and Chile: A head of garlic and slices of garlic transforms scallions from a mere ramen topper to a flavorful side dish. Get the recipe from Epicurious.
Garlicky Plantains: Fried ripe plantains are a standout Caribbean dish. The sweet, caramelized fruit balances amazingly with rich, earthy garlic. Serve alongside rice and chicken with Garlic Mojo Sauce. Get the recipe from Epicurious.
Roasted Broccoli With Garlic and Tahini: This reinvention of a Middle Eastern mezze will prevent the forgotten head of broccoli at the back of your fridge from going to waste ever again. Just roast broccoli and drizzle with garlicky tahini. Get the recipe from NYT Cooking.
Soups
Savor a moment of warmth and cure common colds with a kick of garlic in your winter soups.
Garlic Soup: This simple Spanish garlic recipe, popular in Madrid, blends six pureed cloves of garlic with rich chicken stock and spicy paprika to create a bright, hot soup thickened with egg whites. Get the recipe from NYT Cooking.
Garlicky White Bean Soup: The master of minimalist cooking strips down a Tuscan classic. Beyond taking the time to use dry white beans instead of a can, there’s nothing difficult about this delicious soup that makes the perfect winter lunch. Get the recipe from Mark Bittman.
Wild Garlic Nettle Soup: This garlic recipe alone is worth the bother of burying a few extra cloves of garlic in your garden to produce the green garlic sprouts that fortify a rich and earthy vegetable soup. Get the recipe from BBC Good Food.
Cream of Garlic and Saffron Soup: Savory saffron deepens and complexifies a whopping three heads of garlic in this creamy, wintry soup. Get the recipe from BBC Good Food.
Beans and Garlic Toast in Broth: Is this soup? Debatable. Are we including it anyway? You bet. If you’ve never thought of serving garlic toast alongside white beans in broth, you’re not alone. But you’re missing out on one of the best comfort foods ever. Get the recipe from NYT Cooking.
Mains
Yes, garlic can be the main event, too! Try these delicious garlic-forward dishes.
Magic Garlicky Tofu: Tofu baked and sauteed in a peppery garlic sauce with onion, jalapeño, and soy transforms into the perfect easy weeknight dish. Top with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds and serve over white rice to beat the takeout you were going to grab. Get the recipe from Gimme Some Oven.
Honey Garlic Pork Chops: Blend honey, soy, and cider vinegar with three minced cloves of garlic to create a sweet and spicy glaze that pairs perfectly with pork. The trick is to sear the pork chops with oil and butter to create a rich, crispy finish, then top generously with the glaze. Get the recipe from Coco and Ash.
Garlic-Chile Ground Pork: Reminiscent of Thai larb, this ground pork dish is the perfect, pungent addition to salad, rice, or grain bowls. Get the recipe from Epicurious.
Monkfish With Garlic and Fennel Cream Sauce: Generous amounts of garlic add depth and flavor to monkfish. You can also use any fresh white fish fillet. Serve this dish over rice to mop up every last bite of creamy fennel and garlic. Get the recipe from Let’s Eat the World.
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp: Garlic shrimp is a traditional Hawaiian shrimp truck favorite of the North Shore of Oahu. You can capture the flavors in the recipe here and learn some of the history too. Get the recipe from Onolicious Hawaii.
All out of garlic? Find more inspiration for your spice cabinet here.
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