This Air Fryer Garlic Confit is my new obsession! Garlic confit is so easy to make using an air fryer, and you get delicious, buttery soft roasted garlic and delicious garlicky olive oil that you can use in so many ways!
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What does confit mean?
Confit simply means to "preserve" food in French. In the US, "confit" typically refers to food that has been slow cooked in fat, such as oil. You can find a lot of duck confit or pork confit in New Orleans restaurants, and those dishes are always so deliciously rich, buttery, and tender.
Garlic confit is simply garlic cloves that have been roasted in olive oil for a long time. Not fried, but slow roasted at a lower temperature until the garlic caramelizes and becomes buttery soft.
Traditionally, garlic confit is made in the oven or stovetop. The oven can take as long as 2 hours for the garlic to caramelize (like in my shallot confit recipe). The stovetop method is tricky because you have to always keep an eye on the oil as it simmers to make sure it doesn't get too hot.
So that's where this air fryer garlic confit comes in! It's a much simpler way of making garlic confit.
More confit recipes to try: Cherry Tomato Confit
Garlic confit in the air fryer
The reason I love air fryer garlic confit:
- It's fool proof and easy. It's literally a "set it and forget it" recipe.
- It's relatively quick, at least compared to using the oven.
- It is deliciously caramelized, buttery soft, and rich in flavor.
- As a bonus, you get easily spreadable roasted garlic cloves AND garlic oil you can use for delicious cooking. Read on to see serving ideas for garlic confit!
More homemade condiments to try: Chive Oil
How to use garlic confit
- Mash a couple of cloves of garlic confit onto your toast or on your savory scone. Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt. Mmmm!
- Mash garlic confit (plus the oil) into your mashed potatoes or mashed butter beans for a rich savory flavor!
- Spread it on toast with avocado (don't forget salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice)
- Spread it on crostini for an appetizer.
- Make garlic confit butter.
- Mash the garlic into this roasted garlic dip.
- Add some to pasta sauce.
- Stir a little into marinara and make this goat cheese marinara dip.
- Make sure you use the garlicky olive oil for cooking/sautéing: try flavoring hummus or white bean dip, tossing with roasted young potatoes, or in no-mayo potato salad!
- Add it to whipped goat cheese to make a savory creamy dip.
Related recipe: Garlic Scape Butter
Ingredients
- 2-3 heads garlic, peeled (20-30 cloves)-you can buy pre-peeled garlic to save time. If buying pre-peeled garlic, dry vacuum-sealed garlic cloves are better than ones in a liquid.
- ½ - 1 cup olive oil-enough to completely cover the garlic in a small oven-safe container.
- Sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary-optional, but it adds a bit of an herbal aroma and looks so fancy!!
Equipment
- Air fryer (obviously) - I love my Instant Pot Vortex
- Small oven-safe container with high sides, such as a ramekin or an single serving cake baking pan or even a cupcake tin where you will use 1-2 of the cups
- Oven mitts (I love these little silicone ones)
- Heat-safe trivet
Instructions
Place your garlic cloves and thyme (or rosemary) in your baking container. Add just enough olive oil to fully cover the garlic and herbs.
Air fry at 250F for 1 hour. No need to preheat. Please note that if your air fryer typically runs hot or cooks faster than some recipes call for, then you should use a lower temperature, such as 200F or lower if needed. If starting with 250F, check on the garlic halfway through cooking, and if it is browning too much, lower the heat to 200 or lower if needed. The oil should be bubbling slightly during air frying but should not be deep-frying the garlic.
Once the air fryer is done, I really recommend allowing the garlic confit to cool until safe to the touch, since hot oil is HOTTT and splatters easy. If you can't wait, then use oven mitts to CAREFULLY remove the container and place it on a heat-safe trivet until completely cool. Then it's ready to use!
How to store garlic confit
Once the garlic confit cools completely, transfer it to a glass jar (you can keep or discard the herbs, up to you!), cover, and keep refrigerated for up to a month. The oil might solidify a bit in the fridge but will turn to liquid again if you let it sit at room temperature.
