This Air Fryer roasted garlic recipe is the easiest way to get that perfectly brown, savory roast garlic in under 30 minutes.
Spread the ultra soft, golden brown garlic on some bread to make garlic bread, or add it to your mashed potatoes to take them to the next level- there’s tons of ways you can put the roasted garlic cloves to use.
If you’re a garlic lover just like me, you have to give this recipe a try!
My first encounter with the deliciousness of roasted garlic was when I made my tomato garlic confit.
The garlic cloves lost their intense pungent flavor, and turned into these insanely delicious, soft spreadable little nuggets that were total flavor bombs!
I’ve been dreaming about them ever since, and can’t wait to use the roasted garlic
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What's So Great About the Recipe?
Roasting garlic in the Air Fryer takes half the time as roasting garlic in the oven, and the result is just as good!
And, my favorite part about this Air Fryer garlic recipe is the fact that I can actually freeze the leftovers for later!
Ingredients For the Air Fryer Roasted Garlic Recipe
Ready to roast garlic in your Air Fryer? Here’s all you’ll need.
Garlic: You’ll need whole garlic heads, with the peel on.
Extra virgin olive oil: Olive oil, ideally extra virgin olive oil is the best choice for this recipe.
Chili flakes: I also used a bit of chili flakes to season the roasted garlic.
Thyme: Fresh thyme really adds that extra flavor to the roast garlic.
Kosher salt: I used Kosher salt, but just regular table salt could work well too.
Black pepper: And of course, you can’t forget some freshly cracked black pepper too!
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Air Fryer Roasted Garlic
Ready with all your ingredients? Here’s how to make roasted garlic in the Air Fryer.
First, preheat your Air Fryer to 380ºF.
Cut about ¼ of the top of the garlic bulb to expose the cloves.
Place them in the center of a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil and top with seasonings.
Wrap the foil around the garlic and place the garlic in the Air Fryer basket.
Air fry the garlic for 20-30 minutes or until the garlic begins to caramelize.
Remove, let cool, peel the garlic cloves and then use the garlic for your recipes.
Substitutions & Variations
- The marriage of garlic with olive oil is just perfect, in my opinion, but if you want to use any other oil, you could totally do that too. Avocado oil and vegetable oil are both great choices.
- Depending on your personal taste preference, you can try lots of different seasonings and herbs, or just keep it simple with some salt and pepper.
💭Top Tip
If you don’t want to use aluminum foil, you can place them in an Air Fryer-safe baking dish, drizzle the garlic with some oil and season the bulbs.
Equipment
How to Store the Roasted Garlic
You can refrigerate and store your leftover Air Fryer roasted garlic for up to a week. Just use an airtight container to store it and you should be good.
You can also choose to freeze roasted garlic if you want it to last beyond that. Just add the peeled garlic cloves to a freezer safe container or a Ziploc bag and you’re sorted.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Make sure you choose a large piece of foil, and close the foil well to keep the oil from spilling out into your Air Fryer basket during the cooking process.
- If you’re working with many garlic bulbs, you can wrap each garlic bulb in individual foil packets, just to be safe.
- The best way to remove the garlic cloves from their peel after they’ve been cooked is to press on them slightly so that they are able to slide right out. Just squeeze the garlic softly and you should be good.
- If you’re using small heads of garlic, the cooking time will be a bit less, so keep that in mind.
How to Use Air Fried Garlic
There are tons of ways to use roasted garlic. Here are a few ideas to get you inspired.
In Pasta
This roasted garlic makes for a wonderful addition to your simple pasta dishes. Mix a few cloves into your jarred marinara sauce to give it a quick upgrade, or add it to your meatball pasta.
In Side Dishes
I also love using mashed garlic cloves for my side dishes. I recently used them instead of raw garlic while making my Air Fryer Parmesan asparagus, and it turned out next level delicious.
You can also use the garlic as a topping over your homemade pizzas, soups and wraps.
In Sauces
This mashed roasted garlic can be an incredible addition to your homemade sauces and spreads- like this pesto butter or a simple chili garlic oil. I used it for my roasted garlic Alfredo sauce and it was truly heavenly!
Just use it where you would use raw garlic, and you’ll be amazed at how much more flavorful the end result will turn out to be.
In fact, this gorgeous garlic can also be a splendid addition to your salad dressings.
On Toast
You can also use the browned garlic to add a punch of flavor to your breakfast toast.
I love making some cheesy garlic toast by mixing the cloves of garlic with a bit of butter, cheese and some of my garlic bread seasoning, then slathering the concoction on some sourdough before baking it.
FAQs
You can! While the best way to get those perfectly roasted cloves is to use them while they’re still in the pod, you can use pre-peeled garlic and Air Fry them too. Just remember that these will brown up a lot faster.
Cooking the garlic for too long can get it to end up burning. Check your Air Fryer basket around the 20 minute mark to see if the cloves are brown enough, and remove them if they are.
Related Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Air Fryer Roasted Garlic
Ingredients
- 3 garlic heads
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chili flakes optional
- 3 sprigs thyme
Instructions
- First, preheat your Air Fryer to 380ºF.
- Cut about ¼ of the top of the garlic bulb to expose the cloves.
- Place them in the center of a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil and top with seasonings.
- Wrap the foil around the garlic and place the garlic in the Air Fryer basket.
- Air fry the garlic for 20-30 minutes or until the garlic begins to caramelize.
- Remove, let cool, peel the garlic cloves and then use the garlic for your recipes.
