• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Flavor of Italy

  • HOME
  • PODCAST
    • Subscribe Now
    • Food & Wine Episodes
    • Travel Episodes
    • Lifestyle & Culture Episodes
    • Artists & Artisans Episodes
    • All Episodes
  • TRIPS & TRAVEL
    • My Top Travel Picks
    • When in Rome
    • Day Trips in Italy
    • Weekend Trips in Italy
    • Week-long Trips in Italy
    • Discover the Italian Regions
  • RECIPES
    • Trending Recipes
    • Antipasti (Appetizers)
    • Primi (First Course)
    • Pasta (First Course)
    • Secondi (Main Course)
    • Contorni (Side Dishes)
    • Breads
    • Desserts
  • ABOUT
  • Generic selectors
    Exact matches only
    Search in title
    Search in content
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
  • HOME
  • PODCAST
    • Subscribe Now
    • Food & Wine Episodes
    • Travel Episodes
    • Lifestyle & Culture Episodes
    • Artists & Artisans Episodes
    • All Episodes
  • TRIPS & TRAVEL
    • My Top Travel Picks
    • When in Rome
    • Day Trips in Italy
    • Weekend Trips in Italy
    • Week-long Trips in Italy
    • Discover the Italian Regions
  • RECIPES
    • Trending Recipes
    • Antipasti (Appetizers)
    • Primi (First Course)
    • Pasta (First Course)
    • Secondi (Main Course)
    • Contorni (Side Dishes)
    • Breads
    • Desserts
  • ABOUT
  • Connect

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • ×

    January 7, 2022

    Garlic Confit

    Garlic confit in extra-virgin olive oil

    I love garlic and could use it in just about every savory recipe – and lots of it. My husband, daughter and her family like garlic but less so. A wonderful compromise to satisfy all garlic tastes is garlic confit. You still have all the wonderful delicious garlic flavor in confit but it's a smoother, softer umami-rich garlic flavor without the fresh garlic pungency.

    Basket of red garlic at the market

    It's time consuming to peel garlic but once it's done whenever you want some garlic flavor in a recipe you have it at the ready.
    If you're not familiar with garlic confit and confit as a cooking technique it simply refers to any food slow cooked in oil or fat, or sugar water (syrup). The most common confit dishes are garlic confit and duck confit but you can also make chicken confit, egg yolk confit, vegetable confit, and many other dishes. The concept is always the same: the food is slow cooked in oil or fat (or a syrup for fruit) in a sub-simmer.
    A simmer is when a liquid is just barely bubbling and getting ready to move into a boil. A sub-simmer is what I call a bit less than a simmer, in other words teeny tiny bubbles that are just about ready to simmer.

    Making garlic confit
    Placing the pan just to the side of the flame keeps the oil from boiling

    The boring and time consuming part is peeling the garlic so get yourself set up and listen to your favorite podcast while you peel the cloves.
    Pro tip: to speed up the garlic peeling process place all the cloves in a jar and shake vigorously for a minute. This is usually sufficient to remove most of the peels.
    Ways to use garlic confit:
    As a dressing for cooked vegetables: mash up some of the garlic with the extra-virgin olive oil and toss with cooked vegetables for some added garlic flavor.
    Add to a salad dressing.
    Garlic bread: Mix with soft butter and spread on toasted crusty bread.
    Add to mashed potatoes, risottos and pasta dishes or spread on grilled fish, meats and veggies.
    Let's face it - just about any savory dish is better with a bit of garlic confit!
    The oil left over after you confit garlic has a wonderful flavor and is great drizzled on bruschetta or used in other recipes.

    Great recipes that are even greater with garlic confit

    Substitute garlic confit for fresh garlic in this Penne Pasta with Garlic, Hot Pepper, Parsley and Anchovies pasta dish.
    Use some garlic confit for the marinade in my Chicken Marbella recipe.
    My Bread and Tomato appetizer is delicious with a little bit of garlic confit.

    Are you looking for a confit cookbook? Check out this one: Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie.

    Bread and Tomato Appetizer drizzled with olive oil
    Garlic confit is a delicious umami rich condiment

    Garlic confit

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
    Prep Time: 1 hour
    Cook Time: 45 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
    A wonderful compromise to satisfy all garlic tastes is garlic confit. You still have all the wonderful delicious garlic flavor in comfy but it's a smoother, softer umami rich garlic flavor without the fresh garlic pungency.
    Course: Condiment
    Cuisine: international
    Wendy
    Servings: 10
    Wendy

    Ingredients 
    Metric - U.S. Customary

    • 2 to 3 heads of garlic
    • 237 ml Extra-virgin olive oil enough to fully cover the garlic cloves in a small cooking pot

    Instructions

    Peel the garlic:

    • This is the boring and time consuming part of making garlic confit so get yourself set up and listen to your favorite podcast while you peel the cloves.
      Basket of red garlic at the market
    • Break apart each head of garlic and separate into cloves.
    • Next, peel each individual clove.
    • Use a paring knife to slice off the root end of each clove.
    • Now use your fingers and the paring knife to gently coax the peel off of each clove.
    • Set the peeled garlic cloves aside in a separate bowl.
      Peeled garlic cloves
    • Keep a damp dish towel on hand to wipe off your fingers as they get sticky from the cloves and make the peeling process more difficult.
    • If you find a tiny part of a clove that's bruised just slice it off and discard.
    • Pro tip: to speed up the garlic peeling process place all the cloves in a jar and shake vigorously for a minute. This is usually sufficient to remove most of the peels.

