In this article I provide step by step instructions for how to dehydrate garlic. I also show you how to make homemade garlic powder and garlic salt from scratch, starting with dehydrated garlic
How to Dehydrate Garlic
To dehydrate garlic, first peel and slice garlic. Place the sliced garlic on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate the garlic at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to nine hours. Powder the dehydrated garlic to make garlic powder. To make garlic salt, mix one part garlic powder to three parts salt.
Read on for step-by-step instructions for how to dehydrate garlic, along with photos.
Prepare Garlic for Dehydrating
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The first-, and most time-consuming part of preparing garlic for dehydrating is peeling it. In fact, peeling garlic is one of my least favorite kitchen tasks.
The good news is, there are a couple of ways to make that easier. The easiest way is to buy garlic cloves that are already peeled. You can sometimes find peeled garlic at stores such as Costco and some grocery stores.
How to Quickly and Easily Peel Garlic
If you start with unpeeled garlic, the fastest way to peel it is to use one of these handy dandy garlic peelers, that you can get on Amazon.
To use this, first cut off the end of the garlic, and then separate the cloves.
Put a few cloves at a time into the peeler and with your hand on top of the peeler, roll back and forth.
Dump out the garlic and you’ll see the peels have come right off!
Slice the Peeled Garlic
Once you’ve peeled the garlic, the next step is to slice the garlic. If you have a food processor with a slicing blade that will speed up the process. I sliced the garlic by hand it and didn’t take very long, so no worries if you don’t have a food processor.
Arrange the Garlic in a Single Layer on Dehydrator Trays
The next step is to put the sliced garlic in a single layer on your dehydrator trays. In the photo above, I have one head of garlic, sliced, on a single dehydrator tray. You could probably fit about a head and a half of garlic on each tray without overlapping the garlic.
If you have five dehydrator trays, you likely have room to dehydrate five to seven or so heads of garlic at a time. Of course, this depends on the size of the heads of garlic, and the size of your dehydrator trays. A general rule of thumb is one head of garlic per tray, but two will work if you have a lot of garlic to dehydrate.
I recommend using a mesh dehydrator screen on your trays.
Note that this doesn’t have to be perfect, and it’s not worth taking the time to carefully arrange the garlic. Just divide up the garlic you have evenly on the trays and avoid overlapping the garlic.
Dehydrate Garlic at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit
When dehydrating garlic, set the temperature on your dehydrator to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Since you will most likely cook with the garlic you’ve dehydrated, there’s no real benefit to dehydrating at a temperature lower than 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you want the garlic to dehydrate faster, then increase the temperature to a maximum of 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pro tip: Unless you want your home to smell like garlic for days to come, when dehydrating garlic, place your dehydrator outside for the first three to six hours. Keep the dehydrator out of direct sunlight. Also make sure to place your dehydrator in a place where it won’t get wet.
When I dehydrated this batch of garlic, before getting started, I checked the weather forecast for rain. I also put it on a covered patio to keep it out of direct sunlight.
Garlic After 3 Hours in the Dehydrator
After 3 hours, the garlic had dried considerably, but there was still a lot of moisture.
The good news is that by this point, the smell from the dehydrating garlic had subsided considerably and so I was able to bring it in the house to finish dehydrating.
Garlic After 6 Hours in the Dehydrator
After six hours, the garlic looked very similar to how it did after three hours in the dehydrator. However, at this point, some of the pieces of garlic were almost crisp, but many of the garlic slices were still quite “bendy.”
I put the garlic back in the dehydrator for an additional three hours.
Garlic After 9 Hours in the Dehydrator
When I checked the garlic after nine hours in the dehydrator, it was completely dry, crisp, and easily broke into pieces.
I let it cool completely before putting it in an airtight container.
Dehydrated garlic is shelf stable for at least a year, when stored properly. Proper storage includes keeping the garlic in an airtight container, away from light.
I personally store all my dehydrated food in mason jars, that I seal with a vacuum sealer. If you want to store garlic in mason jars, I recommend picking up a vacuum sealer and mason jar accessories that you can get on Amazon.
How to Use Dehydrated Garlic
Dehydrated garlic is very easy to cook with. You can place sliced, dehydrated garlic in soups, stews, sauces, etc. without rehydrating it first.
If you want to sauté dehydrated garlic, I recommend first rehydrating it in a small amount of hot water. Discard the water, and pat the rehydrated garlic with a paper towel or cloth to remove excess moisture. Then sauté in the same way you sauté fresh garlic.
One of the most versatile ways to use dehydrated garlic is to make garlic powder or garlic salt from the dehydrated garlic. You can sprinkle the garlic powder or salt into food as you cook it, on popcorn or other food you want to add some flavor to. And of course, I love making garlic bread with my home-made garlic powder or garlic salt!
How to Make Garlic Powder from Dehydrated Garlic
It’s very easy to make garlic powder from dehydrated garlic. Simply powder the dehydrated garlic using a blender or coffee grinder. I personally use this coffee grinder that I purchased on Amazon.
I recommend having a dedicated coffee grinder that you use exclusively for powdering spices and savory dehydrated food such as onions and garlic. You don’t want your coffee tasting like garlic, and you don’t want your garlic tasting like coffee! Thankfully, coffee grinders are inexpensive enough that it’s practical to have more than one.
How to Make Garlic Salt from Dehydrated Garlic
To make garlic salt from your home dehydrated garlic, first powder the garlic. Then mix one part of garlic powder to three parts salt. Store your homemade garlic powder or salt in airtight containers such as small mason jars.
Since it may be hard to visually tell whether your container holds garlic powder or garlic salt, be sure to label your containers.
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Thanks for pointing out that dehydrated garlic could greatly elevate its flavor just by adding salt. I’d like to find a good supplier of wholesale dehydrated garlic because I’m thinking about starting my own food truck business. I think that finding garlic products that can last a long time will be great for such a business.
Hi Alice, dehydrated garlic is a great way to go! Lately I have been loving Mother Earth products: https://stockingmypantry.com/MotherEarth – they have dehydrated garlic in bulk. I recommend getting the sliced dehydrated garlic, because when you use it in cooking, it “feels” more like fresh, and it flavors it really well. If you use the coupon code SMP, you’ll get 10% off. (Put in the code when you move to the checkout page.) Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to help. Good luck with your food truck!