Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
How to make a platter of roasted garlic heads as an easy, delicious and budget-friendly side dish that is immunity boosting too!
Roasted garlic heads are one of the best side dishes to consistently serve during the winter months.
Loaded with immunity boosting sulfur, garlic cloves are mild and delicious when roasted in the oven with the healthy fat of your choice.
Roasted heads of garlic go amazingly well with steak as a low carb option if you are skipping the potatoes.
One of my children makes them regularly as a budget-friendly side dish at college. She got the idea from a local, independently owned steak restaurant where we take her to dinner when we are in town.
Not surprisingly, she hasn’t gotten ill even once since she started this regular practice where she consumes several heads of garlic every week with her homecooked meals.
I’ve adopted the dish in our home too.
I highly recommend trying it as a simple, frugal and delicious way to help keep the family healthy all winter long.
Serving Tips
Organic garlic is very inexpensive and much more flavorful than commercial garlic.
Sometimes, organic garlic can have tiny green sprouts inside each clove which you will see when you cut off the top of the head.
This is not a problem and the garlic is still delicious and healthy when roasted.
I do not recommend using aluminum foil to wrap each head. This is the usual method suggested in cookbooks and online.
A simple workaround to avoid the foil is to arrange the heads close together on a stainless steel pan and cover them with a smaller stainless steel pan before placing in the oven (photo below in the recipe).
Roasted Garlic Heads
How to make roasted garlic as a delicious and budget-friendly side dish that is immunity boosting too!
Ingredients
- 6 garlic heads preferably organic
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
Instructions
-
Cut off the top of each head of garlic. You do not need to peel the head first. Enough of the top should be cut away so that each clove within the head is exposed.
-
Drizzle a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over the top of each head where the cut was made exposing the cloves.
-
Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on each head where the cloves were drizzled with oil.
-
Place each head, oiled side up on a stainless steel baking pan. Cover the cloves with a smaller pan to protect them from burning. This is a simple way to avoid using aluminum foil.
-
Bake at 375 °F/ 190°C for one hour or until garlic cloves are lightly caramelized on top.
-
Remove the pan from the oven, and place the roasted garlic heads on a platter and serve immediately. Enjoy each head at the table by removing one clove at a time with a fork. Once all the cloves have been eaten, place the garlic head on its side and gently press with a knife to remove even more roasted garlic yumminess!
-
Refrigerate leftover heads in a glass container with a tight fitting lid. Rewarm and enjoy for up to 5 days.
I recall you saying the aluminum was okay if it is not scratched etc by using metal tools. For example using aluminum cookie sheets but using nylon like spatula and not metal. Have you changed your mind?
That is true that unless it is scratched, foil doesn’t release aluminum. However, foil is a wasteful option, so why use it if you don’t have to?
Also, most people will scratch foil when using it … the vast majority of people have no idea that you need to use only wooden utensils when dealing with it, so I prefer to have a recipe if possible where foil isn’t used at all.
By the way, the post I think you are referring to is from 2009 …. I have since gotten rid of my aluminum cookies sheets and no longer use parchment paper (even if unbleached, it is coated with silicone (synthetic rubber), which is a hormone disrupting substance). I now use stainless steel cookie sheets and pans only.
Would an enamel roasting pan work as well?
You will have to try it and see as I do not use enameled pans. I use a stainless steel pan and it works very well.
Brilliant idea.
This recipe looks so good! I’m going to try it. Do you think you could cover the heads with a glass pan?
Also, where is a good place to find good stainless steel pans?
Thanks!
I get my stainless pans here. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/go/large-stainless-baking-pan/
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/go/stainless-steel-cake-pan/
Many other types available too.
Not sure if a glass cover would caramelize the garlic as well as the stainless steel pan.