    Make the garlic confit:

    • Place all of the cloves in a small pot and generously cover completely with extra-virgin olive oil.
    • Put the pan on the stove over the smallest flame possible.
    • Sub-simmer the cloves for about 45 minutes until they are soft, fragrant and turning just golden. Note: It may only take a half an hour, or it may take an hour.
    • A simmer is when a liquid is just barely bubbling and getting ready to move into a boil. A sub-simmer is what I call a bit less than a simmer, in other words teeny tiny bubbles that are just about ready to simmer.
    • This is hard to achieve because the flame must be small and extremely low. I find if I place the pot on the burner - and just to the side of the burner so the pot is barely touching the flame - I can achieve a sub-simmer.
      Making garlic confit

    Storing the garlic confit:

    • As soon as the garlic confit is done transfer it to a glass jar and keep refrigerated, covered. 
You can store garlic confit refrigerated for about two weeks. Alternatively freeze garlic confit and it will last for several months.

    Notes

    Botulism:
    Botulism is deadly and occurs in low acid foods that are stored at room temperature in a low oxygen environment, and low sugar. Garlic confit fits the bill on all counts so handle and store it properly for complete safety:
    *Always keep the garlic confit refrigerated.
    *Each time you use garlic or the oil remove it with a clean and sterile spoon.
    *Use the garlic confit within two weeks and then discard.
    Ways to use garlic confit:
    As a dressing for cooked vegetables: mash up some of the garlic with the extra-virgin olive oil and toss with cooked vegetables for some added garlic flavor.
    Add to a salad dressing.
    Garlic bread: Mix with soft butter and spread on toasted crusty bread.
    Add to mashed potatoes, risottos and pasta dishes or spread on grilled fish and meats.
    Let's face it - just about any savory dish is better with a bit of garlic confit!
    What is confit anyhow? Confit is a cooking technique that refers to any food slow cooked in oil or fat, or sugar water (syrup). The most common confit dishes are garlic confit and duck confit but you can also make chicken confit, egg yolk confit, vegetable confit, and many other dishes. The concept is always the same: the food is slow cooked in oil or fat (or a syrup for fruit) in a sub-simmer.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 20ml | Calories: 192kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 3mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Botulism

    Botulism is deadly and occurs in low acid foods that are stored at room temperature in a low oxygen environment, and low sugar. Garlic confit fits the bill on all counts so handle and store it properly for complete safety:
    *Always keep the garlic confit refrigerated.
    *Each time you use garlic confit or the oil remove it with a clean and sterile spoon.
    *Use the garlic confit within two weeks and then discard.

    Garlic cloves at the market

    I make a small commission on purchases made through links on my website. Prices are identical for you, but purchasing through my links helps support my work to bring you great recipes, podcast episodes, culinary and travel information.

    You may also be interested in:

    Share On:
    « The Flavor of Venice
    Francine Segan - Food historian and cookbook author »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rhonda C. Merrick says

      February 11, 2022 at 4:04 pm

      This is the most thorough description of how to make garlic confit that I could find. All the ins and outs that might pose a problem, you've taken care to answer. Thanks! I've read that cooking garlic over a temp of 130 C (266 F) degrades its health benefits, but I haven't yet found out why. The confit method cuts the cooking time down by half at least. That's a win!

      Reply
      • Wendy says

        February 11, 2022 at 4:33 pm

        Thanks Rhonda! Super glad the description works for you! I really try to dig down to the details for a recipe like this and I'm glad it was clear.

        Reply

    Please leave your comment here. Your feedback is important! Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    About

    Wendy at Roscioli
    I’m American and I’ve lived in Italy for nearly four decades with my Italian family. My passion and strength lies in sharing Italian stories, recipes and unique travel insights on my blog, my Flavor of Italy trips and tours, newsletter and podcast. Continue Reading...

    Follow Flavor of Italy

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Latest Additions

    • Eggs in Italy - what you need to know
    • Venice: insider's guide to the best wines + 4 wineries to visit
    • The Apollo and Daphne myth reimagined in The Latinist
    • In-Person or Virtual Regional Italian Cooking Classes
    • Italian Designers: 5 artisanal designers you need to know
    • Pastiera Napoletana – Traditional Easter dessert from Naples, Italy
    • Jacobini Winery, Lazio
    Generic selectors
    Exact matches only
    Search in title
    Search in content

    Footer

    Flavor of Italy

    Email: flavorofitaly@gmail.com

    • Home
    • Trips & Travel
    • When in Rome
    • Italian Cooking Classes
    • Privacy Policy

    Enter your email to receive our latest posts direct to your inbox. You can also subscribe to our newsletter for more insights, news and promotions by clicking here.

    © 2005–2022 Flavor of Italy

     

    Loading Comments...
     

      We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok