The Easiest Way to Peel Garlic
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All true garlic lovers need an easy way to peel garlic.
I love the flavor of garlic and of course, everyone’s read about all of the great health benefits that garlic has, but it’s a pain to peel.
What a great thing to be able to add something that tastes great and is great for you to your everyday meals!
But the peels – now that’s another thing.
For years I’ve been flustered about how to peel garlic without ending up wanting to pull my hair out. Or worse.
I’ve tried cooking with garlic in lots of ways:
- peeling cloves with my fingers (ouch!)
- peeling with a garlic peeler (those rubber rolls that look like toilet paper rolls [messy, messy, messy]). My kids loved doing it (for awhile), but the novelty soon wore off and those little garlic peelings were all over the place :-(!
- using pre-peeled garlic. I’d buy a large container of pre-peeled garlic and would freeze it in small bags (to see the bags and clips that I use, check out my posts on How and Why to Store Prepared Beans or 6 Super Tips for Cilantro).
- Smashing cloves with the flat side of my knife (thanks to the reader who reminded me of this) – but the cloves easily slipped out from under my knife and I always felt like I was at risk of impaling myself — all for the love of garlic!
- Using granulated garlic or garlic powder (or homemade garlic powder)
Clearly, the easiest method is to use granulated garlic or garlic powder, but I felt so much better using whole garlic cloves due to the health benefits of garlic and the fresher taste, so I gravitated towards the frozen pre-peeled.
That is, however, until I did some research and talked with a garlic expert on the phone who told me that the nutritional benefits of garlic are almost nil once you freeze garlic. Ugh! Back to the drawing board!
So I got out my silly rubbery garlic peeler again and had those pesky garlic peelings all over the place again.
And I pretty much dreaded making any recipe that had garlic in it!
Then – one day – I got an idea and I tried it. And guess what? My garlic peeling nightmares are over. And now yours are too :-)!
So if you’ve been wondering how to peel garlic without losing your mind, you are in the right place.
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Does Garlic Lose Health Benefits When Cooked?
This is an important fact to know and a tip that can help you retain garlic’s benefits in your cooked dishes.
Garlic is loaded with tons of health benefits, but heat will destroy them.
Letting the cut or chopped garlic sit for 10-15 minutes before eating or adding to a dish will maximize the benefits. The cutting or chopping breaks the garlic cells and releases enzymes from the cells that react with oxygen in the air. That reaction triggers healthy sulfide compounds, such as allicin (the most well known beneficial component of garlic), to form.
However, it’s important to not cook garlic for too long or you will destroy some of those benefits. It’s best to add garlic to your hot dish near the end of cooking. Of course it will taste a lot stronger, however, so that’s the trade off.
Some sources say that letting the garlic sit for 10-15 minutes prior to cooking makes the allicin form and that it’s pretty heat stable, but that seems to be up for debate.
Easiest Way to Peel Garlic
Instructions
- Remove one clove from the garlic head.
- Cut clove in half, through the peel.
- At this point, typically each half clove will come out easily from the peel. Sometimes, like in this photo, the halves just fall out of the peel on their own! (Occasionally, a half clove will prove to be a bit stubborn and you will have to cut off the thick end of the clove that is adhered to the peel. Just slice through it quickly with your knife.)
Well, there you have it! An easy way to peel garlic–simple and painless!
Need more kitchen tips? Out of time as much as I am? How about:
– The Easiest Way to Store Tomatoes
– The Easiest Way to Preserve Herbs
– The Easiest Way to Freeze and Store Berries
– Easiest Almond Milk Ever
– Easiest Coconut Milk
– Easiest Baby Wipes
How do you usually peel garlic?
I use a garlic press. Just put the clove in with the skin still on it and squeeze, and you have perfect minced garlic. I love it!
We enjoy onions AND garlic in our cooking. I have a garlic press made in Germany that is strong and sturdy. Your suggestion how to get the skin off is great! Thank you so much.
If you are going to be cooking the garlic, the best thing to do is add it to the pan/baking tray for a few minutes. After that, the skins just slip off! It probably has something to do with the moisture/heat. Often, if it is not necessary to infuse the dish with the flavor, I will just leave the garlic cloves in their skin — they come out so much milder, sweeter and more delicious than garlic cooked naked! And you can just squeeze them right out of the skins like garlic puree. SO worth it. Of course, if you need the garlic raw than this doesn’t help! Sometimes if I’m doing that I just run them under the tap. That seems to work almost as well.
I love garlic. It’s the key ingredient to many of my dishes. I’m a garlic smasher. It makes the garlic easier to mince that way.
