Granulated Garlic vs. Garlic Powder: What's the Difference?

 Perhaps you're out of fresh garlic. Perhaps you're in a hurry or you simply don't feel like completing the tedious task of peeling and chopping a clove or two tonight. Perhaps the dish in question would benefit from the flavor of garlic, but not the texture or visual of little bits or slices. Whatever the reason, deciding between granulated garlic and garlic powder can be frustrating.

Garlic enhances everything it touches, its enticing aroma alone enough to make mouths water, and mastering the use of these products opens even more avenues in the kitchen.  Knowledge is power, and in this case, that power means choosing how and when to use each one.

What Is Granulated Garlic?

Granulated garlic has a coarser texture from a larger grind, similar to cornmeal. The best place for it involves liquid-heavy recipes, like those for salad dressing, sauces, soups, or stews. It's less prone to forming clumps in liquid than powder and, since it needs more time to hydrate and infuse into the dish, it works well in any dish that requires a longer cook time.

It's also the superior choice of the two when blending spices together, like in creating a dry rub for meat for example, its courser texture mixing more evenly with other spices than garlic powder, which is too fine and tends to slip around. This size and grain lets it adhere to meat well, sticking it out through the cooking process.

What is Garlic Powder?

Garlic powder is the finer of the two, its grind closer to cornstarch or even flour. When you need an instant pop of garlic flavor, as in whipping up a quick dish or whisking a marinade, garlic powder is your guy. Being more fine than granulated garlic, it's more potent and can release its flavor quickly, without the need for liquid to hydrate it and coax it out.

Garlic powder is also a great choice if the recipe calls for mincing garlic very finely and you're not confident in that skillset – just use powdered instead. It also has a longer shelf life than granulated garlic.

Are Granulated Garlic and Garlic Powder Interchangeable?

In terms of flavor, you can use granulated garlic and garlic powder interchangeably. But they're very different in texture, you'll need to adjust the amount you use.

Granulated garlic has more air by volume due to its larger size, while garlic powder is denser. Double the amount of granulated garlic – for instance, two teaspoons granulated garlic for every one teaspoon garlic powder.

If you prefer to think of your spices in terms of their fresh counterparts, one clove fresh garlic is roughly equivalent to ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, or ½ teaspoon granulated garlic. In an absolute pinch, hydrating granulated garlic will be the closest replacement for fresh.

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