What to use instead of garlic powder
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
Advertisement
Garlic flavour in a dry rub, seasoned flour or breading
Being dehydrated, it spreads evenly through dry ingredients and holds up in hot oil, where fresh garlic pieces would scorch long before the crust is done.
Granulated garlicRan out
1/2 tsp granulated per 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Coarser, so it needs double the volume and it clumps far less in humid weather. It also stays crunchy on a rub rather than dissolving in.
Garlic saltRan out
4 tsp garlic salt per 1 tsp garlic powder, then take 1 tbsp salt out of the recipe
Three quarters of what goes in is salt, so the recipe salt has to come out or the batch is ruined. Flavour is otherwise the same.
Onion powder with a pinch of asafoetidaRan out
1 tsp onion powder + 1/8 tsp asafoetida per 1 tsp garlic powder
Sulfurous and allium-forward without being garlic. Asafoetida smells alarming raw and settles into something garlicky once it hits hot fat.
Sazon or a garlic-forward seasoning blendRan out
2 tsp blend per 1 tsp garlic powder, and cut the recipe salt by 1/2 tsp
Brings cumin, coriander and colouring along with the garlic, so the crust comes out orange and more complicated.
What doesn't work: Fresh minced garlic in a breading or a hot dry rub. The water in it makes the coating gum into clumps, and the pieces go black and bitter in the fryer within a minute, well before the crust has browned.
Even garlic flavour through a cold sauce or dressing
It dissolves and disperses without raw bite or crunchy pieces, and it does not get harsher overnight the way cut fresh garlic does.
Fresh garlic on a microplaneRan out
2 medium cloves per 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Sharper and hotter immediately, and it keeps building for a day in the fridge, so a sauce made on Sunday is aggressive by Tuesday.
Roasted garlic mashed to a pasteRan out
1 tbsp paste per 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Sweet and mellow with no bite at all, and it thickens the sauce slightly. A boom boom sauce made this way reads as mild.
Granulated garlic bloomed in the vinegar firstRan out
1/2 tsp granulated stirred into the acid, stood 5 min
Same flavour, and the standing time is what stops it sitting on the tongue as grit. Skip the soak and it stays sandy.
Jarred garlic pasteRan out
1/2 tsp paste per 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Acidified for shelf life, so it tastes faintly sour and dusty next to fresh. Convenient and consistent through a big batch.
What doesn't work: Stirring garlic powder into an oil-only dressing. It will not disperse in fat, so it stays as grit on the tongue and the flavour never comes out. Hydrate it in the vinegar, lemon juice or a spoon of water first, then whisk the oil in.