No need to heat up the oven – you can roast garlic in your air fryer! It’s quicker than using the oven and simple for air fryer beginners. Making roasted garlic has never been easier! Here’s How to Roast Garlic in an Air Fryer.
The smell of roasted garlic makes me feel like I’m at a super classy Italian restaurant or like it’s Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house (uhm hi roasted garlic mashed potatoes).
Roasting garlic has always seemed like a treat, until recently when I went on a garlic roasting spree in my air fryer! I never like heating up the oven for one small thing. And a head of garlic really does feel like one small thing.
Normal recipes don’t call for roasted garlic, so it’s just not something I even felt the need to make. But now, I’ll make it all the time.
Recipe Overview
Total Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Air Fryer
Prep: 5 ingredients or less
Can you roast garlic in an air fryer?
Yes! You can “roast” garlic in your air fryer. Nobody get mad that I’m calling it roasted garlic!
Air fried garlic just does not have the same ring to it, and honestly sounds like a different kind of thing altogether. Everyone knows what you’re talking about if you say roasted garlic, and it’s used in the same ways.
My absolute favorite use of roasted garlic is spreading it on to sourdough bread. OMG. Second favorite way to use it: Mashed potatoes. Third favorite way is to just mix it into recipes in place of regular garlic! Can you tell I’m into garlic!?
What ingredients do you need to roast garlic in an air fryer?
The only ingredients you need to roast garlic in an air fryer is a head of garlic and some oil, preferably avocado oil or olive oil. You also need an air fryer and some aluminum foil!
How do you roast garlic in an air fryer?
Essentially, you’re following the same method as you would with the traditional oven roasting way, except you’re doing it in an air fryer.
This means you’ll need some oil (I use avocado oil for high heat cooking but olive oil would work too!), and some aluminum foil.
Chop the top 1/4 inch or so off the garlic head so the cloves are exposed. Place the head of garlic in the center of the foil, drizzle with oil, and then wrap up the garlic, all edges of the foiling meeting at the top to completely close the foil around the garlic.
Place the foil wrapped garlic heads into the air fryer basket, making sure the foil is not above the max fill line (you don’t want it to be touching the heating element).
Up to five heads of garlic would fit into my air fryer at once, but you can stick with one if that’s all you need! It’s important not to put too many heads in at one time so that there’s still some air flow in the basket.
Air fry at 390F for 20-30 minutes. Smaller heads of garlic will take about 20 minutes, while larger heads of garlic will take up to 30 minutes. When it’s done, unwrap carefully, squish the garlic out of the skins, and mash it up or use it however you please!
What kind of air fryer do you use?
The air fryer I have currently, and the one that is pictured in this post is the Cosori XL 5.8 qt Air Fryer (affiliate link!).
If you’re going to invest in an air fryer to cook things for two or more people, you should opt for a larger size like this one, in my opinion!
I previously had a slightly smaller Philips Air Fryer with a metal grate basket which I liked, but I prefer the larger Cosori model with the nonstick basket.
Roasting Garlic in an Air Fryer vs an Oven
- Oven takes 7-10 minutes to preheat up to 400F. That’s 7-10 minutes longer than required with the air fryer. Preheating your air fryer can help with quick cooking items, but it’s not required here. The manual of my air fryer says “add 3 minutes to cook time if using a cold appliance”. So it will save you around 3 minutes if you preheat your air fryer, but it’s not a requirement.
- Oven roasted garlic recipes at 400F take about 40 minutes of cook time. Plus 10 minutes to heat up, equals 50 minutes with the oven on, compared to maximum 30 minutes for a large head of garlic.
- Ovens are large, and they probably take more energy to operate on a per minute basis compared to my small air fryer. Not to mention the additional preheat and cooking time.
What are some ways to use roasted garlic?
- Garlic mashed potatoes: A special treat made by my aunt on some holidays. Mix roasted garlic cloves into your regular mashed potatoes for a good time!!
- Appetizer with bread or crackers: Some people are garlic obsessed (hello!) and you can really impress those people by having some bread and roasted garlic around as an appetizer. Super easy to make and use up if there are leftovers.
- Add to mayo: For quite possibly the best mayo variation I’ve ever thought of. Roasted garlic mayo turkey sandwich I’ll take three.
- Use in salsa and dressings: I’m craving everything on this list by now, so let’s throw in some chips and salsa like any good feast. YUM.
- Add in place of regular garlic: Instead of sauteing some garlic in a soup or stir fry, I’ve been straight up adding gobs of roasted garlic to our dinners. It’s a thing and I’m into it.
How to store roasted garlic:
Leave cloves in the bulb and wrapped in foil and store in the refrigerator for up to one week, removing roasted garlic cloves as needed.
Store mashed roasted garlic cloves in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
How to freeze roasted garlic:
Freeze roasted garlic in trays such as the Souper Cubes 2 Tablespoon Freezing Tray (pictured above!) and then transfer to an airtight container and use within 6 months.
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How to Roast Garlic in an Air Fryer
No need to heat up the oven – you can roast garlic in your air fryer! It’s quicker than using the oven and simple even for air fryer beginners. Here’s How to Roast Garlic in an Air Fryer!
- Total Time30 minutes
- Yield1 head of roasted garlic 1x
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic (as many as you need!)
- ~1/2 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare the garlic bulb: Peel the papery outside wrapping from the garlic bulb. Slice the top 1/4 inch off the garlic head to expose the cloves. Place each garlic head into the center of a piece of aluminum foil and pull the sides up, but leave the top open. Drizzle the garlic bulb with oil and then wrap tightly, sealing the foil at the top.
- Air fry to perfection: Place 1-5 prepared garlic bulbs into the air fryer basket, being sure that the foil is below the “max fill” line. Air fry at 390F for 20-30 minutes, or until the cloves are soft and the top of the head is golden. Check at 15 minutes for small heads of garlic.
- Storage: Leave cloves in the bulb and wrapped in foil and store in the refrigerator for up to one week, removing roasted garlic cloves as needed. Store mashed roasted garlic cloves in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze mashed garlic cloves in a Souper Cubes 2-Tablespoon Tray (or an ice cube tray) for small even portioning. Once frozen, transfer cubes to an airtight container or freezer bag and use within 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Air Fryer
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 head of garlic
- Calories: 80
- Fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 10g
- Protein: 2g
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So what is the ratio of roasted cloves to raw minced cloves in recipes?
I think it depends on how much you like garlic – there is no hard and fast rule for it. I would guess that around 3-4 cloves of roasted garlic would equal one clove of raw minced (taste & strength wise), but that’s an estimate. Roasted garlic is more mild and a lot easier to consume than raw garlic. There are lots of uses for it that I would not use raw minced garlic for, such as spreading on toasted bread or using as a dip. Hope this helps!
I thought you can’t use foil in an air fryer
Yes, you can use foil in the air fryer! Works just fine. I would not cover the entire bottom of the basket with foil as that could reduce air flow. But there’s no problem using foil in the air fryer for something like this.
I’m going to try this soon in our Tefal Actifry.. it’s the one with the ‘dragon’s tail’ as we call it to gently tumble the chips, sausages etc. I don’t see a reason why this idea for roasted garlic won’t work in there..do you? I’m addicted to garlic too!
Yes I think that would work! Sounds delicious 🙂 Let me know how it goes! Thanks Susan! -Danielle