Oven Roasted Garlic Confit
Feb 05, 2025, Updated Apr 26, 2025
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Oven Roasted garlic confit is one of the best kitchen secrets you can have up your sleeve. It transforms sharp, raw garlic into soft, golden cloves with a velvet-like texture and a mellow, almost sweet flavour. In my kitchen, garlic confit is a true staple. Slow-cooking garlic in good quality olive oil with fresh herbs and aromatics creates pure magic, giving you not only luscious garlic cloves but also a rich, garlic-infused oil that will elevate everything you cook.
Love garlic confit? Check out my whole range of recipes that use garlic confit.
I find garlic confit to be one of the most beautiful things you can make. There’s something so special about watching simple ingredients slowly turn into something so rich, golden and irresistible.
Confit itself is a French cooking technique, all about cooking ingredients low and slow in a generous amount of fat. You might be most familiar with duck confit, where duck is gently cooked in its own fat. When it comes to garlic confit, the process is just as luxurious — only instead of duck fat, we use butter or a good quality extra virgin olive oil to coax the garlic into its sweet, silky best.
The beauty of garlic confit is in its versatility — you can scatter the cloves over focaccia dough, mash them into creamy mashed potatoes, whisk them into salad dressings, swirl them into pasta sauces, or even stir them through brothy soups and slow cooked roasts. And the oil is just as precious — drizzle it over roasted vegetables, finish meats and seafood with it, or use it as the base for sautéing. Once you have a jar of homemade garlic confit sitting in your fridge, you’ll wonder how you ever cooked without it.
Why You'll Love Garlic Confit
- Incredible flavour and texture – Slow-cooked garlic turns beautifully soft, sweet, and silky, with none of the harshness of raw garlic.
- Endless versatility – Use the cloves and infused oil to transform pasta, potatoes, roasted vegetables, dressings, marinades, and more.
- Easy and rewarding – It takes just a few simple ingredients and a little patience to create a luxurious kitchen staple that lasts for weeks.
Recipe Variations
- Butter garlic confit – Swap some or all of the olive oil for butter for an even richer, creamier flavour.
- Spicy garlic confit – Add a few dried chilli flakes or a fresh chilli to the oil for a gentle, warming heat.
- Herb-infused garlic confit – Add extra herbs like thyme, rosemary, bay leaves or oregano to the oil for layers of beautiful, earthy flavour.
Ingredients
You only need a handful of ingredients to make garlic confit — at its core it’s just garlic and good olive oil, but you can build in extra flavour with salt, fresh herbs, peppercorns, chilli flakes or even a little lemon zest.
- Olive Oil: A good quality extra virgin olive oil is essential for garlic confit. Not only does it infuse the garlic with beautiful richness, but it also becomes a star ingredient itself — you’ll be drizzling this oil over everything. Choose an oil you love the taste of, because it will directly impact the final flavour.
- Garlic: Always use fresh, firm garlic bulbs rather than pre-peeled or packaged garlic. Fresh cloves have better flavour, texture, and a lower risk of bacterial contamination. Taking a few extra minutes to peel the garlic yourself makes all the difference in both taste and safety.
- Herbs and Aromatics (Optional): While not necessary, adding sprigs of thyme, rosemary, peppercorns, chilli flakes or strips of lemon zest can infuse even more depth and character into your garlic confit. They turn a simple jar of garlic and oil into something layered, aromatic, and truly special.
HOW TO Make
Making garlic confit is as simple as it is magical. All you need to do is gently simmer peeled garlic cloves in a bath of good olive oil over the lowest heat until they turn soft, golden, and incredibly tender. The key is patience — slow, gentle cooking is what transforms the garlic from sharp and pungent to sweet, mellow and spreadable.
Step 1: Peel the garlic by breaking the cloves away and placing them into a heatproof bowl. Submerge in boiling hot water for 5 minutes and drain. The skin will become loose and easy to peel away
Step 2: Peel the garlic skin off.
Step 3: Remove the top core of the garlic with a sharp knife. While these are fine to keep, they aren't overly pleasant to eat!
Step 4: Place the garlic cloves into an oven proof dish and submerge with olive oil. Add herbs or aromatics if using.
Step 5: Bake the garlic confit at 120°C / 250°F or until the garlic is golden and soft to touch.
