Step 1

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES: And prepare a baking sheet with a small piece of foil.

Step 2

LOOSEN AND SEPARATE CLOVES: Use your hands to break up the head of garlic into individual cloves. Don’t peel the cloves of their skins but use your thumbs to remove the looser paper thin outer layers, just until you can see and easily break apart the cloves. If the cloves in the center are particularly small, consider setting them aside to grate as fresh garlic into pan-fried dishes (they may burn or overcook in the oven instead of softening). If you really want to roast these smaller ones, then you will need to keep an eye on them and take them out earlier - they will be done in about 15-20 minutes.

Step 3

PIERCE EACH CLOVE WITH A KNIFE: Make sure you pierce each clove with a small knife before roasting to allow the air to escape (we've had some readers share with us that not doing so resulted in the cloves bursting and we'd hate for you to have a messy oven to clean up!).

Step 4

ROAST GARLIC CLOVES: Place cloves (skin-on) onto the baking sheet and toss with avocado oil. Roast for 30 minutes, or until softened. You can press the back of a spoon (if cloves are very hot to the touch) or quickly and carefully press your finger onto a clove to see if it yields to the pressure and has softened enough. It should press down easily and stay pressed. You’ll also see that the papery skins have cracked open and you can easily pull them off.