Though similar, there is a difference between garlic powder and garlic salt, and if you’re not mindful of the distinctions when cooking you can easily spoil a dish due to an overpowering of flavor. For any beginners in the kitchen experimenting with ingredients and seasonings, and learning the basics and lingo, getting the two of them mixed up can be an easy mistake to make, too.
“The similar names can cause confusion if you are not used to cooking with both of them,” says registered dietitian Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, founder of NutritionStarringYOU.com and author of The Everything Easy Pre-Diabetes Cookbook. Of course, as you familiarize yourself in the kitchen and spend more time preparing homemade recipes and meals requiring the use of garlic powder and garlic salt, the difference will become more apparent, and you’ll have a better understanding of how to use each correctly for a delicious, well-balanced flavor.
Here’s what to expect when cooking with garlic powder and garlic salt, along with some helpful tips.
What Is Garlic Powder?
“Garlic is native to Central Asia originally, and garlic powder is the result of drying fresh cloves of garlic via air, oven, or freeze drying methods and grinding them into a powder,” Harris-Pincus explains. It has a much more intense, concentrated flavor than fresh garlic does, and there’s a nice mixture of sweet, pungent and sometimes even bitter notes. So, it’s a great seasoning to keep at home and cook with for its bold and interesting unique flavor and potency.
Plus, it has a long shelf-life, so you can easily store it as a regular pantry staple and really put it to good use. “Garlic powder can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 years,” Harris-Pincus says. It is very fine in texture and dissolves easily, thus acting as a lovely complement to almost any savory dish. Its versatility makes garlic powder a popular choice for flavoring food.
What Is Garlic Salt?
Here’s where there’s some overlap. “Garlic salt is a combination of garlic powder and salt, and it’s usually in a 3:1 mix of salt to garlic,” Harris-Pincus says. Texture resembles garlic powder, although garlic salt may be slightly more coarse and rough due to its added salt content. “It tastes more like garlic-flavored salt than pure garlic powder's much stronger garlicky flavor,” Harris-Pincus explains.
Much like garlic powder, garlic salt also stays fresh when stored properly in a cool, dry place (such as a pantry or cabinet) for up to two years.
How to Cook With Garlic Powder Or Garlic Salt
“Garlic powder is wonderful when you don’t have fresh garlic at home or have time constraints,” Harris-Pincus says. It’ll taste great in a wide range of recipes including sauces and marinades, soups, casseroles, dips and more. You can also use as a garnish or topping and sprinkle a little bit of garlic powder on starchy, comforting foods, such as garlic bread, pasta, and pizza.
While cooking and seasoning with garlic powder is pretty straightforward, garlic salt can be used in any dish that calls for both garlic powder and salt, but the salt in the recipe would need to be reduced by approximately 1/4 teaspoon for each 1/2 teaspoon used, Harris-Pincus suggests. Be mindful of ratios and measurements when cooking with garlic salt to avoid bad taste or texture.
“The key thing to look out for is to not overdo garlic salt by accident in a recipe that also has other sources of salt like table salt, broth, canned veggies, tomatoes, or beans,” Harris-Pincus says. As for how best to cook with garlic salt, it’s great in dishes where salt and garlic are the desired, most prominent flavors to stand out. Harris-Pincus recommends including garlic salt in rubs for meats and sprinkling on veggies, popcorn and eggs, which tastes particularly good.
As a rule of thumb, pay attention to the specifics of a recipe, using suggested ingredients and amounts of each, when cooking with garlic salt and garlic powder. The differences between garlic powder and garlic salt in terms of flavor intensity and texture make substituting infeasible, so don’t think you can get away with swapping one for the other without compromising a dish.
Lastly, avoid using either garlic powder or garlic salt too liberally, especially with new recipes. Always use either one sparingly, and taste the final product first to see how you feel before you add more. “You can always add more but can’t take it away,” Harris-Pincus says.
This article was written by Isadora Baum from Southern Living and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