Step 6: Once the garlic is cooked, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and place into sterilised jars. Fully submerge the garlic cloves with the garlic oil and use it as a cooking oil in anything you make!
storing
There are a few very important rules to follow when storing garlic confit — and they’re not just suggestions. Garlic confit, when not stored correctly, carries a risk of Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that can lead to botulism. But don’t let that scare you — with proper handling, garlic confit is completely safe to make and store.
- Refrigeration is essential: Once your garlic confit has cooled slightly, transfer both the garlic and the oil into clean, sterilised, airtight glass jars and place them straight into the fridge. Do not leave garlic confit at room temperature, for an extended period of time. The warm, low-oxygen environment in the oil creates ideal conditions for botulinum spores to thrive if not chilled properly.
- Shelf life and safety: While confit is a traditional preservation method, I recommend keeping your garlic confit refrigerated and using it within 2 to 3 weeks to stay on the safe side. Always use clean utensils when scooping it out, and discard it if you notice any off smells or signs of spoilage.
- Choosing your jars: You can use any sterilised glass container, but I personally love storing my garlic confit in Kilner jars. They’re sturdy, airtight, and the perfect size for keeping this golden goodness fresh and safe.
FAQ'S
I have tried every possible method out there on how to best peel garlic cloves. While you can resort to a big bag of pre-peeled garlic cloves, I always prefer to use fresh garlic.
Shake – You can place the garlic cloves into a jar, pop the lid on and shake them until the skin is removed. You need to shake the jar for a long time and you will get a sore arm!
Boiling hot water – In a glass bowl, fully submerge the garlic with boiling hot water and leave to sit for 5 minutes. The skin will loosen and will slide right off. This is my favourite technique for peeling lots of garlic!
Cold water - Place the garlic cloves into a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave them to sit for a minimum of one hour to allow the skin to loosen. It will slide right off! It's a similar technique to using hot water however, cold water does not alter the texture of the garlic in any way.
Microwave – place the garlic into the microwave for 10 seconds and then skin should become loose. I don't like this method as the garlic can slightly cook and also be very hot to touch!
Yes, you can freeze garlic confit. To freeze, portion the garlic cloves (and a little oil) into ice cube trays, freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe container. This makes it easy to grab small portions when needed. Frozen garlic confit can last for up to 2 months.
Garlic confit must be stored in sterilised, airtight glass jars and kept in the refrigerator immediately after cooling. Never leave garlic confit at room temperature, as this can increase the risk of botulism. When stored properly, it can last for 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge.
How to Serve GarliC coNFIT
Garlic confit is one of those magical ingredients that can be used in almost everything, and I always have a jar tucked away in my fridge ready to go. The soft, sweet cloves can be spread straight onto warm bread, mashed into butter to make garlic butter, stirred through creamy pasta, blended into a garlic and herb dip, or melted into sauces for a seafood dinner and cozy soups for an instant boost of flavour. The garlic-infused oil is just as precious. It has a beautiful garlic flavour and can be repurposed in any recipe that calls for olive oil!
I have a whole section on my website that showcases all my recipes that use garlic confit.
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Garlic Confit
Ingredients
- 6 heads garlic
- 3 cups olive oil, extra virgin
- 6 sprigs of thyme
Instructions
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F
- Peel garlic: Peel the garlic by breaking the cloves away and placing them into a heatproof bowl. Submerge in boiling hot water for 5 minutes and drain. The skin will become loose and easy to peel away.
- Bake: Place the garlic cloves and thyme into an ovenproof dish and fully submerge in olive oil. It's important the garlic is fully submerged in the olive oil so it does not burn. Bake for 1 - 2 hours or until the garlic has become golden and is soft to touch.
- Serve and Store: Allow the garlic confit to cool and store in an airtight container or jar for 2 - 3 weeks in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Olive Oil: A good quality extra virgin olive oil is essential for garlic confit. Not only does it infuse the garlic with beautiful richness, but it also becomes a star ingredient itself — you’ll be drizzling this oil over everything. Choose an oil you love the taste of, because it will directly impact the final flavour.
- Garlic: Always use fresh, firm garlic bulbs rather than pre-peeled or packaged garlic. Fresh cloves have better flavour, texture, and a lower risk of bacterial contamination. Taking a few extra minutes to peel the garlic yourself makes all the difference in both taste and safety.
- Storing: Garlic confit can be stored in the fridge for 2 - 3 weeks in a sterilised glass jar. Always keep in the fridge and do not leave out at room temperature for a long period of time.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Delicious 😋 Make this almost weekly to use with bruschetta.
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