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Air Fryer Garlic Confit
Ingredients
- 2-3 heads garlic - peeled (about 20-30 cloves), use as many as you want
- ½ - 1 cup olive oil - enough to completely cover the garlic in a small oven-safe container
- sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary - optional (it looks fancy and adds an herbal aroma)
Special equipment
- Ramekin or other small oven-safe container with high sides. You can even use a muffin tin and fill up 1-2 cups
- Heat-safe trivet
Instructions
- Place your garlic cloves and thyme (or rosemary) in your baking container. Add just enough olive oil to fully cover the garlic and herbs.
- Air fry at 250F for 1 hour (no need to preheat). Please note that if your air fryer typically runs hot or cooks fast, start with a lower temperature such as 200F. If starting with 250F, check on the garlic halfway through cooking. If it is browning, lower the heat to 200F or lower, if needed. The oil should be bubbling slightly during air frying but should not be deep-frying the garlic. This is key for not burning your garlic.There have been some comments about some people's air fryers burning the garlic at 250F, and I really recommend checking the internal temperature of your air fryer prior to using it if you're concerned about that. My Instant Pot Vortex make this garlic beautifully at 250F and even 275F without burning.
- Allow the container to cool until safe to touch without removing it from the air fryer, because the hot oil splatters easily and can burn you. You can open the air fryer or carefully remove the basket to let the garlic cool faster.
- Use immediately or transfer the garlic and oil to a jar and keep refrigerated for up to 1 month. Make sure to use both the garlic and the garlic-infused oil. The oil delicious in salad dressings and for cooking! The oil will turn solid in the fridge, but just let it come to room temperature before using and it will become liquid again.See the notes below for ideas for how to use garlic confit.
- If you liked this recipe, don't forget to give it a star rating and pin it on Pinterest!
Notes
- Mash a couple of cloves of garlic confit onto your toast or on your savory scone. Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt. Mmmm!
- Mash garlic confit (plus the oil) into your mashed potatoes for a rich savory flavor!
- Spread it on toast with avocado (don't forget salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice)
- Spread it on crostini for an appetizer.
- Make garlic confit butter.
- Mash the garlic into this roasted garlic dip.
- Make sure you use the garlicky olive oil for cooking/sautéing: try flavoring hummus, tossing with roasted young potatoes, or in no-mayo potato salad!
Nutrition
The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.
kb
Thursday 10th of April 2025
Welp I wish I'd read the comments first before ruining all that garlic and olive oil in this economy.
Kate
Friday 11th of April 2025
Sorry to hear that! Did your garlic burn? Or how did your ingredients get ruined?
Have you ever tested the internal temperature of your preheated air fryer to make sure it is correct and not running hot or cold? It's always good to do that so you know how to adjust recipes, if needed. I've even made this at 275F several times to test the recipe and never burned the garlic. I'd love to help you troubleshoot this.
Sabrina
Sunday 23rd of February 2025
I found a recipe very similar to this on snapchat but he added lots of butter, salt, and pepper. I think the butter helped with not over cooking the garlic too quickly. I definitely want to give it a try!
Kate
Monday 24th of February 2025
The butter sounds good! I don't think the garlic overcooks in oil at all though, and I like how it stays spreadable even when it cools. Definitely add salt and pepper, either when cooking the garlic or when serving. Enjoy!
YAN
Friday 19th of April 2024
LOL I read the comments and set the temp at 250F to start but it gets very smoky in the room and triggered the fire alarm. So I tuned it down to 200F now and it's good! So I would recommend to start with 200F to be safe, even it means it takes a bit longer time. Hope it's helpful!
Kate
Friday 19th of April 2024
That's helpful, thanks! A lot of air fryers cook at totally different rates even when set to the same temperatures. I'd be so curious to measure the actual temperature inside from different brands/models.
Melanie G.
Saturday 2nd of March 2024
Absolutely amazing! I read all comments first and simply placed in covered dish. Thank you, this was easy and delicious!
Tammy L
Sunday 25th of February 2024
Followed your temp guideline on first attempt but garlic sizzled to almost fried but still good. Tried again but went with temp 250 first 30 mins then down to 200 till done. Yummy. Thanks.
Kate
Friday 1st of March 2024
Thanks for the feedback! Yea I guess some air fryers are different. I've tried it on 2 different kind at 275F and it was fine, but definitely got some comments about others needing 250F or lower. Glad you enjoyed this and made it work!