Garlic confit is a delicious garlic condiment with a sweet, mildly pungent flavor. It goes well with starches like rice and potatoes and adds umami flavor to these dishes. Made with just two ingredients, it is a simple but healthy addition that is rich in flavor and easy to make.
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There are many recipes that you can make with garlic and olive oil including roasted garlic and garlic aioli. Garlic confit is unique in that you end up with a sweet condiment and infused oil. With a much broader range of uses in the kitchen.
What is garlic confit
“Confit”, pronounced “confee”, is a French cooking technique that involves cooking any food, like garlic or poultry, in large amounts of fat, at a low temperature. The food cooked becomes tender and the fat is infused with flavor. Garlic confit is cooked low and slow in good quality olive oil, to draw out the natural sugars in the garlic, while infusing the olive oil with umami flavor and a subtle sweetness. When chilled the fat congeals covering the garlic and preserving it from oxidation in the short term.
Garlic confit gives you two condiments — soft, sweet roasted garlic and garlic infused olive oil. The two products are stored together in the fridge with the garlic oil, completely covering the roasted garlic, to seal the garlic in the jar or crock and prevent oxidation. Use the garlic oil to stir fry vegetables or eggs. Use the soft roasted garlic as a condiment on toast, focaccia bread, pizza, and more.
How long will garlic confit last in the fridge?
Garlic confit should be refrigerated for long term storage. It will keep for at least a week in the fridge. For longer storage I spoon the garlic confit into 1/2 pint jars and keep it in the freezer. Then I bring it to room temperature to use it.
Can this be frozen?
Yes garlic confit can be frozen for long term storage and it should last 6 months to a year in the freezer, if it is stored in glass jars. The storage life is longer in glass containers compared to plastic containers. Leave a 1/2 inch headspace to allow for any expansion during freezing and protect the jar from breaking.
What do you use garlic confit for?
I love garlic. I grow 200+ heads of garlic every year in my vegetable garden. That’s two 4 by 10 foot raised beds with just garlic. When a recipe calls for just one garlic clove I put in one head of garlic. We rarely get sick. But if you aren’t a garlic fan, garlic confit tames that biting garlic flavor, refining it and sweetening it. Since the garlic is cooked at a low temperature for hours, some of the health benefits of the garlic are preserved.
Here’s some of the ways we use this delicious condiment:
- Garlic mash potatoes are taken to the next level when garlic confit is used in the place of butter and cream. I use 1/4 cup of the garlic confit to 3 pounds of potatoes.
- Add it and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese with some parsley or chives and take pasta to the next level
- Add garlic confit to the cottage cheese or ricotta cheese filling in lasagna
- Mash it on pizza or spread over focaccia bread for delicious Saturday night fare
- Salad dressings are enhance with garlic confit. Just add 2 tablespoon including the garlic oil to any vinaigrette recipe
- Confit is also a delicious addition to cream soup, leafy green vegetables like spinach, sandwiches, and hummus dip.
- Sour cream dips are made better with the sweet garlic flavor
- Spread garlic confit on your steak after you flip it on the grill to bake in that buttery flavor
- Stir this into your ground beef or bean burger recipe to transform your burgers and meat balls
- Add confit to your falafel dough before you form them and fry them.
- Spread garlic confit on your pita with the tzatziki and stuff with falafel
Instagram and Pinterest are great sources for inspiration for more ideas to use confit in your cooking. Confit will take your cooking skills to the next level, like learning to make mayonnaise or aioli.
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Garlic Confit
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Low and slow
- Cuisine: French
Description
Garlic confit is a delicious garlic condiment with a sweet, mildly pungent flavor. It goes well with starches like rice and potatoes and adds umami flavor to these dishes. Made with just two ingredients, it is a simple but healthy addition that is rich in flavor and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 12 heads of garlic (60 large cloves)
- 1 cup (250 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon peel, dried (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon herbed salt (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175F.
- Separate the garlic heads into cloves. Peel the garlic cloves to remove the papery wrapper. Place the garlic cloves in a small sauce pan or oven-safe dish or ramekin.
