3 Ways to Peel Garlic Quickly

Introduction: How to Peel Garlic Quickly

By bigwhitebear18

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Have you ever bought a bunch of garlic then wondered how on Earth you were going to peel them all quickly? Yeah, me too. Sam’s Club = bulk and peeling that much garlic can be a pain… UNTIL NOW!

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What if The Peel Doesn’t Come Off?

Sometimes it happens, usually when your garlic is on the older side and isn’t plump and resilient. For those times, or if you only have a paring knife, here’s an alternate method.

Grip the clove of garlic so the tip points toward your cutting board. Then cut the clove in half lengthwise and pop the halved clove out of the peel.

If this reveals a green sprout in the center of the clove, it’s a good idea to dig that out with the tip of your knife and discard it; it can make your food taste bitter.

How to Peel Garlic the Quick and Easy Way

My gramma sent me a link to this video from Martha Stewart cooking school the other day and I just had to try it for myself. I didn’t even have garlic on hand because I’ve pretty much given up on having the time and/or energy to cook a real (non-spaghetti or chili-based) meal and then fight my family into eating it lately, so I went to the store and bought a bunch of garlic just to experiment with.

Here’s the video:

Place a full head of garlic into a bowl.

Place another same-sized bowl over top.

Now, hold on to the two sides of the bowl/egg/spaceship that you’ve created and shake the dickens out of it. In Martha’s video she shakes it for about 17 seconds. I personally don’t have that kind of brute force available to me, so it took me a little longer. It was about 3 sets of 15 seconds with breaks in between. *update* I’ve been working out so I’ve definitely gotten better at this! ? It also helps to put your garlic down on the counter and give it a good whack with the heel of your hand before shaking to get things started.

4. Shaking the Garlic Between Two Bowls

Okay, let’s talk about this one. I see it everywhere.

And it does work, with a few caveats.

I found I got the best results using a much larger bowl and putting a metal pot lid over the bowl. I think having the metal to crash into helps a great deal.

The garlic needs a lot of room to bang around, and as the peels come off, they create a cushion protecting the garlic you’re trying to knock about. If you’re doing lots of cloves, you may want to stop shaking for a moment and pull out a handful of the empty skins.

It took me 30 seconds of solid shaking to get good results

I noticed that because the garlic is being banged, it starts to release its juices, which causes the papery skins in the bowl to stick to the peeled cloves. I had to rinse my peeled garlic off when I was finished.

Overall though, it does work for an entire bulb of garlic. I use a lot of garlic when cooking but not a full bulb all at once. I’m thinking maybe I’ll peel a bulb of garlic using this method at the beginning of the week.

I can store the peeled cloves in a jar and grab them as needed.

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Takeaways and My Favorite Way to Peel Garlic

Look, the thing about peeling garlic is this – it’s hard. If there were a quick, easy way to do it, we’d have figured it out centuries ago, and everyone would be doing it already.

You rarely need an entire bulb of garlic for a recipe, which makes several of these hacks kind of silly

Once you’ve removed the skin, you need to use the garlic quickly. Peeled garlic will start to lose its flavor and develop brown spots. You’ve got a week to use it all up, as long as it’s stored in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

Most of us are only peeling one or two cloves at a time. So here is the champion garlic peeling method. It’s quick, it’s easy, and you’ve already got everything you need right in front of you.

Step 2: Lets Start Peeling

1) Put about 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice in the container where you will be storing the garlic cloves. This will keep the garlic from browning and looking gross. 2) Place a bulb of garlic inside one of the bowls. Don’t worry about crushing it or getting the skins off, that will come later. (see picture 1) 3) Place the the empty bowl on top of the not empty bowl to create a dome. (see picture 2) 4) Grab the sides or tops of both bowls to hold them together, or however so that they don’t fall apart during the next step. 5) SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE… vigorously for about 10 seconds. Up and down, side to side, and all around. Get some exercise. (sorry no picture)

How to Peel and Mince Garlic by Hand

If you’re using the smashing method to peel garlic, it’s a quick path to getting minced garlic from there. After smashing the garlic and removing the skins, sprinkle a little kosher salt (or any other salt you have on hand) over the garlic. Then, press down on the garlic and give it another good press so it’s completely smashed.

After that, run your knife quickly over the garlic several times, using your non-cutting hand to quickly press and move the thicker base of knife across the cutting board. Once you’ve run your knife over the garlic a few times, turn your knife to a 45⁰ angle and scrape the garlic against the board with the edge of the knife.

When you scrape, the coarse salt will actually grind up against the garlic and help turn it into a smooth paste. Continue chopping the garlic until it’s minced to your liking. The whole process should only take about 2-3 minutes.

How To Peel Garlic: Shake Method

Shaking garlic is surprisingly effective and uses a standard quart-size mason jar.

Step 1: Loosen up the head of garlic and place all the cloves into a quart size mason jar. Screw the lid on tightly.

Step 2: Shake vigorously for about 15-20 seconds. Take a look at the garlic to see if most of the cloves have been peeled. Shake for a few more seconds if necessary.

Step 3: Unscrew the lid and pour garlic cloves onto cutting board. Separate the skins for the cloves. Chop, mince, slice garlic as needed.

This shake method of peeling garlic is a quick way to peel large amounts of garlic all at one time.

4 Ways To Peel Garlic

Peeling garlic involves removing the skin from the outer layer of the entire head of garlic and from each individual clove. You may find that one garlic peeling method is more convenient for you and provides the right amount of garlic, depending on whether you need a whole bulb of garlic or simply a few cloves of garlic. Here are four ways to peel garlic fast:

1. Mince the garlic with a garlic press. A garlic press is a small gadget that lets you pop in unpeeled individual garlic cloves and squeeze them (one at a time) through the small openings in the press. This method creates very finely minced garlic but can also be messy, as it squeezes out the garlic juice.
2. Smash the garlic with a knife. Place a clove of garlic on a cutting board and press the flat side of a knife against the clove. Tap the heel of your palm against the flat side of the knife until you have smashed the garlic clove slightly. Now you should be able to remove the partially flattened clove from its layer of skin.
3. Peel the garlic by hand. Use a paring knife to first cut off the root end of the garlic clove and then manually peel away the garlic skin.
4. Shake the garlic in mixing bowls. Some people call this garlic peeling trick the “shaking method.” First, find two similarly sized mixing bowls to execute this garlic peeling hack. Next, gently crush a head of garlic (or several individual garlic cloves) using the heel of your hand. Finally, place the garlic in a mixing bowl, cover it with another mixing bowl, and shake everything vigorously until the garlic’s skin releases.

How to Store Peeled Garlic

peeled garlic cloves Credit: Melanie Hobson/EyeEm/Getty Images

Unpeeled garlic can be stored at room temperature, but the fridge is your best bet for peeled cloves. Seal them tightly in an airtight container, then put them in the refrigerator. Though they may start losing pungency after only a few days, they'll be fine to use for about a week.  

Related: How to Store Garlic So It Stays Fresh

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