How to Quickly Peel a Head of Garlic

Peeling a clove of garlic can be tedious, let alone a whole head of garlic. I often need to peel a whole head of garlic for making my own garlic cubes or when I’m bulk batch freezer cooking. Did you know squashing the garlic cloves slightly will help them release their skins?

When you need a lot of garlic peel quickly try this easy technique. First take the whole head of garlic and place it in the middle of the cutting board.

Now come the fun part. Get ready to get a little aggression out and give that garlic head a nice little hit with the side of a large kitchen knife. Instantly, all the garlic cloves will release from the head. Your already half done in less than half a minute.

If you plan on running the garlic through a food processor to chop it or if you plan on mincing it by hand this next step will help you save time. If you want whole cloves you will need to use a lighter hand on this step.

Place two or three cloves are garlic under the side of your knife again. Not the sharp edge but the large flat edge on the side. If you want minced garlic give the knife a nice hard hit. This will smash the garlic cloves and the skins will release.

If you want the cloves of garlic mainly intact. Place the garlic cloves under the side of the knife and then gently press down to squeeze the garlic cloves just a little. This will bring the oil up under the skin making peeling the skins easier. Not as fun as smashing them but it gets the job done.

Once peeled the garlic is ready to be used in the recipe. Easy and quick!

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