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Prep time
10 minutes
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Cook time
1 hour
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Serves
8
Author Notes
This savory-sweet, honey-smooched roasted garlic sauce will become a favorite in your fridge. It’s mostly hands-off and hugely versatile. Put it toward just about anything you can think of: roasted potatoes (like the photo above), all sorts of sandwiches (especially avocado toast), desk lunch salads (hearty kale would be great), raw vegetables (perfect for an easy holiday appetizer), crispy chicken wings (check out this Genius broiler method for inspiration), and the list goes on. Roasting the garlic concentrates its flavor and sweetness—and makes your kitchen smell incredible. Soy sauce adds wonderful umami. And a generous amount of cracked black pepper and ground cayenne keep things from being too sweet. When it comes to the oil, consider how you’re using the dressing first. Using ½ cup of olive oil will yield a distinctly olive-oily dressing. If you’d like the oil to be less noticeable, use a mix of olive oil and neutral oil (like canola, vegetable, or grapeseed). Or use all neutral oil for more pronounced garlicky goodness. The vanilla extract might seem like an unexpected addition to a savory sauce—but just try it. It emphasizes the sweetness of the roasted garlic and adds lots of warmth to a cold-weather dinner. —Carolina Gelen
Ingredients
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4
medium garlic heads, top third cut off
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1/4 cup
neutral oil (such as canola or vegetable)
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1/2 cup
mild olive oil (or ¼ cup olive oil plus ¼ cup neutral oil, or ½ cup neutral oil)
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1/4 cup
water, plus more as needed
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1 1/2 tablespoons
honey
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2 teaspoons
soy sauce
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2 teaspoons
freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed
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1 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
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1/2 teaspoon
ground cayenne
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3/4 teaspoon
Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste
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1/4 teaspoon
vanilla extract (optional, see Author Notes)
Directions
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Heat the oven to 400°F.
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Place the garlic heads, cut sides facing up, on a large sheet of foil. Drizzle each with 1 tablespoon of neutral oil, then tightly wrap in the foil. Roast for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the cloves are golden brown and jammy. Let cool slightly, until you can touch the cloves.
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Squeeze the garlic cloves into a blender or food processor. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, or water if needed until the flavor is where you want it and the consistency is pourable.
Carolina is a resident at Food52. She's also one of the hosts of Choose Your Own Recipe Adventure, our YouTube show where our Food52 readers pick the ingredients and techniques for a brand new recipe. Carolina recently immigrated to the U.S. from Transylvania, a place she spent most of her life. She continues to get inspired by the classic Romanian and Hungarian foods she was raised on, creating approachable, colorful, and fun recipes. For more cooking ideas and candid moments, check out her Instagram @carolinagelen.
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