Cooking with Garlic: Easy Recipes and Tips

July 20, 2020

All chefs understand the importance of garlic. Its sharp, pungent flavor can bring a dish from bland to bold, making it a secret weapon ingredient. To bring you some inspiration, we’ve gathered some tips and tricks on cooking with garlic to get you started. 

Sauces, dips are marinades are recipes everyone should have in their arsenal. Here are some of our favorite garlic recipes with a minimal ingredient list. 

Ingredients: garlic powder, Greek yogurt and salt and pepper

Directions: Mix one teaspoon of garlic powder for every ½ cup of Greek yogurt and add a pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste. For more garlic flavor, you can adjust the amount of garlic powder used in the recipe. 

You can experiment by adding parsley flakes for color or white pepper to change the flavor profile. Garlic dip can be served with chips, vegetable sticks or even by itself, as a garlic sauce for wraps or turkey burgers.

Ingredients: olive oil, chicken broth (can be substituted for vegetable broth to make this recipe vegan), balsamic vinegar and granulated garlic

Directions: In a bowl, whisk together ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup chicken (or vegetable) broth, 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic. Pour into a resealable bag with 1.5 lbs of your favorite protein (such as chicken, steak or tofu) and marinate for at least a few hours (or overnight if you have time) in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to cook your meal, grill your protein and discard any additional marinade.

When using fresh garlic, you have to peel back the skin to get to the clove. To do this quickly, separate two cloves of garlic from the bulb, put the cloves on a microwave-safe dish and microwave it for 7 seconds. Then, press down on the end of the clove. The skin should pop right off.

Or, you can save time and skip the hassle and added waste from washing, peeling and slicing or mincing, by using dried garlic products, which offer many other benefits. 

For instance, when you use roasted garlic powder or granulated garlic, you can get the same flavor profile in your roasted garlic spread or roasted garlic butter, without having to worry about how to cut or roast garlic. 

Cooking with garlic shouldn’t be daunting. It adds a great, distinct flavor, it’s full of health benefits and when you use dried garlic, it saves on wasted product and time.