Homemade Garlic Powder
Making garlic powder is one of the easiest food preservation methods ut there; however, a few key steps can really turn the product from drab to fab. Trust me! What really sets my homemade garlic powder recipe apart from the rest is that my method preserves garlic's potent allyl sulfur compounds, which are often destroyed when making garlic powder in haste.*I used 6 large heads of garlic for this recipe, but feel free to adjust the amount based on how much garlic powder you want!
Equipment
- Madoline Slicer a food processor or knife can also work in a pinch
- Dehydrator a freeze-dryer or oven can work as well, more on this later
- Coffee grinder a blender or food processor works too
- Fine mesh sieve (small) optional
- Airtight container for storage (I like 8 oz glass mason jars)
Ingredients
- 20 oz Fresh garlic This is about 6 heads of garlic for me (but I grow HUGE garlic!)
Instructions
- Peel the garlic cloves.
- Slice the peeled cloves to 1/8" thickness. I like to use a mandoline slicer since it makes this step go super fast, plus all of the pieces will end up a consistent size.
- Lay the garlic slices flat in a single layer on the dehydrator trays, making sure that they aren’t overlapping each other.
- Set the dehydrator on its lowest setting (mine is 105F) to keep all of the medicinal properties of the garlic intact
- Let the dehydrator run until the slices are fully dry. You'll know they're done when the slices snap, not bend. For me, it takes about 24 hours.
- Blend the fully dehydrated slices into a smooth powder. I like to use a coffee grinder since they are best designed for these types of foods.
- Optional: pass the garlic powder through a fine mesh sieve to sift out any remianing chunks of garlic (save these for cooking later!).
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark location for up to a year (or more!)
Notes
*If you don't own a mandoline slicer yet, you can totally slice the garlic cloves by hand (again, shooting for that 1/8" thickness), or you can just scrap the slicing altogether and simply blend it all up in a food processor. However, I would only recommend doing this if you already own silicone liners for your dehydrator trays. Otherwise, the garlic paste will drip through the grates.
*If you don't have a dehydrator or a freeze dryer, you can use an oven in a pinch; however, there's a good chance that you'll end up destroying those beneficial compounds that we chatted about above. Set your oven as low as it will possibly go and prop the door open to let some of the heat escape. The garlic slices will dry much faster at these higher temperatures, though, so keep a close eye on them so that they don't burn!
Did you try my recipe?Let me know how it was!