Peeling garlic is kind of a messy endeavor, and it can take a few minutes to peel all that skin off. There’s a much easier way: you can actually peel an entire head in less than 10 seconds—using just a couple of bowls.


There’s always the old tried and true garlic crush-and-peel with a knife, but that only gets you so far. You still have to dig into the (smelly) garlic with your fingers and peel everything off yourself. For one or two cloves, that may be fine, but if you’re using a lot of garlic, try this: throw the crushed head of garlic in a bowl, stick another bowl on top of it, and shake it vigorously. (If it’s being particularly finicky, you may need to microwave it and peel instead).


After a few seconds, you should find that each clove has completely shed its skin and is ready for cooking (or repelling mosquitoes). Just remember to drink a glass of milk to neutralize that garlic breath when you’re finished.

We originally featured this tip in 2011 using this video from Saveur. That video is still great, but we’ve updated this post with our own that shows the process in action, through a glass bowl and a slo-mo camera. Enjoy!