The recipe wants four cloves of garlic. Your fresh garlic has run out, and all you have is a jar of minced garlic and a tin of garlic powder. How much of each is four cloves?
Garlic powder is dried and concentrated, minced garlic is closer to fresh, and a clove can be tiny or the size of your thumb. This garlic clove to powder converter takes all three into account.
How to use the Garlic Clove to Powder Converter#
- Enter the amount. Type the quantity from your recipe.
- Say what you have. Choose cloves, teaspoons of minced garlic or teaspoons of garlic powder.
- Pick the clove size. A large clove has about three times as much garlic as a small one.
- Read the result. The converter shows the other two forms, in teaspoons and fractions.
How much garlic is in a clove?#
Cloves vary with the variety and the position in the bulb, with the outer cloves of a head the largest. The USDA lists a clove of raw garlic at about 3 grams, which is a medium clove. A small clove makes about half a teaspoon of minced garlic, and a large clove about a teaspoon and a half. A medium clove falls between them, at about one teaspoon. A typical head has roughly ten to fifteen cloves.
Garlic powder equivalents#
Garlic powder is dried garlic ground fine, and it is far more concentrated by volume. Charts put one small clove at about one eighth of a teaspoon of powder, and a large clove at one quarter of a teaspoon. The calculator places a medium clove in between, at three sixteenths. One source puts the large clove at half a teaspoon, so the range is wide, and it is worth starting low and tasting.
| Clove size | Fresh minced | Garlic powder |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 1/2 tsp | 1/8 tsp |
| Medium | 1 tsp | 3/16 tsp |
| Large | 1 1/2 tsp | 1/4 tsp |
Jarred minced garlic#
Jarred garlic is chopped garlic packed in water or oil with an acid to keep it. It measures like fresh minced garlic, so one teaspoon of jarred garlic stands in for one medium clove. The flavour is flatter and slightly sour, and it lacks the sharp heat of fresh garlic, so many cooks add a little extra at the end.
Flavour differences#
The sharp taste of fresh garlic comes from a compound formed when the clove is cut or crushed. The finer you chop it, the stronger it tastes. Garlic powder has a sweeter, toastier, more rounded flavour, and it works well in rubs, dressings and dry mixes because it blends evenly and does not burn like fresh pieces. Fresh garlic is better when it is the main flavour, such as in a sauce, a stir fry or a roast. If you use powder in place of fresh, add it with the other dry seasonings, and use less than you think you need.
Avoid burning garlic#
Fresh minced garlic browns in less than a minute in hot oil and turns bitter when it burns. Add it to a pan after the onions, or at the end of a sauté, and stir it for thirty seconds before adding liquid. Garlic powder can scorch in the same way, so stir it into a liquid, or add it to a dish once the pan is off the heat.
Storing garlic#
Whole heads of garlic keep for weeks, or even months, in a cool, dark place with good airflow, such as a basket in the pantry. Do not store them in the fridge, where they can sprout and turn rubbery. Once you break a head, the cloves last for a few weeks. Peeled or chopped garlic should go in the fridge and be used within a few days. Be careful with homemade garlic in oil, which must be kept refrigerated and not left at room temperature, as garlic in oil can support the growth of harmful bacteria. If you cook a lot, dried garlic powder is a useful back up, because it keeps for a long time in a sealed jar.
Frequently asked questions#
About 1/8 teaspoon for a small clove and up to 1/4 teaspoon for a large one. A medium clove is about 3/16 teaspoon.
About one teaspoon for a medium clove. Small cloves give about half a teaspoon and large cloves one and a half.
Roughly ten to fifteen, depending on the head.
Yes, in cooked dishes, rubs and dressings. It tastes sweeter and less sharp.
No. Garlic salt is mostly salt, so cut back on other salt in the recipe.
About one medium clove, using the USDA reference weight.
Sources and further reading#
- USDA FoodData Central. Food composition and household measure weights.
- The Reluctant Gourmet: How to convert fresh herbs to dried herbs. Garlic clove sizes in minced teaspoons and powder.
- Omni Calculator: Fresh to Dry Herb Conversion. Garlic entries for small and large cloves.