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Learn how to make the best roasted garlic spread with this easy recipe! It’s rich, spreadably creamy, subtly sweet and nutty, and enhances the flavor of just about anything.
When people talk about the decadence of eating something off a spoon, I doubt they had this spread in mind. But they should.
Yes, it’s just garlic (with a little olive oil and a touch of sea salt), but it’s so not just garlic. Essentially, it’s caramelized garlic.
It’s sweet, nutty, and mellow, and spreadably creamy with the consistency of room temperature butter. Slathered on fresh bread, it definitely gives butter a run for its money. (I know, that’s a bold claim…try it and see though!)
It’s also amazing tossed with hot pasta, fresh spinach, shaved Parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil; spread on a turkey sandwich or wrap in place of mayo or mustard; used as a condiment for burgers, grilled steak, or pan-seared chicken; or made into salad dressing that will make you want to eat salad for every meal of every day for the rest of your life.
Or, you know, it’s also pretty perfect eaten off a spoon. :)
Why This Recipe Will Be a Staple in Your Kitchen
- Easy to make – With just a few simple steps and pantry ingredients, you can transform raw garlic into something magical.
- Versatile – Spread it on toast, mix it into dips, or use it as a secret ingredient in your favorite dishes.
- Naturally healthy – Roasted garlic is packed with antioxidants and offers a milder, sweeter flavor than raw garlic.
Roasted Garlic Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Whole garlic bulbs – Also called garlic heads. We’re roasting the whole bulb here, not individual cloves.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – Oil helps prevent the garlic from drying out and enhances the caramelization process. It creates a barrier that locks in moisture, ensuring the cloves become soft and buttery rather than tough or dry. Additionally, it helps the garlic develop a rich, golden-brown color and deepens its naturally sweet, mellow flavor. Using high-quality olive oil also adds a subtle richness that complements the roasted garlic beautifully.
- Sea salt – A touch of salt enhances the garlic’s flavor. It also provides contrast for the natural sweetness that roasting develops.
How to Roast Garlic in the Oven (And How to Make it Into Roasted Garlic Spread!)
Here are step-by-step photos of the cooking process.
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 375F. Slice the top 1/4-inch off of each head of garlic, leaving the bulbs intact. Place the garlic bulbs cut-side-up on a large piece of foil; drizzle the oil on each bulb, and sprinkle with sea salt. Tightly wrap the bulbs in foil.
- Bake. Bake until the garlic is completely soft and light caramel in color, about 45 minutes.
- Cool and peel. Cool to room temperature, and then remove the garlic from the peel. You can either peel away the garlic paper to keep the cloves whole, or you can push the cloves out like toothpaste by squeezing up from the bottom if you want to make garlic paste.
- Mash (optional). To make the roasted garlic into spread, just mash the cloves together with a fork.
How to Store Roasted Garlic
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Make a double batch because this freezes well, which makes it great for meal prep! I like to mash the roasted garlic into paste, then freeze it in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop the cubes of frozen garlic paste out and put them into an airtight container or freezer-safe plastic bag for up to 3 months.
How to Use Roasted Garlic Paste
- Easy appetizer – For a simple appetizer, spread roasted garlic paste onto toasted bread slices, or serve a bowl of mashed roasted garlic as a dip along with bread or crudités.
- Garlic bread – Mash it with butter and use it as a base for next-level homemade garlic bread!
- Mashed potatoes – Stir it into mashed potatoes for extra richness.
- Pasta and pizza – Mix it into pasta sauces or slather it on pizza dough before adding other toppings and baking.
- Dips and dressings – Blend it into hummus or salad dressing for a deeper flavor profile.
Pro Tips
- Choose fresh garlic – Look for firm, unblemished garlic heads for the best flavor.
- Adjust roasting time – If your garlic isn’t soft and caramelized after 45 minutes, continue roasting in 5-minute increments.
- Use quality olive oil – A high-quality fat enhances the flavor and texture of your spread.
- Experiment with herbs – Fresh rosemary, thyme, or even a sprinkle of red pepper flakes can add extra depth. Just wrap them up along with the garlic before roasting.
- Double or triple the batch – Roasting multiple heads at once saves time and ensures you always have roasted garlic on hand.
FAQs
Yes! You can use a small oven-safe dish with a lid or wrap the garlic in parchment paper before placing it in a baking dish.
Definitely! Roasted garlic has a milder, slightly sweet flavor, making it a great substitute for raw garlic in pasta sauces, salad dressings, and spreads like hummus.
Garlic can turn bitter if it’s overcooked. Make sure to roast it at a moderate temperature (375F works perfectly!). Additionally, check for golden-brown, soft cloves rather than dark brown or burnt ones.
Garlic has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties, which come with a whole host of well-established health benefits! You can read about the health benefits of garlic on Medical News Today, WebMD, and Healthline.
Not exactly! While both roasted garlic and garlic confit involve cooking garlic slowly to enhance its sweetness and soften its texture, there are key differences:
Roasted Garlic: Whole heads of garlic are roasted in the oven with a drizzle of oil, typically wrapped in foil or placed in a covered dish. The result is a caramelized, spreadable texture with a deep, slightly smoky flavor.
