If there’s one rule to live your culinary life by, it’s that if a little bit of garlic is good, a lot is better. That goes double if you can cook it up to be rich and sweet — but while your brain is likely conjuring up images of toiling over a hot oven as your garlic begins to caramelize, it turns out there’s another way. Cooking your roast garlic on the grill is an underrated method to elevate any dish.
This technique is pretty straightforward and similar to how you’d typically roast garlic in the oven. You’ll want to preheat one side of the grill to medium-high temperature; if you have a thermometer, aim for a temperature between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Then prepare the garlic as usual, by cutting off the top, brushing it with oil, and adding a dash of salt and pepper. Wrap it in foil and place it on the cooler side of the grill to cook, covered, for about 40 minutes.
By doing this, you are using a method known as two-zone grilling. While two-zone cooking is often used as a temperature tip to grill meats like pork chops, it’s also a great way to use half of your grill like an oven. Heck, you can even bake a pie using this method, though granted, it may pick up some of the meat smoke flavors as it cooks — not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.
Using and storing grilled garlic
The best part of cooking your garlic in this method is that it allows you to knock out multiple dishes at the same time. Whether you’re grilling some baguette to use the roast garlic as a simple, delicious spread or squeezing out the roasted garlic to form a rub for your cooked steak, you can use the hot zone of the grill to prepare your non-garlic items while, inside the foil ball, the garlic carmelizes and turns squishy and sweet.
Other foods that could use a dose of roasted garlic include mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or as a topping on homemade pizza. You can also make it into a delicious pesto or hummus to add an unreal depth of flavor.
Once you’ve cooked up a big batch of roasted garlic, make sure you know how to store it. Refrigerated roasted garlic will only last a couple of days — though if you submerge it in olive oil, it can last for a week. You can also make it into a paste with olive oil, which can last up to 10 days, or can be frozen for six months. Spreading it into an ice cube tray before freezing will allow you easy portion-controlled access to your delicious condiment.
