You have your olive oil, you have your garlic and now you think you’re ready to make garlic infused oil. Maybe you are. However, if you’re like me, you might not really know what you’re doing. You see, I used to think you simply put some cloves of garlic into some olive oil and let it sit. On the contrary, this is not the right method and is, in fact, pretty dangerous. If you are looking for directions on how to make garlic infused oil with all that organically grown garlic, look no further.
Garlic Infused Oil Ingredients
1 head of garlic
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (Read this article to learn about the different grades of olive oil.)
Directions
1. Peel the garlic cloves and smash them gently with the side of a knife. (If you’ve never seen this, you have to check it out. Martha knows how to peel garlic.)
2. Put the garlic into a medium pot and cover with the olive oil.
3. Heat over medium-low heat until bubbles start to form and you hear a sizzling sound (about 3 minutes).
4. Let the oil and garlic cook for 10 minutes over low heat. (If the garlic starts to brown, turn the heat down. The garlic should continue to stay white for most, if not all, of the cooking time. It will turn a light golden color as it sits in the oil following the cook time. If the garlic cooks too long, it will get bitter.)
5. Remove from heat and let stand until completely cold. (During this time the garlic will continue to “infuse” in the oil.)
6. Separate garlic and oil. Label and store the oil (and garlic, if you choose – and you SHOULD choose to save them because YUM!) in the refrigerator for up to a week. (Store bought oil will last longer and can sit at room temperature. This is because ingredients/additives are added to keep it from going rancid.)
