📌 Roasted Garlic Confit

Posted 4 May 2026 by: Admin #Recipes

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

1h30 to 2h

Total Time

2 hours

Servings

1 pot (about 30 cloves)

Garlic confit is the preparation that almost no one makes and that everyone should have in their fridge at all times. Ten minutes of work, two hours in the oven, and you get a jar of melting cloves that will change your cooking for ten days. It’s as simple as that.

Final result — A jar of roasted garlic confit with fresh herbs, ready to elevate all your everyday dishes.

Imagine a small terrine dish out of the oven, the oil still simmering gently around light caramel-colored cloves. It smells of warm rosemary and something soft, almost sweet — not at all the aggressive garlic you know. If you squeeze a clove between two fingers, it crushes without the slightest resistance, like soft butter. The oil itself has taken on all these aromas during cooking and is worth almost as much as the cloves themselves.

Why you’ll love this recipe

✓Zero technique required : You mix everything in a dish, pop it in the oven, and go do something else for two hours. No supervision, no stressful timing, no risk of failing.

✓Garlic becomes unrecognizable : Raw, garlic is pungent and leaves you with hard-to-manage breath. Confited at a low temperature, it becomes mild, almost sweet, without any aggressiveness. People who don’t like garlic come back for seconds.

✓The oil is as precious as the cloves : It has been infused with garlic, rosemary, and thyme for two hours. Use it to sauté vegetables, season a salad, or flavor a hummus. Don’t throw it away.

✓Perfect for effortless entertaining : Serving confit cloves with good crusty bread as an appetizer is the kind of thing that impresses without you really having worked. Prepare it two days in advance and just take the jar out of the fridge five minutes before your guests arrive.

Ingredient Notes

Ingredients

Four heads of garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, and a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme: that’s all it takes.

Garlic : Take 4 large heads. If you can find Lautrec pink garlic or Cadours purple garlic, perfect — the cloves are meatier and the taste is significantly better. Avoid the netted garlic that has been sitting on shelves for months: the cloves are often flabby and the result disappointing.
Extra-virgin olive oil : This is what will soak up all the aromas during the two-hour cook. Use an oil you like to eat — no need for a grand cru at €30 a bottle, but something honest. A tasteless oil will result in a characterless confit.
Fresh rosemary and thyme : Two sprigs of each. Rosemary brings a slightly resinous woody note, thyme an earthy and lemony side. Fresh is preferred, but dried also works. You can add a bay leaf or a few black peppercorns if the fancy takes you.

Peel the garlic without rushing

This is the most tedious part of the recipe. For 4 heads of garlic, you’ll end up with about thirty cloves to peel. The trick: lightly crush each clove with the flat of a knife; the skin comes off on its own. Under your fingers, you feel the pressure give way and the clove slip out of its paper skin. Work without rushing — this is also the time to preheat the oven to 120°C. No higher.

Never exceed 120°C

This is the absolute rule of this recipe. Garlic confit is cooked at a low temperature, period. At 180°C, the garlic burns — and burnt garlic is unpalatable, a bitter acridity that contaminates the whole jar even if only one clove is affected. At 120°C, the cloves color very gradually, going from pearly white to an almost hazelnut amber hue. In the oil, you should see no violent boiling — just a very calm, almost discrete simmering, like a gentle breath.

Wait. That’s it.

Put the dish in the oven and close the door. You have nothing else to do for the next hour and a half. Around 1 hour of cooking, take a look — the cloves should be lightly golden and if you smell a deep, sweet caramel scent mixed with warm herbs, everything is fine. Leave for another 30 minutes. The texture we are looking for at the end: a clove that crushes effortlessly between two fingers, melting and silky to the core.

Cool it immediately after the oven

Take the dish out and plunge it into an ice water bath to cool the oil quickly. This isn’t paranoia — warm oil with garlic in it is an ideal environment for botulism, a serious bacterium. Don’t let the jar sit on the counter for two hours. Once cooled, pour everything into a clean jar, cover, and put in the fridge. It keeps for 7 to 10 days without a problem.

Tips & Tricks

Watch the smaller cloves: they color faster than the large ones and can burn while the others are still cooking. Remove them from the dish as soon as they look ready to you.
After using the cloves, keep the oil. It is flavored with garlic and herbs — perfect for sautéing vegetables, seasoning pasta, or preparing a vinaigrette that really makes a difference.
To freeze: fill an ice cube tray with the cloves and cover with oil, place in the freezer. Each cube provides a ready-to-use portion for a risotto, soup, or stir-fry.

Close-up — A beautifully caramelized confit clove, melting and golden, which spreads like butter on bread.

FAQs

How long does garlic confit keep in the refrigerator?

7 to 10 days maximum, in an airtight jar in the fridge. Never leave it at room temperature: garlic in oil is a breeding ground for botulism, and the cold is the only effective protection.

Can you freeze garlic confit?

Yes, and it’s the best way to always have some on hand. Pour the cloves with their oil into an ice cube tray, freeze, then transfer the cubes to a freezer bag. Each cube = one ready-to-use portion, up to 3 months.

How do you know if the confit is cooked?

Squeeze a clove between two fingers: it should crush without any resistance, like soft butter. The color should be amber, close to a light caramel, without any dark brown areas or acrid smell.

Can you use an oil other than olive oil?

Yes: grapeseed oil or sunflower oil work very well, with a more neutral taste. Choose an oil you like to eat, since it will soak up all the aromas and become a condiment itself.

How do you use garlic confit in daily life?

Mash one or two cloves on toast, stir them into a mash, a risotto, a soup, or a vinaigrette. The cooking oil can be used to sauté vegetables, flavor pasta, or replace raw garlic in any recipe.

Can you add other herbs or spices?

Absolutely. Bay leaves, black peppercorns, dried chili, or lemon zest work very well. Add them directly to the dish with the rosemary and thyme before putting it in the oven.