Dehydrate Garlic: How to Make Garlic Powder
Dehydrate Garlic: How to Make Garlic Powder is an easy way to preserve the garlic from your garden! Follow this recipe and you will never have to buy it again!
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Why Dehydrate Garlic?
Dehydrating garlic is a simple way to preserve garlic for use in your home cooking. A way to stretch your harvest. One less thing to buy.
One more thing that the bounty of your garden (or farmers market) can provide for you and your family.
Whether you decide to store your garlic as slices, minced, or powder, you will be able to make flavorful meals all year round. It stores so nicely!
Table of contents
- Why Dehydrate Garlic?
- Is Dehydrated Garlic as Good as Fresh Garlic?
- How Do You Dry Garlic In a Dehydrator?
- What Kind of Garlic Should I Use?
- Can You Dehydrate Whole Garlic?
- How Long to Dehydrate Garlic?
- How Long Will Dehydrated Garlic Last?
- How to Use Dehydrated Garlic?
- How Much Dehydrated Garlic Equals a Clove?
- Other Methods of Preserving Garlic
- Words of Encouragement
Is Dehydrated Garlic as Good as Fresh Garlic?
Both dehydrated and fresh garlic have their strong points.
Dehydrated garlic has a much greater shelf life and ease of use during cooking. No peeling or slicing, its already done! Dehydrated garlic also has a mild flavor which compliments some meals in a nicer way.
Fresh garlic has a stronger flavor and concentration of nutrients that have not been diminished by heat. Many dishes, especially soups, may be more aromatic and full of flavor with fresh garlic.
Both preparations of garlic have their place. However, unlike many herbs that lose a lot of flavor when dried, garlic still retains plenty of its zest when dehydrated.
How Do You Dry Garlic In a Dehydrator?
Time needed: 14 hours
Dehydrate Garlic in a Dehydrator
- Dehydrator Settings
First you will want to check the manual for your dehydrator to see if it gives a specific temperature setting for garlic.
I have a Cabela’s 80 Liter Commercial-Grade Food Dehydrator and my manual states 130 – 145 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 – 14 hours.
- Prepare Your Garlic
Remove garlic cloves from the garlic bulbs.
Remove the paper covering from each garlic clove.
Slice garlic into thin slices, or grind into chunks in a food processor or heavy duty blender, like a Vitamix or Ninja.
- Place Garlic in Your Dehydrator
Be sure to spread out the chopped or sliced garlic on your dehydrator trays.
This allows for better airflow and the garlic will dry more evenly.
If you do not have a mesh tray insert, you can use parchment paper cut to fit in your trays. - Set it and Forget it
Well, don’t actually forget it, but you will have six to fourteen hours to accomplish other things.
As mentioned above, check your dehydrator’s manual for the temperature and time settings for garlic.
Check the garlic periodically. It should be crisp and snap easily. If the garlic is mushy or soft, it will need to dry longer.
Allow the dehydrated garlic to cool down and come to room temperature before storing or grinding into powder.
- Garlic becomes powder
Once your garlic is completely dry, you can either stop here and store the garlic in a jar for future use.
If you prefer to have garlic powder for cooking, then you will place about a half of a cup to one full cup on the dehydrated garlic in a heavy duty blender or grain mill to grind it.
Once your garlic has reached the desired consistency, store in an air tight jar. Use in any recipe that calls for garlic!
What Kind of Garlic Should I Use?
Any variety of garlic can be dehydrated. I highly recommend dehydrating the hardneck varieties of garlic.
They tend to have a shorter shelf life, three months, versus softneck varieties which can store nicely for six to eight months.
Since hardneck garlic has the shorter shelf life, it would be better to dehydrate it to make into garlic powder.
If you buy or grow both kinds of garlic then you can have one kind as DIY garlic powder and another as fresh garlic in a recipe.
Can I use already peeled garlic?
Excellent question! Yes, you can!
As long as the garlic has not been in any type of oils or fats, you can slice or dice it as described above and dehydrate.
You just get to skip the step of peeling it, which sounds like a win in my book! This is an excellent way to find a shortcut, when time is so valuable in all of our homes.
Can You Dehydrate Whole Garlic?
If by whole garlic, you mean without slicing it, I suppose you could.
My two concerns are that it would take a long, long time and that you run the risk of it not drying out all the way through.
If your garlic is not completely dried it can grow mold, which is not what you want.
In order to properly preserve the garlic and avoid bacterial or mold growth, the garlic needs to be completely dry.
“In the kingdom of spices, garlic is the king.”
Michael Bassey Johnson
How Long to Dehydrate Garlic?
To be sure that your garlic is completely dry, you will need to dry it for 8-12 hours in your dehydrator.
As I mentioned above, my manual states dry time can be anywhere from 6 to 14 hours.
In a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven, it will take about 2 hours.
How Long Will Dehydrated Garlic Last?
If your DIY Garlic Powder is properly stored, it will last for 3 years.
In order to properly store your dehydrated garlic, keep in a glass container with a well fitting lid.
Keep out of direct sunlight and in a dry area, to preserve flavor and prohibit mold growth.
How to Use Dehydrated Garlic?
You can easily use dehydrated garlic in any recipe that calls for fresh or powdered garlic.
See below for the substitution amount.
How Much Dehydrated Garlic Equals a Clove?
A single clove of garlic, depending on its size, roughly equals 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.
This can be helpful to know if you are substituting your DIY Garlic Powder Recipe in a dish calling for fresh garlic.
Other Methods of Preserving Garlic
- Freeze it! It may not be shelf stable, but it is an easy way to save it quickly.
- You can try Pickling Garlic! Barefeet in the Kitchen has a great post on it!
- Try Preserving your garlic in oil, Finished with Salt shows you how!
- Second to dehydrating, my favorite way of preserving garlic is to ferment it in honey! Grow Forage Cook Ferment has an excellent post on this!
Words of Encouragement
I have to save I love projects like this! A simple way of easing into making more from scratch and learning those old ways of preserving foods for the next season.
There are times in our lives where we can only take on so much, only make so many things from scratch. Never feel that you have to do all of the things at once.
The best way to try new things is to focus on just one thing at a time. I’ll admit I have difficulty doing that. I tend to dive into lots of things at once and then overwhelm myself. So I get it.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is, never feel like you aren’t doing enough. Comparison is the thief of joy. Let’s encourage each other where we are! Whether that’s on chapter 25 of this old fashioned
one last thing…
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What a great idea!! I love it!
Thank you so much!
This is so interesting! I had never thought about how to make garlic powder. This is great to keep in mind when we have an overflow of garlic in the garden!
Yes, that was my thought too. I love finding ways to save that abundance! Glad you found this interesting!
This is a great skill to keep in your back pocket! No more wasted garlic! Thanks for sharing this wonderful inspiration
That has been my mission this year, to find ways to not waste. I am glad you enjoyed reading this! Thank you for stopping by!
Definitely going to do this when my garlic is ready to pull from the garden. Thank you for sharing!!
I am so glad this was helpful to you! Let me know how it goes!
Such great information! I still need to grow garlic and then this will be my next step!
Thank you! I have found garlic is one of the easiest things to grow. What are you growing in your garden this year?
I’ve been wanting to do this, and it sounds so easy! This makes me want to grow garlic next year and give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome! I’m glad you found this helpful!
When my garlic is ready I will definutely be trying this, its been on my list a while!
I am so glad! It was on mine too! I’d love to hear how it turns out for you!