Minced Garlic Shortcut | Cooking Tips

Today I want to share a shortcut that I use to make minced garlic that is ready to use in a pinch.

Having minced garlic at the ready is a huge timesaver when it comes to cooking up your favorite recipes.

This tip may seem super basic – but when you are short on time and are in the middle of cooking dinner – the act of peeling and chopping or mincing a fresh clove of garlic can take just long enough to cause what you might already have in the pan to burn.

Sometimes the skins come off easily but more often than not you end up struggling. The skins just won’t peel off smoothly and your fingers get all sticky – and it just takes longer than you anticipated.

It is a minor inconvenience that adds unnecessary stress to your time in the kitchen.

The Solution That Works For Me

There are a lot of solutions to peeling garlic and I will go over some of those in a minute but first I want to share the shortcut that I have been using for years.

Buy Bulk Peeled Garlic

You may have noticed that many grocery stores sell bulk bags of peeled fresh garlic in the produce section. To me, this seemed like a perfect solution. What could be better than fresh garlic that I, personally, did not have to peel?

But I quickly realized that there was just too much garlic in the bag for me to use before the unused portion would spoil. So, I wanted to find a way to freeze all the garlic in the bag as soon as I bought so I could use the entire bag over time.

Mince in Food Processor

Mincing the garlic before freezing it seemed like the most logical route so that it would be ready to use directly in my recipes. To accomplish this – I simply dump the entire bag of garlic into a food processor and pulse it until it is finely mined.

But I did not like the idea of freezing the minced garlic in a big block or even in ice cube trays because it would be hard to chip off a small amount that I might need for a recipe.

Store in a Zip Top Bag and Flatten

So, I put all the minced garlic into a zip top freezer bag (you could use a reusable silicone freezer bag instead).

Once I seal the bag shut, I spread the contents out into a thin, flat, layer and lie the flattened bag on a shelf in my freezer.

The thing to remember is that a flat bag works best. Don’t use one that has a gusseted bottom also referred to as a “stand up design” or “stay open” style.

Once Frozen, Break Off Small Pieces To Use

Once the garlic is frozen, all you have to do is break off a small chunk to use it in your recipes.

I don’t worry too much about measuring – I just estimate how big of a piece would be equal to one garlic clove. After all, nature makes the cloves all different sizes anyway.

There is usually is no need to thaw the chunk of garlic before you use it in a recipe – but you can if you would like.

And that is it – it is so easy!

Other Garlic Shortcuts You Can Try

My method, of course, is not the only minced garlic shortcut out there. Clearly, this is a problem for many and there are a number of solutions that you can try.

Here are few other options:

Buy Pre-Minced Garlic

Grocery stores also carry pre-minced garlic in jars or even in small frozen cubes in the freezer section.

I have tried both of these in the past. But I have found the jars of pre-minced garlic to also spoil before I can use the whole thing. And, while convenient, the frozen cubes of pre-minced garlic can get a little pricey for me because I do use a lot of garlic in my cooking.

Buy Dried Minced Garlic or Garlic Powder

If I am all out of my frozen minced garlic, I will use a pinch of dried minced garlic or garlic powder as an acceptable substitute but I prefer using fresh minced cloves that are frozen.

Use a Kitchen Gadget for Garlic

There are a ton of different kitchen gadgets designed to help you peel and mince garlic. I have used quite a few of these in the past. And while they do a good job, I have found the clean up to be a bit tedious. Usually, I end up reverting to using a plain old knife.

You can use this garlic peeler/crusher set to press a clove through and get fresh garlic.

This Shortcut Saves You Time

Mincing garlic ahead of time and popping it into the freezer for future use saves me so much time and makes my cooking process much more organized.

I no longer avoid making recipes that call for fresh garlic (like this yummy chicken tikka masala recipe) on busy evenings.

Have you tried this shortcut? Tell me what you think in the comments below.