- Pour the extra virgin olive oil over the garlic cloves to fully submerge them. Add lemon peel and salt to the saucepan, if you are using it.
- Place the saucepan in the oven at 175F and bake it for 6 to 8 hours until the garlic is fragrant, golden, and tender. Remove the saucepan from the oven.
- Allow the saucepan with the garlic confit to come to room temperature. Transfer the garlic confit to a clean glass jar. Ensure that all the garlic cloves are fully covered by the oil in the jar. Cover with a lid.
- Refrigerate the jar.
Notes
Refrigerated the garlic confit will keep for a week. For longer storage freeze the garlic confit in half pint jars. Frozen the confit will last up to a year.
Tips for the perfect garlic confit
- While I used homegrown organic garlic to make my confit, you can save time by using pre-peeled garlic cloves or other raw garlic cloves.
- Peel the garlic by lightly pressing the garlic cloves with the flat-side of a heavy knife blade. This cracks the skins making it easier to pop out the cloves. (Be careful not to get cut on the sharp edge) Some people place the garlic in a bowl with a lid and shake it vigorously to release the cloves from the papery skins. Either method is fast and easy.
- Garlic confit can be made in a saucepan on the stovetop, in an oven-safe dish or ramekin, or in a small slow cooker. The garlic must be fully immersed by the extra virgin olive oil to prevent the garlic from drying out, so you’ll want to use the smallest container that will hold the garlic and oil. I used a 500 ml (1/2 quart) saucepan in the oven.
- Keep the temperature low and do not allow the oil to boil. It should cook low and slow to caramelize the garlic and turn the mixture a golden yellow color. The slow cooking is what gives the condiment its sweet umami flavor. Don’t rush it. When you are finished the garlic will be golden but not deep brown. It should be soft without a crusty edge.
- Fresh herbs can be added to garlic confit before it is placed in the oven. Since there is little water in the confit, dried herbs don’t reconstitute well and might remain brittle, though still flavorful. In my recipe I used an herbed Dead Sea Salt from 424 Below Sea Level. Fresh thyme, rosemary, black peppercorns, or red chili flakes are other options.
- Use the highest quality of extra virgin olive oil that is available to you. I used “Superior Extra Virgin Olive Oil” from Israel, a cold-pressed mixture of four different kinds of Israeli olives. (Keep reading, I’m going to tell you how you can get some of this quality Israeli olive oil for yourself.)
- When you have the garlic confit ready, use it liberally. 1 tablespoon on a slice of toast, 1/4 cup in a bowl of mashed potatoes or a pot of stew, for instance.
Why is my confit bitter?
Garlic can become bitter if it is cooked too fast or at high temperatures. When making garlic confit, allow the garlic to cook slowly at low temperatures. If the oil boils the temperature is too high. I like to put it in the oven at the lowest temperature and cook it overnight. It should barely sizzle. Its hands off, once the pot is placed in the oven. 6 to 8 hours later the oil is infused with garlic flavor, the garlic cloves are soft and easily mashed, the biting flavor of raw garlic is softened. Boiling garlic in oil is unnecessary and will turn the garlic bitter.
Can garlic confit cause botulism?
Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The bacteria is naturally occurring in soils but doesn’t cause harm unless it is given the ideal conditions. Lack of oxygen, low acid, low sugar, low salt, moisture, and a temperature higher than 40F. in storage all contribute to the growth of botulism toxins. However, keeping the confit in the fridge for a week is unlikely to cause botulism toxins to form. My confit is usually gone within the week but if you want to store it for longer than a week, I recommend placing it in half pint jars and freezing it. In the freezer it will last a year. It cannot be water bath canned or pressure canned due to the high fat content. (Learn more about botulism here)
How you can get olive oil and Dead Sea Salt directly from Israel?
In 2017 Mr. Joybilee and I visited Israel and learned about the struggles that the farmers and artisans there were facing with the BDS injustice (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). The markets that they had established to sell their farm products and artisan crafts disappeared overnight. We visited one farm near the Dead Sea that had to let their grape vines dry up because they could no longer afford the irrigation costs due to the loss of the European markets for their produce.
