The 4 Best Free Garlic Hacks
You probably already have everything you need in your kitchen to speed this up. Here is how to shed those skins without spending a dime.
The Microwave Hack
If you need to prep a lot of cloves and don't care about keeping them perfectly raw, just toss them in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds. The heat creates steam inside the clove, which completely breaks the bond between the garlic flesh and the skin. When you pull them out, you can literally pinch the top and the garlic will slide right out.
The catch: It cooks the garlic ever so slightly, which softens the sharp raw bite. Don't use this method if you need aggressive, raw garlic for a Caesar dressing.
The Smash Method
Watch any line cook prep garlic, and this is exactly what you'll see. Place a clove on your cutting board, lay the wide flat side of a heavy chef's knife directly over it, and give the blade a firm smack with the heel of your hand. The impact cracks the hard skin open and separates it from the sticky sap underneath. You can peel it off in one piece immediately.
The catch: It crushes the clove. This is perfect if you are going to mince it anyway, but terrible if a recipe calls for perfect whole cloves to roast.
The Shake Method
Got an entire head of garlic to peel at once? Break the bulb apart, drop all the unpeeled cloves into an empty glass mason jar, screw the lid on, and shake it as hard as you can for about 15 to 20 seconds. The cloves will batter against the heavy glass and each other, essentially beating the dry skins off.
The catch: It's loud and takes some serious arm strength, but you'll end up with a jar full of perfectly peeled, intact cloves.
Hot Water Soak
The reason garlic skin sticks to your fingers is the natural sap directly underneath it. Hot water dissolves that sap. Drop your unpeeled cloves into a small bowl, pour hot tap water over them, and just let them sit for about five minutes while you prep your other ingredients. When you come back, the skins will be soft, loose, and will wipe right off with zero friction.
The catch: It takes five minutes of waiting, which slows down immediate prep work.
The Gadget Route: Skipping the Sticky Mess
Free hacks are great in a pinch, but they still require a bit of manual labor and usually leave your hands smelling like your cutting board. If you cook with garlic multiple times a week, taking your hands out of the equation is worth sacrificing a tiny bit of drawer space.
The Tube Peeler You don't need a heavy, complicated contraption to peel garlic. The best tool for the job is just a cheap, hollow tube made of grippy silicone.
You just drop a few dry, unpeeled cloves inside the tube, press your palm flat against it, and roll it aggressively back and forth across your kitchen counter. The rubbery interior grabs onto the dry skin and rips it away from the flesh, leaving the garlic completely intact inside. You just tip the tube over, out falls a pristine clove, and you rinse the empty skins down the sink. It costs next to nothing, keeps the oils completely off your skin, and turns a highly annoying chore into a five-second task.