How To Incorporate Pickled Garlic Into Dishes

One of our favorite variations of garlic is pickled garlic. Sometimes eaten straight out of the pickling jar, it's often relegated as a side dish or accompaniment — rather than a cooking ingredient. That's a bit of a shame since pickled garlic is a versatile pantry staple that you should start incorporating into your dishes. 

For example, you can add it to our marinated mushroom antipasto salad recipe. Instead of mincing fresh garlic cloves to add to the marinade, mince pickled garlic cloves. Not only will you get a garlicky flavor, but you'll also get tanginess, subtle sweetness, and added umami, thanks to the fermentation process of the garlic pickles. Additionally, pickled garlic tends to be crunchy, so you'll get added texture. 

You can also easily incorporate pickled garlic into dumplings and dipping sauces. Try our steamed beef dumplings recipe and add about a teaspoon of minced pickled garlic to the ground beef. Add slices of pickled garlic to the dipping sauce, which is made with soy sauce, black vinegar, and sesame oil. The pickled garlic will amplify the tang of the black vinegar, and add desirable garlic flavor. On top of that, you can fish the sliced pickled garlic out of the sauce and top the dumplings with them.  

Incorporating pickled garlic into various dishes is a relatively simple affair. If the dish usually tastes good with garlic, it'll also taste great when you add pickled garlic. Another dish you can try making is pickled garlic fried rice. We got this idea from Betty Liu, a surgical resident and the author of "The Chinese Way". Liu makes a mean fried rice with pantry staples and pickled chiles. Adding pickled veggies to fried rice will help enhance the dish's texture and flavors. Pickled veggies and pickled garlic, once again, are crunchy and layered with flavor, especially tanginess and umami. 

Aside from salads, sauces, dumplings, and fried rice, you can also add pickled garlic to your relishes, guacamoles, and salsas. Start with our fire-roasted salsa recipe. Instead of adding fresh garlic cloves to the food processor bowl, add pickled garlic.

Finally, if you love spicy food, you can further elevate your pickled garlic before incorporating those tangy cloves into your next condiment, salad, rice, or dumpling dish. Mix gochujang or sriracha into your jar to make kimchi-like spicy pickled garlic, a TikTok trend that is actually worth trying.