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Making Garlic Powder: A DIY Recipe!

Garlic powder in a wooden spoon, next to garlic cloves
Image Credit:
Shutterstock
Written By: Celeste Longacre Gardener & Astrologer

The flavor of homemade garlic powder is unbeatable—it truly tastes like garlic that has just been picked from the garden (and nothing like that prepackaged stuff). Plus, it’s ready to be used all year long! See how to dry garlic to make your own garlic powder.

Reasons to Make Your Own Garlic Powder

A lot of commercial garlic powder is pretty bad in terms of quality; it doesn’t even smell or taste like garlic and can have an unpleasant aftertaste. Some producers don’t even bother removing the skin, plus there isn’t FDA regulation around commodity spices, so it’s difficult to know what’s truly inside the bottle. Unless you buy local garlic, many of the garlic bulbs sold in stores have gone past their peak (rubbery or soft) and have lost much of their medicinal value.

Truly fresh garlic is pungent, white, hard, and full of a juicy liquid. One way to maintain not only garlic’s flavor but also its healing powers is to dry it and make it into garlic powder. There are so many ways to use garlic powder, from shaking the seasoning into salad dressings and soups, to putting it on potatoes, to sprinkling it over popcorn.

Dried garlic powder has a different purpose than raw garlic; it’s mellower and milder to enhance flavor versus the sharp taste of garlic in a main dish. Ideally, you could grow your own garlic, as it’s easy to plant your own bulbs in the fall. Otherwise, we recommend buying local garlic bulbs for the freshest flavor.

For those who wish to garden, garlic bulbs are popped into the soil in the fall and harvested in the summer once the leaves turn yellow-brown. See how to prepare your soil in our Garlic Growing Guide.

Making Garlic Powder in the Dehydrator

At harvest, I generally pick about eight bulbs of garlic at a time, bundle them tightly together, and tie them with string. I then hang the bundles for 2 to 4 weeks in a shady, airy place to begin to dry.

1. Separate Cloves

Whether you grow your own or buy your garlic cloves, the first step to making the powder is to separate all of the cloves. This can be a messy job, so do it all at once!

garlic cloves in a bowl

2. Peel Garlic

After separating the cloves, I cut the tops and the bottoms of the cloves and try to tear a strip or two of the skin.

garlic cloves on cutting board

3. Dehydrate the Cloves

Placing these cloves in a dehydrator tray, they are put at a low temperature (below 115°F/46°C) overnight. This will help to loosen the peels and aid the next process.

garlic cloves on a dehydrator tray

4. Chop the Cloves

After the cloves have been slightly dehydrated, you can remove the rest of the peels. Then chop the cloves slightly. I like to use a food processor to make little chips of garlic.

garlic cloves in a food processor

5. Dehydrate the Garlic

Back into the dehydrator they go for 6 or 7 days. Again, keep the temperature below 115°F/46°C, as this will help the garlic to maintain its healing properties.

dehydrator

Once the chips have cooled, they can be put in a tight jar until you have time to complete the process.

dehydrated garlic chips

6. Powder the Garlic Chips

When you are ready to make the powder, put the chips in a blender (not too many at a time) and hit the “chop” button. Wait about a minute after processing before opening the blender, as there will be lots of powder floating at first. I then put the powder through a strainer so that the ultimate product is fine. The larger chips just go back into the blender to repeat the process.

garlic powder in a strainer

7. Seal Into Jars

Place the powder in jars and seal them. The flavor of the resulting powder is unbeatable—it truly tastes like garlic that has just been picked from the garden. But now it is ready to be used all year long!

homemade garlic powder in jars 
 

Making Garlic Powder in the Oven

You can also make garlic powder in your oven. To do so:

  1. Preheat your oven to 175°F.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then place sliced garlic on top.
  3. The garlic is ready after anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. Test it by seeing if a piece “snaps” when you break it in half.
  4. After this, you need to let the garlic cool completely.
  5. Grind it into a powder by using a high-speed blender or coffee grinder.

Of course, garlic powder not only adds flavor to your meals but has some glorious health benefits too. Learn more about the healing benefits of garlic.

Cooking & Recipes

About The Author

Celeste Longacre

Celeste Longacre

Gardener & Astrologer

Celeste Longacre has been growing virtually all of her family’s vegetables for the entire year for over 30 years. She cans, she freezes, she dries, she ferments, and she root cellars. She also has chi...

Read more from Celeste Longacre

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Comments

<span>Jeffrey Krushinski</span> Sat, 07/23/2022 - 19:20
How are you sealing/storing your finished product ?
<span>Cathey W</span> Fri, 11/05/2021 - 09:54
I use my spice grinder for making all my powders...Hot pepper, dried Tomato etc. It works very well and makes a very fine powder. Be sure to wear a mask, Glasses, and gloves especially when working with peppers!
<span>Scott</span> Fri, 09/17/2021 - 11:38
We love garlic but smelling like garlic all day? well you know I don't care but family, friends and neighbors sometimes do. We have found a little trick to remove the odor from your hands. Wash your hands while holding a stainless steel dinner knife ( dull type ) or butter knife in your hands as you wash. This also works for onions.
<span>Maureen</span> Mon, 01/23/2023 - 09:21
More precise drying times would be appreciated. When you state 'overnight', do you mean 8 hours, 10 hours or 12 hours? When you write 'six or seven days,' do you mean continuously in the hydrator for that long or six or seven days of 8 to 10 hours but not overnight? Thank you.
<span>Rick</span> Thu, 07/06/2023 - 15:21
I think you are probably overthinking this. At such low temperatures, you're not going to harm it by leaving it too long in a dehydrator. All it can do is get dry. The first "overnight" seems to just be to make it easier to peel, which probably isn't even really necessary. So 8 hours, 12 hours, probably doesn't matter. And then I think she probably meant 6-7 continuous days in the dehydrator, but it might not take that long depending on how hot your dehydrator is, what the airflow is like, how much garlic you're drying, etc. Just take a slice out every so often when you think it might be done, let it cool to room temperature, and see if it is perfectly crisp or if it still has some bend to it. If you go longer than you need to, you haven't harmed anything.
<span>Nicky</span> Thu, 07/26/2018 - 21:53
I have been making garlic powder for ~5 years. Learned a few tricks along the way. I now add a bit of dried hot peppers (not too much). Gives the powder a bit of a zing.
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://foodmax.in/">Aditya Chopra</a> Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:31
I am on a cutting diet, I know garlic salt has sodium and will make you hold water. But does garlic powder make you hold water? I have been putting it on my chicken with pepper. I know pepper is a fat burner and garlic is great for your heart but will the garlic make me hold water?
<span>Smithlj1@Shaw.ca</span> Mon, 04/17/2023 - 14:14
Hello Aditya........Garlic Salt is just that.......garlic flavoured salt. Not a good idea in your case so depend on the real garlic powder.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/celeste-longacre">Celeste Longacre</a> Mon, 10/19/2015 - 13:37

Hi Aditya,

I don't believe that garlic makes you hold water. Good luck!

 <span>Vickie Sesma</span> Sat, 07/18/2015 - 21:43
I am trying to determine the best way to keep my garlic after I have made it into powder. Do I just put it in jelly jars and just seal tight? Someone mentioned oven canning it in small jars? Thank you for your help!