Garlic Confit: Individual garlic cloves are gently simmered in a generous amount of oil at a low temperature until soft and buttery. This method results in a milder, richer garlic flavor and provides garlic-infused oil as a bonus.
If You Like Garlic, You’ll Also Love
- Česnečka (Czech Garlic Soup)
- Air Fryer Garlic Parm Chicken Skewers
- Toum (Middle Eastern Whipped Garlic Sauce)
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Roasted Garlic Spread Recipe
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Ingredients
- 4 whole garlic bulbs (heads) about 8 oz/225 g total, unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Prep the garlic. Slice the top 1/4-inch off of each head of garlic, leaving the bulbs intact. Place the garlic bulbs cut-side-up on a large piece of foil; drizzle the oil on each bulb, and sprinkle with sea salt. Tightly wrap the bulbs in foil.
- Bake. Bake until the garlic is completely soft and light caramel in color, about 45 minutes.
- Cool and peel. Cool to room temperature, and then remove the garlic from the peel. You can either peel away the garlic paper to keep the cloves whole, or you can push the cloves out like toothpaste by squeezing up from the bottom if you want to make garlic paste.
- Mash (optional). To make the roasted garlic into spread, just mash the cloves together with a fork.
Video
Notes
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: Make a double batch because this freezes well! I like to mash the roasted garlic into paste, then freeze it in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop the cubes of frozen garlic paste out and put them into an airtight container or freezer-safe plastic bag for up to 3 months.
- Recipe Yield and Serving Size: This recipe yields about 3/4 cup of whole garlic cloves, or about 1/2 cup of garlic spread. It makes about 8 servings, which is 1 tablespoon of garlic spread or 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole cloves.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on February 7, 2014 and updated on March 19, 2025.
I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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Perfect
I would love more recipes for dieabetes cause im just learning how to eat right.
Can this be frozen?
Marianne, Yes, this freezes very well!
Please how to make Garlic Spread into salad dressing ? Thanks.
Dianne, Here’s my recipe for Roasted Garlic Salad Dressing. I hope you enjoy it if you give it a try!
Hi,
I’m a little confused about the meaning of tightly wrapping the bulbs in foil? Like take all of them and wrap them up in a big foil ball. I feel dense, but I know I’m missing something pivotal, thanks!
Lorna, Yes, basically tightly wrap the garlic in a piece of foil so it looks like a foil ball. If it’s not tightly wrapped, place it on a baking sheet so you don’t have oil dripping into the oven. This is delicious, hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you so much, we were able to make it!
Lorna, That’s great, I hope you enjoyed it!!
I’m interested in knowing how to make this spread into a salad dressing…could you post a recipe for that?
Thanks!
Sharon, Here’s my recipe for Roasted Garlic Salad Dressing: https://www.anediblemosaic.com/roasted-garlic-salad-dressing/. Enjoy!
My 91 year old father grows my garlic and it is the best. I roast it and make garlic butter by using a cookie scoop after I mix the roasted garlic and butter, freezing it on glad wrap and then bag it up in the freezer. I pop it out when I want it. I also peel it and just roast the pieces freezing them also. It is nice to have it on hand instead of having to roast it when I need it!
I never thought of using it as a fresh spread on sandwiches. Thank you!
I am a garlic fanatic!! This looks perfect!
I could eat this by the spoonful Faith!
Roasted garlic is the greatest. It hasn’t occurred to me to eat it straight up with a spoon, but I just might have to try that!
Tomorrow’s kitchen project. Yum!
Sounds yummy and much less fattening than the homemade peanut butter that I’ve been eating off the spoon! However, it is homemade, so that makes it okay, right?
http://lifewiththecrew.typepad.com/my-blog/2014/02/to-make-or-not-to-make-peanut-butter-from-scratch.html
I love roasted garlic, this would be so good on fresh bread!
As a lover of all things garlic, I couldn’t be happier to have stumbled across your blog! :)
LOL . . . the simplicity of this roasted garlic spread is awesome!! We’ve made roasted garlic for many dishes . . . some how I’ve never thought to do a whole jar of it!!! My son has eaten cloves of fresh & spoons full of jarred garlic since he was a wee li’l one . . . I will have to make him bowls of this for dinner now. . . great he may never marry now!!!! Or he’ll have to find another garlicphile!!!! BRILLANT!! thanks so much for this!!!
Gah! I love garlic!!! This sounds amazing
Can you please make a post about your favorite places to eat at in Kuwait?
I stumbled upon your banana coffee loaf cake (which is currently baking) and have been reading your posts all day, only to discover that we live in the same country, haha!
Mariam, How funny…it’s such a small world, isn’t it?! Growing up in NY, I never would have thought that at some point I’d end up living in Kuwait. :) Yes, I have actually been working on putting together a list of my favorite places to eat here and I’m hoping to have it up within the next two months. :)
Oh wow, this is wonderful. I can easily eat a whole head of roasted garlic by myself, so this is right up my alley.
I could see myself just standing in front of the fridge door, having “just one more spoonful” of this! Definitely not JUST garlic spread.
Exquisite! A great idea.
Cheers,
Rosa