America's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated Logo

Peeling Garlic Made Easy

Need to peel a lot of garlic? Here’s a test kitchen shortcut.

Need to peel a lot of garlic? Here’s a test kitchen shortcut.

During weeks of testing recipes for Garlicky Oven Fries and Garlic Roast Chicken, we wanted a quick way to peel a large amount of garlic cloves. While prepeeled garlic cloves were an acceptable substitute, here’s the shortcut we came up with for peeling a lot of garlic. Break the heads of garlic into individual cloves and place them in a heavy-duty zipper-lock bag. Squeeze out most of the air, seal the bag, and gently pound the cloves with a rolling pin. Then just remove the peeled cloves from the bag, zip the bag back up (with the skins still inside), and discard.

GARLIC SHORTCUT

This is the quickest way to peel a lot of garlic cloves.

This is a members' feature.