Garlic Confit Recipe - How to Make Garlic Confit in the Oven (2024)

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Garlic confit made in the oven is simple to make and a delicious way to elevate toast, pasta, and more. Here’s how to make it!

One of my favorite local restaurants (featured in my Best Vegan Restaurants of Santa Barbara guide) Satellite, serves the most delicious homemade focaccia with a little dish of balsamic garlic confit.

Confit garlic is soft, creamy, and flavorful. It will add mild roasted garlic flavor to any dish and is so easy to make.

What is Garlic Confit?

The French word confit (pronounced con-fee) means to preserve. In cooking, this refers to the process of slow cooking in liquid to preserve food.

The confit cooking process is often used with meats such as duck, though I prefer to use it for garlic and cherry tomatoes.

Garlic confit is simply cloves of garlic cooked slowly in olive oil. The slow cooking mellows the flavor while olive oil adds richness.

Garlic is a staple around the world, particularly in Mediterranean cooking. Having a batch of prepared garlic confit on hand makes using this staple quick and easy.

How to Make Garlic Confit

You really only need three things to make the confit garlic: garlic cloves, olive oil, and a baking dish. From there you can experiment with additional flavors. I recommend starting with a bay leaf or sprig of rosemary and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

The most time-consuming part of this simple recipe is peeling garlic. To skip this step, you can buy peeled garlic cloves at Whole Foods or Costco.

How to Use Garlic Confit

You’ll end up with two delicious components with this method of roasting garlic – garlic oil and cloves. Garlic cloves slow roasted in olive oil and herbs will have a silky, earthy, mild flavor.

To use, it needs a little something salty and a splash of acid, in my opinion. A little pinch of sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or (my favorite) balsamic is perfect.

Make a bread dipping oil with balsamic
Add to pasta
Blend with vinegar to make a salad dressing
Spread on crostini
Use on top of vegetables or main dishes
Add to sauces and soups
Use as a sandwich spread or filling
Make a quick bruschetta by mixing with tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper.
Toss some of the oil and garlic cloves with spaghetti for a quick and easy Aglio e Olio.

Storage

Store your homemade garlic confit in a lidded glass jar and make sure the garlic cloves are covered with oil. It will last in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

This simple yet slow recipe has become a Sunday ritual. The amount in the recipe below lasts only a few days in my house. Feel free to double it if you’re having guests over for dinner!

Botulism & Garlic Confit

This recipe is not meant for canning. Although, as mentioned above, the word confit means to preserve, garlic is a low-acid food. This means that storing garlic in oil at room temperature or for long periods of time is not safe due to the risk of Botulism. You can read more about the Botulism on the CDC website.

Yield: about 1 1/2 cups

Garlic Confit

Prep Time1 minute

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups peeled garlic cloves (about 3-4 heads)
1 ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf or rosemary sprig
pinch red chili pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Place the peeled garlic cloves in a baking dish. Add enough olive oil to cover the cloves.
Add any herbs you'd like to flavor your garlic confit.
Place in the oven and bake until the garlic confit is very tender but not browned, about 1 ½ hours.
Transfer to a lidded glass jar and let cool. Once cool, store in the refrigerator for up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months.
To serve, bring to room temperature and spread garlic confit on toast with a bit of salt or add to pasta or other dishes. I like to add to a small dish of balsamic vinegar for dipping bread.

Notes

Peeling Garlic

Garlic confit is very simple to make and once you make it one time you will no longer need a recipe. The most time-consuming part of this recipe is peeling garlic. I use pre-peeled garlic cloves from Whole Foods or Costco to make this quick and easy.

Storage & Safety

This recipe lasts only a few days in my house. Feel free to double it.

Although the word confit means to preserve, garlic is a low-acid food and not safe to store in oil at room temperature or for long periods of time. This recipe is not safe for canning and must be refrigerated and used within one week.

Ways to Use Garlic Confit

Add to pastas, soups, salads, and sandwiches.
Place a few cloves in a small dish of balsamic for the most delicious bread dipping oil.
Bruschetta: Mix with tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.
See the main post for more ideas.