How to peel garlic easily, and fast

If you struggle to peel garlic, you are not alone. I use many cloves of garlic in my meals. And I also grow over 800 bulbs of it yearly, so I have a lot of garlic to deal with! (Although, I have replanted a lot of that garlic so far).

The garlic I grow has particularly tough skin (each variety is slightly different), which is great for our climate but can be a challenge to get started for peeling. And this becomes a huge task if you want to prepare not just a garlicky stew, but projects like a large batches of fermented garlic, pickled garlic, or other kinds of preservation. So what to do?

Lots of garlic in a box
This is the “reject” garlic from the 800 heads I grew this year. Luckily not too much, but still lots of garlic to process all at once!

Here is an easy hack to make peeling garlic a lot easier… and it doesn’t get more simple than this. And no, you don’t need to smash the garlic with a knife. I had no idea this was a way to handle a large number of cloves until I witnessed a chef do this on a cooking show somewhat recently.

Lots of garlic in a box

How to peel garlic quickly and easily

Do you use a lot of garlic? Making a recipe to preserve garlic? Here's an easy way to peel large amounts FAST.
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Keyword: garlic, kitchen tips
Prep Time: 0 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Calories:
Author: Jen deHaan

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Boil 2-3 cups of water - you need enough to mostly cover however much garlic you are processing (see image for next step).
  • Pour hot water into a bowl, and add garlic.
    Garlic in hot water in a bowl
  • Allow the garlic to sit in the water for 30 seconds to a minute.
  • Remove the gloves from the water using a utensil (fork, slotted spoon, etc), or pour into a colendar, and then peel once they are cool enough to touch. The skins should pop right off from the clove, often in a single piece.
    Garlic in a colendar.
Tried this recipe?Mention @PlantBasedRecipe or tag #MyPlantBasedRecipe!

And you end up with gorgeous peeled garlic in no time!

Garlic in a colendar.
Clean peeled garlic. The skin practically pops off the clove in a single piece.

Do you have other ways to manage large volumes of garlic cloves? Let us know in the comments!

How to peel garlic quickly image
It’s easy to peel a lot of garlic quickly using this simple process.
Jen deHaan
Jen deHaan

Jen is a plant-based nutrition enthusiast and vegan living in British Columbia, Canada. She has over 20 years experience in software, graphics, and art, including many years in Silicon Valley corporations. Jen completed the Developing Healthy Communities graduate program at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Jen really likes dogs and dancing too.

Articles: 223

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