How I Make Garlic Powder from Dehydrated Home Grown Garlic

 Our weather is all over the map. One day it was sunny and 65°F, the next dreary and rain all day, and then the next?  Cold and snow.  Yep.  That's how it's been.  Now we roll into a a cold snap.

I have had some later than usual work.  I filled the dehydrator with parchment lined paper, and got busy with about 10 heads (or bulbs) of home grown garlic.  I apologize to those who have already read posts about making garlic powder. 

Back in 2020 I hosted an online Pampered Chef party to help out a friend.  Never in my life did I think so many people would order, and I ended up with lots of free items.  Two items were the garlic peeler and slicer.  The above is the "peeler" for the garlic cloves.  You do separate the head of garlic, then place a few cloves inside the tube, and roll it back and forth in with the palm of your hand.  The dried peeling will crack and very easily come off the clove of garlic.

I use disposable latex gloves for this job.  Garlic will make your hands smell for days if you do not.  

The slicer unit top comes off, and you insert the peeled cloves into both sides of the inner compartment.  Place the top back on, and using both hands, twist the top, and the slices come out the bottom onto your pre-lined trays for the dehydrator.

Dehydrate according to the dehydrator instructions.  

I use a coffee grinder, used solely for grinding dehydrated foods, and grind the pieces into powder.  I store it in my pantry and use for all things delicious, and homemade dry mixes.

I have heard that some newer ovens, and some air fryers have options for "dehydrating" foods, if you do now own a dehydrator. 

How I Make Garlic Powder from Dehydrated Home Grown Garlic  ©  January 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Homemade Garlic Powder

 

The tool on the left is used for removing the garlic skins.  you place the garlic inside the tube and roll it with your hand.  The tool on the right is used to slice the garlic.

You put the top piece of the slicer back on top and twist the bottom as you press down the top. I have learned to not over fill this, making it much easier.

I know this is a repeat post, and I do make it yearly most garden seasons.  If you have never made garlic powder you can click on my post below on how I make it, after the garlic is dehydrated.  

My very first years making garlic powder, I would hand peel, and hand slice.  

How to Dehydrate Garlic and Make Garlic Powder

Tips:

-Use latex gloves.

-Rinse all the tools/knife if you are not going to do dishes right away.  Garlic dries rock hard, making washing things difficult.

-I only have 4 mats for my dehydrator, so I use parchment paper some times, so that I don't lose the very small bits of the garlic.  I do recommend parchment paper over simply using your trays.  It is much easier to un-stick the garlic from the paper, push it to the center, and fold the paper in half to slide it into your grinder.  It makes way less mess, and clean up much easier.

-Save your garlic skins to make broth or flavor other dishes.  Store the skins in a freezer bag.

Homemade Garlic Powder © Nov 2023 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Making Garlic Powder Day

 I finally got around to dehydrating garlic.  I typically do this when I can open my windows, but saved this job for this winter.

You put your cloves into the rubber tube, roll gently pressing to remove garlic skins.  My tools are from Pampered Chef, but I am sure Amazon sells something similar.  I got mine free, and love them!  It is so much faster than hand peeling/slicing.

Put the cloves in the slicer compartments, and press and turn to slice garlic.  Not real easy to clean, but works great.

I first started doing this all by hand - hand peeling, hand slicing then grinding.  I sliced my cloves onto parchment paper this time.  It just makes it easier to get it all into my coffee grinder to grind up.

I am dehydrating the garlic on 125°F in my Excalibur for 8 - 12 hours.  I store garlic powder in an air tight jar in my pantry.  Unlike onion powder, it will not collect moisture (best way to store  my onion powder is in an airtight jar in the freezer).  I use garlic powder in a lot of recipes.

Now, if you want minced garlic (which I need when I can Cowboy Candy), I chop it up in my smaller food processor.  They have other tools for mincing, but that's what I have on hand.

I'm finishing up the last few hours of drying this morning, and will put them into a coffee grinder to grind down into a powder. One more job off the winter project list.

How to dehydrate garlic and make garlic powder

I posted yesterday that I was dehydrating garlic.  I realized I don't think I've made a post about making garlic powder with dehydrated garlic.  First, peel all the cloves, and slice thinly.  Place on dehydrating trays.  If your trays have larger holes, cover them with parchment paper first.

The holes on my trays worked fine.  Once the garlic is crisp (use the guide book that came with your dehydrator for temperature and time), you will remove them from the trays.  I did not use parchment paper, so I line my counter top with a sheet of waxed paper.  I gently push all the garlic off the trays.

I hold each side of the waxed paper up so the garlic goes to the middle and they can slide easily off the waxed paper and into a coffee grinder.  You then grind them until it turns into a powder form.

I am lucky to have a glass container that fits a canning funnel.  I pour the powder out of the grinder and into the jar.  It smells and tastes much better than anything you will find in the store.

Dehydrating Garlic

If you are wondering, I have not had time to learn to knit socks.  I have been that busy most days.  I guess that's a good thing, but I have hopes in coming out of this pandemic learning something new.

It's been a cold April here too.  We also ran out of cut/split wood, so the heaters are back on sadly.  Hubby has been working on the car after work and there was also a fuel problem, so that meant more parts and more work.

Not much I can do in the garden without the help of my husband so the peas have yet to be planted.  Yesterday snow was in our forecast again (which we got a little of) and then rain.

First thing in the morning, I dug out my fusible web (which took time to find) and some scrap fabric.  I had to patch one daughter's favorite pants.

I filled 3 large trays with garlic yesterday.  Not my home grown, but home grown in another state.  I rely on the farmer's market for a spring batch of garlic powder.  I made another one in the fall.  Tedious work, but worth the work.

The days here are going too fast.  I am writing out my to-do's on a list today to make sure some things get done.  It took an hour or more to slice all that garlic, so today I work on some household chores and outdoor projects.  I need to make a list for the green house as well. 

Update on the car.  I may have her back tonight.  She needed a new fuel pump and an oil change, on top of the intake being replaced.  Thankful to have a biker friend who is laid off to help us out.