How to Store Roasted Garlic

Co-authored by Markeicha Dulaney

Last Updated: October 6, 2024

Roasted garlic is a delicious seasoning that enhances the flavor of many foods. While fairly easy to make, it can be quite time consuming to roast garlic; many people choose to roast a bunch at a time and store the rest for later use. You can store roasted garlic in the refrigerator for a few days, or in the freezer for close to one year.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Storing Roasted Garlic Short-Term

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1
Put it in a Ziplock bag in the refrigerator if you only need to keep it for a few days. Take your roasted garlic heads and place them in a Ziplock bag or other plastic container inside your refrigerator. Be sure to keep the cloves inside the protective outer peel. You should be able to fit quite a few heads of garlic into one plastic bag. ^{[1]
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- These should last for up to three days in your fridge before going bad.
- Roasted garlic that has gone bad may become brown, mushy, or smell rotten.
2
Cover the garlic with oil and store it in a sealed canister in the fridge for longer-lasting garlic. Put the roasted garlic cloves in an air-tight container and pour enough olive oil over the top to completely cover all of the cloves. Pop the lid on and put the container in the refrigerator. ^{[2]
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- These roasted cloves should stay good for about one week in the fridge.
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Avoid leaving oil-covered garlic out at room temperature. Make sure you never store garlic in oil at room temperature, as this can be a perfect breeding ground for botulism-causing bacteria. The low acidity, absence of oxygen, and warm temperatures can create favorable conditions for botulism to flourish. ^{[3]
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- Be sure to place any roasted garlic that you submerged in olive oil in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible after preparing it.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Freezing Roasted Garlic

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1
Extract the roasted cloves. Hold the head of garlic on the bottom, un-cut side. Squeeze upwards with your fingers so that the roasted cloves begin to pop out. ^{[4]
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- Try to hold the garlic heads over a plate or other clean surface while you are squeezing the cloves out.
2
Mash the cloves and put them in an ice cube tray. This is a great way to make easy-to-use cubes of roasted garlic that you can just pop out for use later. Just mush up the roasted garlic with a fork, then scoop it into an ice cube tray.
- Once the cubes have frozen (after an hour or so), you can pop them out and place them all in a Ziplock bag together.
3
Freeze each clove individually on a baking sheet as an alternate method. Simply place them separately on a baking sheet in the freezer for at least an hour. After each clove is frozen, you can put them all together in a Ziplock bag for easier storage in the freezer.
- This method takes less time up front (from extracting the roasted cloves out of their respective casings), but does require a bit more effort at the end. When you want to use the frozen cloves, you’ll need to let them thaw completely and remove the outer peel before you can use it.
4
Place roasted garlic in the freezer. Using these methods, you should be able to store your roasted garlic for up to 10-12 months in the freezer. Frozen cooked garlic has a much longer shelf life than frozen raw garlic. ^{[5]
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- Once you’ve got your roasted garlic in the freezer, it’s so easy to grab a piece and use it as an easy, delicious seasoning while cooking later.