Easy Garlic Confit

An easy step by step recipe for garlic confit with professional taste and results. 

Garlic Confit is a simple way to not only preserve garlic cloves, but also infuse olive oil with garlic flavor. Derived from the French word confire which means to preserve, confit is a culinary method that involves poaching something (in this case garlic) in a rendered fat at a low temperature. With a few simple cheap ingredients and a little bit of time, you'll be preserving and enjoying the flavors of garlic in no time. 

Let's get to preserving!

A Garlic Heads Up: Your entire kitchen is about to smell like garlic, yourself included. I don't personally mind the smell of garlic, but sometimes it's nice to have a heads up before walking out the door. 


HEALTH NOTE: As with most canned and preserved food items, BOTULISM is a potential serious health risk. Botulism grows and thrives in an anaerobic environment, like your garlic confit. Please follow safe food preparation, handling, and storage practices to minimize and prevent the risk of botulism.  Here is another article specifically about garlic confit and the risk for botulism. 

Gather the following:

• 2 Cups of Peeled Garlic Cloves
• 2 Cups of Olive Oil
• 5 Fresh Thyme Sprigs
• 1-2 Medium Bay Leaves
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Fresh Peppercorns
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Kosher Salt
• Dutch Oven
• Glass Tight Sealing Storage Container
• 2 Similarly Sized Mixing Bowls

I found this recipe on the Cordon Bleu Culinary Central Website. Not only do I trust it and use it, but it's almost identical to most recipes out there for garlic confit. You can always experiment with other rendered fats or herbs!

Start by peeling your garlic. Don't worry, there is an easy way to peel upwards of 80 cloves, just do the following. 

Separate your cloves from your heads of garlic and place in a mixing bowl. Once all of your cloves are in your mixing bowl, invert your second mixing bowl and place it on top of your bowl that contains the garlic. Place a hand on the base of each bowl and shake vigorously. Your garlic should naturally lose it's skin! Now just pluck your de-skinned garlic cloves out of the bowl and discard/compost the skins. Easy right?

Preheat your oven to 300F.

Place your peeled garlic, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt and olive oil into your dutch oven.  Place your lid on the dutch oven. Once your oven is up to temperature, place your dutch oven into the oven. 

Cook your garlic for an hour or until your garlic is brown and soften. My oven tends to run just a little hot, and it took just around 45 minutes for my garlic to become tender and brown. I highly recommend checking in with your garlic every 20 minutes or so once you're past the first half hour of poaching. 

While your garlic is cooking, you can easily sterilize your jars. 

Fill a large pot with water and heat until the water is boiling. Slip your jar into the boiling water slowly. Boil your storage jars in the boiling water for a minimum of 10 minutes. 

Using a slotted spoon, scoop your garlic into your sterilized jar. Once all of your garlic is in, ladle your hot oil into you jar on top of your garlic. Keep adding oil until your garlic is covered.

Close your jar. Store in your refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

Use your garlic confit on anything and everything. I love it as a pizza topper, in a salad vinaigrette, or on a slice of bread with butter. Once you've used up your garlic, you can also use the oil in your culinary adventures and impart a garlic flavor to your delicious dish.