Free Guide · Garlic Flavour Without the Peeling
All the garlic, with none of the peeling, chopping or sticky fingers.
Can you use garlic salt instead of fresh garlic? Yes... use about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt for every clove of garlic your recipe calls for, and go easy on the other salt, because garlic salt is salt too. Stir it in while you cook, or sprinkle it over the finished dish.
I love garlic. I don't love peeling it. The papery skins that cling to everything, the fiddly chopping, fingers that smell of garlic for the rest of the day... and a chopping board that makes the next thing you cut taste of garlic too.
Then there's the night you go to start dinner and realise there's not a single clove in the house.
So here's everything you need to know about using garlic salt instead of fresh garlic: why it's worth having in the pantry, how much to use, and my favourite everyday ways to use it.
Why use garlic salt instead of fresh garlic?
Fresh garlic is brilliant, and I'm not going to tell you to stop cooking with it. But on a busy weeknight, garlic salt wins on almost every count.
No peeling, no chopping, no mess
No skins, no knife, no sticky fingers and no garlicky chopping board to scrub. Just a pinch, straight into the pan.
You don't need fresh garlic on hand
Fresh garlic runs out, sprouts, or goes soft in the bottom of the basket. A bag of garlic salt in the pantry means you're never caught short halfway through a recipe.
It seasons and brings the garlic at once
One pinch does two jobs. And because it's so quick, garlic actually makes it into dinner on the nights you'd otherwise skip it.
Not all garlic salts are made equal
Here's my one tip before you buy any garlic salt: turn the packet over and read the back. That little ingredient list tells you exactly what you'll be shaking over your dinner, and it's worth knowing.
This is what's on the back of my Mighty Garlic Salt: pink salt, organic garlic granules, onion granules and parsley. That's the whole bag.
Never added: MSG, fillers, anti-caking agents, artificial colours or flavours.
Why onion and parsley?
Garlic is delicious, so of course it leads. But instead of something that tastes flatly of garlic, I've added onion and parsley to the mix. The result is garlic with roundness and complexity, and it still lets everything else in your dish come through. The garlic granules bring a deep, roasted garlic flavour rather than that raw bite.
Why the garlic is organic
The garlic in Mighty Garlic Salt is organic. Organic garlic is grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and that's exactly why I chose it. Where we can, we make sure it's organic, because it's the right thing by your family's health, the farmers, the waterways and the bees.
Hand-made in small batches
Every bag is hand-made by me and my mum in a commercial kitchen, in small batches. Same recipe and same care as at home, just more of it.
Meet the salt
Garlic salt, supercharged
How much garlic salt equals one clove of garlic?
My rule of thumb is 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt for every clove of garlic the recipe calls for. Start there, taste, and add more if you want it more garlicky.
Remember to reduce the other salt
Garlic salt is, well, salt. So when it goes in, it's seasoning your dish as well as bringing the garlic. Reduce or leave out the other salt in the recipe, then taste at the end and add more if it needs it. Mighty Garlic is very strong and very garlicky, so start small. You can always add more, but you can't take it out.
Two ways to use garlic salt: in the pan or on the plate
In your cooking, in place of the cloves
Add it at the point the recipe tells you to add the garlic. Stir it into a pasta sauce, toss it through stir-fried broccolini or green beans, or fold it into mashed potato. Same moment, same flavour, no peeling.
To season at the end
This is where garlic salt really earns its spot by the stove. Use it as a finishing salt and sprinkle it over the dish once it's on the plate: roast veg, eggs, buttered toast, a simple bowl of pasta. Raw chopped garlic scattered over dinner isn't quite the same thing, but a pinch of garlic salt is just right.
How to make garlic butter with garlic salt (a cheat's Café de Paris)
Mix garlic salt into softened butter and you've got a simple garlic butter in about a minute. No crushing, no mincing, no garlic press to wash.
And because my Mighty Garlic Salt already has onion and parsley in it, the butter you make with it is really a cheat's Café de Paris. It's not the full classic version with its long list of herbs and spices, but it's garlicky, herby, salty and very, very easy. Melt it over grilled mushrooms, a hot cob of corn or a thick slice of crusty bread, and if there's a steak on your plate, it's lovely melted over that too.
Keep a little in the fridge and you're halfway to garlic bread any night of the week.
Everyday ways to use garlic salt
Garlic toast under your eggs
Spread garlic butter on your toast in the morning and pile your eggs on top. Or skip the butter and add a pinch over scrambled, fried or poached eggs.
Roast veg
Toss potatoes, pumpkin or carrots with olive oil and garlic salt before they go in the oven, or sprinkle it over once they come out golden.
Simple pasta
Hot pasta, a good glug of olive oil or a knob of butter, a pinch of garlic salt and whatever cheese is in the fridge. Dinner in the time it takes to boil the water.
Garlic mushrooms on toast
Fry mushrooms in butter until golden, add a pinch of garlic salt and pile them onto buttered toast.
The easiest garlic bread
This is the time to go heavy. Spread garlic butter generously onto crusty bread and into the oven it goes. It's the easiest garlic bread of your life.
Watch
My flavour salts in action
A few of the ways I use my salt blends in my own kitchen.
Frequently asked questions
How much garlic salt equals one clove of garlic?
About 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt per clove. Start there, taste, and add more if you'd like it more garlicky.
Do I need to reduce the salt in the recipe?
Yes. Garlic salt is still salt, so reduce or leave out the other salt in the recipe, then taste and adjust at the end.
Can I use garlic salt instead of garlic powder?
Yes, as long as you remember it brings salt with it. Garlic powder is just garlic, so when you swap in garlic salt, cut back the other salt and season to taste.
Can I sprinkle garlic salt over food after cooking?
Absolutely. It makes a brilliant finishing salt over roast veg, eggs, buttered toast or a simple pasta, just before serving.
Ready to skip the peeling?
Keep a bag of Mighty Garlic Salt by the stove for every night there's no garlic in the house, and while you're there, meet the rest of my Flavour Bombs range. You've got this!