When we got home we heard about Lev HaOlam, an organization that was helping Israel’s farmers and artisans in the Judea and Samaria part of Israel find new markets for their products through a monthly subscription box. We eagerly signed up in 2018 and were delighted with the boxes we received. The monthly box subscription is $99 US and the cost has not increased in spite of the inflation we’re facing now.
The monthly box subscription was shipped duty free to Canada so there were no hidden fees. Inside the boxes were delicious foods that are unique to Israel including quality olive oil, liqueurs, wine, chocolates, spice blends, Dead Sea salt, halva, biscuits, nuts, dates and date honey, honey, candies, as well as cosmetics, soaps, anti-aging products, and always at least one non-consumable artisan craft or book. Over the years we’ve received pottery, art, illuminated scriptures in Hebrew and English, cookbooks, jewelry, a shofar, a tambourine, games, puzzles, candle holders, and even a menorah for Chanukah. Each box is themed to help a family connect with the Holy Land, the heritage and history of Israel or to celebrate the Holidays. My favorite boxes, through the years, were the boxes that were themed to highlight specific parts of Israeli heritage, because these connected me with the stories of modern Israel and how it relates to Biblical Israel.
Each box contains 6 or 7 items including food, wine or olive oil, cosmetics, and 1 special item that won’t be consumed. The box contents make lovely gifts and we usually shared the contents of our box with our daughter. She especially loves the chocolate covered matzah that comes in the Passover-themed box and many of the food items that remind her of her two years spent in Israel, where she met her husband.
Lev HaOlam reached out to me recently and asked if I would like to join in a special promotion of their monthly box subscription. Since I already knew I loved what the company does and enjoyed the boxes we received in the past I was eager to tell you, my readers about this special company and what they offer. They sent out a special Welcome Box that goes out to all new subscribers for us to review. Keep reading to see how you can get this Welcome Box at a special discount, just for Joybilee readers.
The Welcome Box
Check out my Instagram account to see the unboxing video!
Our Lev HaOlam welcome box included:
- 1 500 ml bottle of Superior Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Hatzav Farm in the Golan Heights, which I used in this recipe.
- A 250 ml pottery vessel with a lovely olive branch painted on it, to store olive oil made by Batya Erdstein in Itamar.
- Honey from Drimia Farm in Susuya, on Mount Hebron.
- Platinum Garlic and Pepper Gourmet Salt from 424 Salt, which I used in this recipe. The salt comes from the Dead Sea which is 424 meters below Sea Level. Just using the salt brings back memories of the day we spent at the Dead Sea.
- Almonds from Hebron Flour (They are actually gluten-free!)
- Besides food the Lev HaOlam Welcome Box also included 100% Natural Mint Toothpaste from Masik. This isn’t just any toothpaste though. It uses herbs and Dead Sea salt to kill bacteria, whiten teeth, and preserve gum health. How cool is that? One tube of toothpaste lasted me about 3 months with twice daily use. So it lasts a long time too.
- Also included in this box was an anti-aging moisturizer set of 2 cosmetics from Negohot using natural honey produced on their farm, which has amazing skin rejuvenating properties. The cosmetics are beautifully packaged and not too highly scented.
- The final welcome touch is a keychain from Lev HaOlam with an Israeli flag, silver-toned heart, a star of David, and the Lev HaOlam logo. “The keychain represents love and support for Israel.” according to the booklet that comes with the welcome box.
As an artisan and homesteader myself I appreciate the work and dedication that each of these products represent. Each of these products represents a family that is called to the land with a holy vocation. Each one of these products is uniquely made in Israel and rich in intention and story.
Use my Discount code: ISR17 to get 25% off your first box with a monthly Lev HaOlam subscription.
Once your welcome box arrives pull out the olive oil, the olive oil pottery vessel, and the 424 Salt and make this delicious garlic confit. It will make you happy.
**This post was sponsored by Lev HaOlam.**
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