Thanks for linking up every week at our Friday Food Fight. I hope you’ll join us again this week. 🙂
https://deniseisrundmt.com/2011/07/29/a-beautiful-thing/
I microwaved garlic , let it dry for 2 minutes. easy to peel off
i smash the garlic w/a knife. i dont like to have a bunch of gdgets around. less clutter on the counters, less to wash in the dishwasher (or handwash). i make due w/what i hv. but thats me.
I love this tip! I use fresh garlic several times a week and I do the whole smash with the knife routine and then pick the pieces of peel off with my fingers…this is way better!! So glad to discover your blog 🙂
I do the same thing you do for peeling garlic. It’s one of the easiest things to grow in the garden.
This is great! I can hot peppers and have to put 3 fresh garlic cloves in each pint. It takes me forever to peel them. I will be canning again in a couple weeks so I will give this a try. Thanks for sharing!
I am amazed at how many different methods are listed here in the comments!
You can add me to the list of those who hate cleaning the garlic press, so I just do mine by hand. But you’re right – the garlic tries to roll out from under the knife blade when you smash it. I will have to try your way!
Great idea! I have tried microwaving the garlic for 5-7 seconds, the skins just pop off.
Nice idea, but we have gotten completely away from using our microwave. Thought I could never do it, but finally it’s done :-). It always seemed strange to me that we would “zap” our foods and consider it to be a healthy thing. I hope to do a post on it soon :-).
This is an excellent idea! I’ve always cut off the tips and then a thin slice down the skin, from end to end and it pops out pretty easily, but this is even better- it saves two extra cuts! Thanks.
Great tips. I really have a hard time with this. I found you from Ginger Snaps today.
I am going to host a link up party on August 1 and the link will be open for awhile. I would love for you to link up because I think you would have some good recipes and ideas. The link will be called Meal-Planning Made Easy. My goal is for bloggers to link up recipes or tips to help meal planning easy for us in August.
My blog has more details.
Hope you join me. I’m following you now because I think you have some information that will help me as a mom. Leigh
I love this! I usually smash the cloves with the smooth side of a meat pounder, but this seems easier. I had a nice garlic press that cleaned itself pretty good, but never had the strength to push the garlic through it. Even my husband hated it.
You must know that the Gilroy Garlic Festival is this weekend….. I am a very lazy (former) Gilroyan though, I buy the minced garlic in a jar from Christopher Ranch. No mess. My brother in law says that I am a cheater.
I use a garlic press. You don’t even have to peel the garlic cloves that way. =D That’s a great tip, though, if I need garlic pronto and my press is in the dishwasher. 😉
I actually bought a garlic “peeler” that is a little rubber tube. My neighbor’s Dad made his own by using a bicycle tube. You just put the cloves inside and press down while you roll it on the counter. The peel comes right off.
My Phillipino friend uses a large rock and just smashes the garlic on the counter, and then pulls off the peel. I know that works, but I really like my little rubber tube. 🙂
Yes, that “peeler” is exactly what I wrote about in my post. I have the hardest time w/ the peels ending up all over the place, and then they don’t come out easily so I am left with peels in my drawer :-(. And just a thought about the bicycle tube….I would recommend that they at least get a real “peeler” or try my method. Bicycle rubber tubing is not food safe. I don’t think I’d want that on my garlic.
I could never get the hang of the knife thing either, so I just smash each clove with a can, works every time!
Hi Kelly! I think that sounds like a fun (albeit loud) idea! And you can get some aggressions out while you are at it! I would recommend washing the can first though. Never know where the bottom of that can has been :-)! Though now that I’ve learned a lot about what’s in our water, the water is sometimes gross too :(.
Oh that is far too elegant…I just smash the clove with the side of my knife. I’ll have to try it this way.
Funny that you say “elegant”. Must be the photo :-). I had a hard time smashing the cloves. They tended to move around under my knife.
Have you ever tried a garlic press? It will squeeze the garlic out right through the peel, so you don’t even have to fool with peeling it. It may leave a teeny bit of garlic that you would get if you peeled and minced it, but in my opinion it’s worth it for the ease of dealing with it. Love your idea too!
Yes, I have tried it. I thought about adding it to my post, but then I thought that it truly is a different “technique” made for when one wants a more intense garlic flavor. Also, I have to admit, I never liked cleaning my press :-).
Hmm–I never thought it made a big difference in the flavor–I use it all the time and it’s never too strong. It also takes away the threat of biting into a big chunk of garlic while you’re eating 🙂 And mine has a rubber part that you can flip around backwards to get the clove out. Then I just stick it in the dishwasher and it gets clean enough.
I just have read in a number of places that a press is used for more intense garlic flavor. I can see what you mean about the large pieces of garlic for dishes when the garlic is raw. I kind of like it when I get a large piece and it is cooked.
You are right about the dishwasher. I don’t do loads frequently enough for that to work for me, but it would certainly work if you do them daily. Thanks!
I think we may have the same one. I just rinse with water and throw it back in the drawer. 🙂