Smoked Garlic
Smoked garlic is a simple, two-ingredient recipe that packs a punch of flavor. Toss it in your Traeger grill and let the magic happen, this easy method transforms ordinary garlic into mellow, smoky, flavor-loaded perfection.
Smoked Garlic On Your Traeger
Garlic isn’t just for warding off vampires, it’s a staple in nearly every savory dish we make!
While roasted garlic gets plenty of love, smoking garlic bulbs is the game-changer you didn’t know you needed. Smoking garlic brings out a mellow, rich, much milder flavor with a deep, smoky aroma that elevates any recipe it touches.
This smoked garlic recipe is dedicated to more than just vampires.
Tips
- When chopping the top off your garlic be very cautious! Garlic bulbs will tend to roll around while cutting, so use a nice sharp knife and if you’re having trouble, switch to a serrated knife.
- Skip the aluminum foil packets for this recipe. Roasted garlic is made by wrapping the garlic in foil, this is counterproductive when smoking garlic – we want MORE smoke penetration so the foil is added ONLY at the end of the cook.
- I always make a large batch of smoked garlic, keep a few cloves in the fridge for immediate use and freeze the remainder. See directions below!
- I like to use a pellet blend for this recipe, something like the Traeger Signature blend, which is a mix of hickory, maple, and cherry. If you’re using wood chips, look for a similar blend.
Key Ingredients
Garlic:
Can’t smoke garlic without the garlic! For this recipe, you want to choose firm, fresh garlic. Since we are smoking the whole bulb, give it a squeeze, if it kind of collapses on you, it’s probably not fresh enough.
Olive Oil:
Adding a drizzle of oil to the top of these garlic bulbs helps to keep them moist, add a bit of extra richness if you mash them, and add a bit of extra flavor.
How To Smoke Garlic:
- Preheat your Traeger pellet grill or other smoker to 180f according to manufacturers directions.
Slice the top off the garlic bulbs, just enough to expose the top of the cloves. This is best done with a sharp knife, and may even need a serrated knife to get a clean cut.
- Place the cut garlic bulbs on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Drizzle or brush the top of the each bulb of garlic with olive oil.
- Place the baking sheets directly on the middle rack of your smoker. Smoke the garlic at 180f for 1 hour. Increase the temperature to 275f and smoke for 1 hour.
- Wrap the baking sheets in foil and smoke at 275f for a further 30 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheets from the grill and allow to cool before removing the individual cloves from the smoked garlic bulbs. It’s easiest to carefully peel the outside of the bulbs by pulling down from the cut edge and then pulling out the clove.
Storage Information
Garlic and botulism are buds, so we need to be very carful about storing our garlic.
Fridge:
This smoked garlic can be kept in the refrigerator in a clean, airtight container or jar for 3-4 days.
Freezer:
If you have a surplus of garlic, simply lay the cloves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze until firm. Pop the frozen cloves into a freezer bag and freeze until ready to use!
The frozen cloves can be thawed at room temperature, added to your recipes frozen or even heated in the microwave.
Serving Suggestions
Here are some of my favorite ways to used smoked garlic:
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📖 Printable Recipe
Easy Smoked Garlic Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 bulbs garlic
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 180f.
- Slice the top off the garlic bulbs, just enough to expose the top of the cloves. This is best done with a sharp knife, and may even need a serrated knife to get a clean cut.
- Place the cut garlic bulbs on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Drizzle or brush the top of the bulbs with olive oil.
- Place the baking sheets directly on the middle rack of your smoker.
- Smoke the garlic at 180f for 1 hour.
- Increase the temperature to 275f and smoke for 1 hour.
- Wrap the baking sheets in foil and smoke at 275f for a further 30 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheets from the grill and allow to cool before removing the cloves from the bulb. To remove, peel the outside of the bulbs by pulling down from the cut edge and then pulling out the clove.
Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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Perfect Recipe…garlic came out amazing. Thank you so much for this.
So glad you like it! Smoked garlic has become a major staple in this house!
I have a bunch of garlic that I split apart – still in the papery skin – can I smoke it like that or does it need to be in bulbs. Thanks!
This is a good question. I would toss them in oil and give it a whirl! Smoke them uncovered a bit shorter of a time, though cause you’d hate to inadvertently dehydrate them!
I have a Traeger pellet smoker, which pellets do you recommend? I’ve found a little fresh produce store that sells smoked garlic and want to try my hand at them. Cheers
Hey Steve! Sorry for the late reply – we were on vacation!
I generally use Lumberjack Competition blend pellets for most smoking projects. I find them to be a good all around pellet. I’ll switch them out for applewood or something if I’m making smoked cheese or homemade bacon, but for this recipe, a blend would be perfect!
It is an Internet fiction that “Garlic and botulism are buds”. C. botulinum is ubiquitous in the environment, but since it is a soil bacterium, it may particularly be present on any root vegetables, such as carrots, not just garlic.
It cannot grow in an oxygen rich environment, so it is important not to store foods in oxygen-poor conditions, such as vacuum packing or under oil, at room temperature or for more than a week or so in the fridge (depends on your fridge temperature, if it is low enough you can go longer, see Baldwin).
This fiction arose because people have an insatiable desire to make garlic-infused olive oil and store it at room temperature, which is a food safety risk (although botulism cases due to this are incredibly rare). But the same would apply to carrot-infused oil too (or basically any foodstuff).
Very interesting, I did not know that. I assumed that all root vegetables or veggies that come into contact with the soil are more likely to have botulism spores.