There’s nothing like using fresh ingredients to add robust flavors to your meals. But sometimes, like with garlic, prepping fresh ingredients isn’t always an easy task. More often than not, it’s easy to resort to buying them dried, packaged, or prepared—and risk sacrificing taste for convenience.
Luckily for you, we’ve provided various methods of mincing garlic for you to choose from to speed up the process!
Peeling Garlic
Before you get to the mincing of garlic, you’ll need to conquer the tedious task of peeling it. But not to worry—we’ve provided three helpful tips so you can peel garlic fast
- Peel by hand: Use a paring knife to cut the root end of the garlic clove off. Then, manually peel the garlic skin away.
- Smash with a knife: Put a clove of garlic on a cutting board and press the flat side of a knife against it. Use the heel of your hand to tap against the knife until the clove is slightly smashed. Remove the layer of skin.
- Shake it: Grab two similarly sized mixing bowls. Gently crush a head of garlic with the heel of your hand, and place it in one of the mixing bowls. Put the two bowls together and shake vigorously until the skin is released from the head.
Now that you’ve got some quick peeling methods for garlic, let’s get into the different ways to mince it.
Use a Knife
There are two ways to mince garlic with a knife: chopping and smashing. To mince the garlic by chopping, hold a clove of garlic on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut it into thin slices. (Be sure to protect your fingertips from the blad by angling your knuckles forward.) Stack the slices and cut them again to create thin strips. Finally, dice these strips into tiny cubes.
To use the smash method, lay the flat side of the knife against the clove and press down with your hand or smack it until the clove flattens. Turn the knife so the blade is pointing down and rock the blade back and forth until the garlic is chopped into tiny pieces.
Grater
Using either a fine or ribbon grater, rub a peeled clove of garlic over the sharp surface with a plate or bowl underneath to catch the garlic.
Press
This method requires a garlic press. Place a peeled clove into the garlic press and squeeze the handle to press out minced garlic.
Mini Food Processor
The last (and arguably the simplest) method is to use a mini food processor. Place peeled cloves into the bowl, attach the lid, and pulse until the cloves are minced.
Mincing fresh garlic doesn’t have to be a tedious task. Now that you’re armed with some effective ways to mince garlic, delicious meals with robust flavors lie ahead!
