How to Mince Garlic: 4 Tips for Mincing Garlic

Minced garlic is when peeled garlic cloves are minced into fine, small pieces that are less than ⅛-inch on all sides. To cook with garlic, you can slice it, chop it, or sauté it in whole cloves. However, minced garlic offers the most pungent and aromatic flavor, making it perfect for many marinades, sauces, and toppings.

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. 1. 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.
2. 2. 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.
3. 3. 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.

If you don’t own a garlic press or prefer to mince your garlic by hand, all you need is a sharp chef’s knife and a cutting board. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to mince garlic properly.

1. 1. Loosen your garlic from the head. If you want to loosen a large number of cloves from your head of garlic, lay the head of garlic on a surface root side down and smash it with your hand. If you only need a few pieces of garlic, you can simply peel them off of the root.
   
2. 2. Remove the garlic skin. If you are sautéing your garlic, you will need to peel the papery white skin away from the cloves. You can use any of the previously-mentioned peeling methods, but the quickest way to peel garlic cloves is often to smash it with a knife using the heel of your hand with the blade facing away from you. After you smash the clove, the skin should peel away easily.
3. 3. Crush the garlic. Use the flat side of the knife to crush your peeled garlic again, with the blade facing away from you. Very carefully sweep off any garlic stuck to the side of the knife onto the cutting board.
4. 4. Chop the garlic. Roughly chop the crushed garlic into small pieces. With the tip of the knife on the cutting board, use the palm of your hand over the top of the blade (which is the side of the knife blade that is not sharp) to run your knife back and forth in a rocking motion over the smashed garlic to roughly chop it. Continue to mince your chopped garlic into finer and finer pieces until each piece is the size of a pearl of couscous.

If it’s your first time chopping garlic or you simply want to become more efficient in the kitchen, here are some pro tips for mincing garlic well.

1. 1. Use a fork. If you can’t or prefer not to use a knife, you can use a fork to mince your garlic. Press the tines of your fork lengthwise into your smashed garlic clove. Wipe the garlic from the prongs, then press into the garlic again in the other direction.
2. 2. Slice lengthwise first. Cut your garlic lengthwise when you first start to chop your garlic, then rotate the clove and chop it in the other direction to get evenly-sized square minces of garlic.
3. 3. Mince your garlic right before you cook it. Crushing and mincing garlic releases the most flavor, but you’ll lose a lot of it if you let it sit. Mince your garlic only right before adding it to a dish. If you need more than an hour or so, keep the garlic in an airtight container to preserve its flavor.
4. 4. Add to the pan after your other ingredients are soft. Small pieces of minced garlic will burn quickly when cooked in olive oil over high heat, so you want to make sure to soften other ingredients like onions before you add your garlic to the pan. Aside from adding your garlic later in the cooking process, you should also avoid adding smaller pieces to higher temperatures.

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