Coarse garlic scape salt is a simple recipe that allows you to enjoy mild garlic flavor all year long in this shelf-stable, homemade seasoning.

If you are growing hardneck garlic in your garden, then you will be lucky enough to get an added bonus to harvest: garlic scapes! Turn these delicious garlic scapes into a shelf-stable, homemade garlic scape salt that you can use all year long.

Garlic scapes have a mild garlic flavor that is delicious sautéed in a little butter and salt. However, with just two simple ingredients, you can turn any additional scapes you have into a flavorful coarse finishing salt that’s perfect to sprinkle over popcorn, vegetables, cooked meats, eggs, potatoes, and so much more.

The best part is that you have a shelf-stable way to enjoy the fresh garlic flavor long after garlic scape season has ended. Whether you grow your own hardneck garlic or picked some up at a local farmer’s market, this simple recipe is an easy way to make sure none of those scapes go to waste.

A spoon of coarse garlic scape salt — A spoonful of flavor!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It uses only two ingredients.
You can use your oven or a dehydrator.
There’s minimal hands-on time.
It becomes a shelf-stable product that stores easily.
It easily adds mild garlic flavor to unlimited dishes.
Makes a great homemade gift.

What Are Garlic Scapes

If you are new to growing garlic, you might be wondering what garlic scapes are. They are the flowering part of the plant that grows a few weeks before the garlic is ready for harvesting. They are long, about pencil width, and curl around when they are ready for harvesting.

Garlic scapes growing on a plant — The smooth curly stems are the scapes.

There are two main types of garlic, hardneck garlic and softneck garlic. They both have different growing requirements, bulb formation, flavor profile, and storage life. Garlic scapes only appear on hardneck garlic varieties. (If you want to learn more about the two types, check out my article, “Hardneck And Softneck Garlic – Which Type Should You Grow?”.)

For the most part, the scapes will all be ready for harvesting around the same time. While my favorite way to enjoy garlic scapes is just to sauté them in a little butter and salt and eat them as a side dish, I can only eat so many. (At least I don’t have to worry about vampires!) That’s where this garlic scape salt comes into play.

Ingredients & Equipment For Garlic Scape Salt

This simple recipe only requires two ingredients: salt and garlic scapes. The type of salt you use doesn’t really matter. However, I do suggest a coarse sea salt or kosher salt for best flavor and health benefits.

Otherwise, you just need fresh garlic scapes. If you don’t have time to make the salt right away, stick your garlic scapes in a ziplock bag and store them in the refrigerator. They should stay good for about a week, which should give you plenty of time to get this salt made. You can also freeze the scapes for much later use.

A jar of coarse garlic scape salt and just the scapes — I had extra dried scapes left over when I did a big batch, so I can just toss in a bit more garlic if I need more flavor and less salt.

As far as equipment is concerned, you can use either your oven or a dedicated dehydrator. I like to use my Cosori Food Dehydrator (Product Link) because I can set it and forget it. It also doesn’t heat up my entire kitchen as my oven can sometimes.

The other piece of equipment you need is a food processor. Now, you can chop the scapes by hand. However, you will wind up with much coarser pieces (and it will take forever!). So I highly suggest using a food processor.

How To Make Coarse Garlic Scape Salt

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

The first step is to harvest or purchase your garlic scapes. The amount you use isn’t really as important as the ratio of scapes to salt is. For the most part, I like to use 4 cups of coarsely chopped garlic scapes (or about 1 cup dried) for every 1 cup of salt.

You can customize the salt by adjusting your ratio of dried garlic scapes to salt. If you want more of a garlic flavor, use less salt. For less garlic flavor, use more salt. It’s that easy!

Wash your scapes well and allow them to dry fully. Then, chop them into 2 to 3 inch pieces. The size doesn’t really matter because we will be tossing them into a food processor. Some people remove the white bloom end, but I chop up the whole scape, and into the food processor it goes!

Once all of your scapes are chopped and in the food processor bowl, pulse them until they are broken down into small pieces. It’s at this point that some people differ on how they make garlic salt. A lot of people add the salt now. However, I like to dehydrate the minced scapes first, then add my salt, so my instructions will go that route.

Drying & Storing

Dehydrator Method (My preferred route): Spread out your minced garlic onto a piece of parchment paper or a dehydrator mat. Try to get the layer pretty thin, so it takes less time to dry out. Set the dehydrator to 135º Fahrenheit for 4 to 6 hours. The time will vary depending on how small your garlic is minced, how much moisture is in the scapes, and how thick you spread out the garlic. Mine was done after about 5 hours.

Oven Method: Spread out your minced garlic onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Keep the layer pretty thin, so it takes less time to dry out. Bake at 200º Fahrenheit for 1 to 2 hours. Stir after the first 30 minutes and every 15 minutes thereafter. Stop baking once the scapes have fully dried out to avoid burning.

Both: Once the minced scapes are fully dry, pop them back into the food processor and pulse a few times just to get rid of any additional large pieces. Add your salt and pulse a few more times to mix and powder the ingredients.

Store the finished garlic scape salt in an airtight container in a cool, dry location. With proper storage, it will last well over a year. I also highly suggest popping in a desiccant packet or two (Product Link) to help remove any excess moisture. If you notice any moisture or clumping, dehydrate the salt a little longer.

Ways To Use Coarse Garlic Scape Salt

There really are no rules on how to use this finishing salt. Add it to any recipes or items that you feel can benefit from the addition of salt and a mild garlic flavor. If you are like me and are a garlic freak, then that would be about anything you can think of!

Please note: Since this is a salt seasoning, be mindful about how much you use. Add a little to begin with and then add a little bit more at a time if needed.

sauteed garlic butter zucchini with coarse garlic scape salt seasoning — I love making my Sautéed Garlic Butter Zucchini. I just swap the garlic and salt for the coarse scape salt.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Add to cooked eggs or omelets
Season grilled or sautéed vegetables (I love it with green beans and zucchini!)
Sprinkle on cooked steak, chicken, or pork
Add into softened butter for a garlic butter (Then use it to make garlic bread!)
Top freshly popped popcorn with it instead of plain salt
Stir into soups and stews
Season homemade French fries or baked potatoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use table salt? You can use any type of salt you want, but kosher salt or coarse sea salt work best. I love using Redmond Real Sea Salt (Product Link) but didn’t use it in this batch because I didn’t have enough on hand.

Do I need a food processor? You won’t get the same results by hand chopping or not using a food processor. Since it’s a finishing salt, you want the salt to be pretty fine.

four jars of dried coarse garlic scape salt — I always add desiccant packets.

Can I air dry the scapes? You can in very dry climates, but an oven or dehydrator will be the safest and fastest methods for drying out the minced scapes.

Why is my salt clumping together? Salt clumps together any time there is any moisture. Spread the salt out again and dehydrate it for a bit longer. It needs to be 100% dry before storing. Also use a desiccant packet.

Can I mix the salt and garlic before dehydrating? You can, and many recipes have you do this. However, I don’t see the purpose since salt doesn’t need to be dehydrated.

I can’t make the salt right now. Can I freeze the scapes instead and make it another time? Yes! Garlic scapes freeze well. You can then use them to make this coarse garlic scape salt, to turn into pesto, or use in other recipes like stir-fry. I just like making the salt because I love garlic salt and it takes up very little storage space.

Does garlic scape salt taste like garlic powder or store-bought garlic salt? Not exactly. Garlic scape salt has a milder, somewhat grassier flavor profile compared to garlic powder or salt. The amount varies depending on your salt-to-scape ratio.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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