Can you imagine your favorite dish without garlic? When freshly minced garlic gloves hit the oil in your pan, the enticing aroma gets your tastebuds salivating. That said, global demand for garlic has enabled it to evolve into useful and flavorsome condiments and ingredients, such as garlic salt and garlic powder.
While both these products bring that familiar garlic taste to your dishes, is garlic salt the same as garlic powder?
Simple answer:
Let’s raise the curtain and unveil the differences and best uses to ensure your meal gets that pungent punch it deserves.
​​Garlic Salt vs Garlic Powder: A Quick Overview
What is Garlic Salt?
The name says it all. Garlic salt is salt (typically flaky kosher or sea) mixed with garlic powder using a 3:1 salt-to-garlic ratio.
Choosing garlic salt over regular salt enhances the natural flavor of the ingredients, with no need to add fresh garlic or garlic powder unless you enjoy a strong garlic taste.
Of course, some have sensitivities to garlic, be it the actual taste or bodily reaction.
Here in lies an excellent opportunity to offer garlic salt as a condiment for those who love it. In contrast, others can still relish a garlic-free meal. It’s a win-win!
What Is Garlic Salt Used For?
You can use garlic salt as you would regular salt for:
- Browning meat
- Grilling fish
- Roasting chicken and vegetables
- Enhancing dips and marinades
- The ideal condiment sprinkle
- Rubs
Certainly, garlic salt adds an exciting salty twist to several dishes.
Let’s explore garlic powder.
What is Garlic Powder?
Simply put, garlic powder is dried garlic cloves ground into a fine powder.
Garlic cloves can be dried in a dehydrator or oven. Then, using a food processor or mortar and pestle, it is ground into a fine powder. We suggest you use a food processor to achieve the ultimate fine powder result. (*)
Garlic powder is a convenient alternative to fresh garlic and is readily available in grocery stores and online.
In addition, when stored in an air-tight glass container in a cool and dry place, it has a shelf life of 3 to 4 years.
You can make garlic powder at home by following this recipe. Even better, you can use it to make garlic salt by combining 3 teaspoons (15ml) of salt with one teaspoon (5ml) of garlic powder. Easy Peasy!
How to Use
The drying process naturally increases the flavor intensity. For this reason, we recommend you use ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder per large garlic clove.
Use garlic powder as you would regular garlic to heighten the flavor of:
- Soups
- Stews
- Sauces
- Salad dressings
- Marinades
The Differences Between Garlic Salt and Garlic Powder Made Easy
Here is a table displaying the main differences between these two ingredients:
| Garlic Salt | Garlic Powder |
|---|---|
| Sodium content: a ¼ teaspoon ranges between 190mg to 400mg brand depending | Sodium content: 1.9mg per level teaspoon (5ml) |
| Additives: store-bought may include additives such as sugar and modified cornstarch*additive free when made using homemade garlic powder and salt | Additives: calcium silicate (an anti-caking agent) to prevent clumping*additive free when made at home using fresh garlic Learn more about Calcium Silicate here. |
| Flavor intensity: diluted, less powerful garlic taste with saltiness | Flavor intensity: concentrated garlic flavor, sweeter due to no added salt |
| Texture and appearance: grainy salt texture with a slight lime-green hue | Texture and appearance: fine powder texture with white meets yellow hue |
Which One Should You Choose?
The main factors to consider here are each dish’s saltiness and flavor attributes.
For example, garlic salt makes a perfect condiment and seasoning. At the same time, the better-suited cooking ingredient is garlic powder. Furthermore, garlic powder distributes more evenly while cooking.
Garlic salt, on the other hand, is a blend, and the garlic flavor will come through less prominently.
Don’t worry; garlic salt can be used as an ingredient, yet you must consider the salt content and garlic flavor in the recipe.
Should your recipe already contain salt, we suggest substituting it with garlic salt using a 1:1 ratio.
By doing so, the salt content is in check with an added garlic flavor boost. Then, you can add garlic powder to up the flavor a notch.
Decidedly, we all love the distinct taste of fresh or roasted garlic with its rich caramel tones. So, garlic salt or garlic powder does not duplicate the flavor on point.
Yet, both these products create a satisfying and pleasing eating experience.
Tips and Tricks for Using Garlic Salt and Garlic Powder
If you are wondering how to use garlic salt and garlic powder for optimal results, have a look below:
| Garlic Salt | Garlic Powder |
|---|---|
| Ratio: For one large fresh garlic clove, replace the salt in your recipe with garlic salt. Use garlic powder as per our recommended ratio for a heightened garlic flavor. | Ratio: For one large fresh garlic clove: replace with a ¼ teaspoon |
| Uses: browning, braising, grilling, roasting, rubs, dips, perfect condiment to replace plain salt*ideal for vegan, vegetarian, and meat-based diets | Uses: soups, stews, sauces, salad dressings, marinades*ideal for vegan, vegetarian, and meat-based diets |
Remember that the key to successfully using garlic salt and powder lies in the dish you prepare and balancing the salt content and garlic flavor accordingly.
If you want to learn more about garlic salt and alternatives, check out 14 Amazing Substitutes for Garlic Salt.
Interesting Garlic Fact
Did you know that Chinese cuisine comes top in consuming nearly 80% of the global garlic market? That is incredible. (*)
In the same way, global cuisines favor garlic as the best flavor enhancer, from Indonesian and Indian to Mediterranean and African and beyond.
Indeed, we can thank garlic for making our meals extraordinary and taking our cultural food delights to new heights!
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Garlic Thoughts
Before we close the curtain, let’s recap!
We understand that fresh minced garlic, roasted fresh garlic, garlic salt, and garlic powder are not interchangeable. However, garlic flavor bounces off everyone’s palate differently.
So, here’s the deal.
Be bold and step out of your cooking comfort zone! Experiment with your family’s favorite recipes. Then, gather votes around the table and note them done for the next time you make the meal.
How did garlic salt and garlic powder work out in your dish?
