A big time saver in the kitchen is to have ginger and garlic paste on hand and ready to use. Unfortunately, the store bought ones tend to have a lot of preservatives, giving them a funny aftertaste and smell. Try this quick recipe to make your own ginger and garlic paste at home – all natural and no preservatives. The best part…it has a shelf life of over 2 months in the refrigerator!
Ingredients:
Ginger – 1 cup, chopped
Garlic – 1 cup, peeled
Salt – 1 tsp
Oil – 1/3 cup
Method:
1. Heat Oil in a small pan until it’s almost smoking. Remove from heat and let it cool.
2. In a blender, add Ginger, Garlic and Salt.
3. Grind into a smooth paste using the cooled Oil to help the grinding process. Stop grinding and push down the sides occasionally. The Oil will emulsify and turn white.
4. Store ginger & garlic paste in an air tight glass jar in the refrigerator.
Tips:
1. Be sure ginger and garlic are completely dry before grinding.
2. Storage jar must be clean and dry.
3. When ready to use, do not keep jar out on the counter top for a long time. Take what you need and place the jar back into the fridge quickly. This will extend the shelf life of the paste.
Hi Hetal,
In the video you mentioned that ginger garlic paste should be stored in a glass jar, can I keep it in a stainless steel container?
Hi Hetal &Anuja
Love to see your website. this website helps me a lot. I want to know which oil is best for ginger garlic paste… I use coconut oil for most of the dishes since am a keralite. Is that ok for this paste or i have to use anything else..
once again,,,, awesome recepies:)
Hi Sukanya,
You can use coconut oil – especially since you use that for the rest of your cooking 🙂
Thanks and glad you are enjoying ShowMeTheCurry.com
Hi Hetal & Anuja :
I’ve tried making the ginger-garlic paste without heating the oil. Turns out good. The colour or consistency doesn’t change at all, if stored in the refrigerator. I only keep adding oil on top (like we do for Indian home-made pickles) so that fungus/mold doesn’t form on top.
Awesome site ! You both, should write a Cookbook.
Thanks Ann, for reporting your findings. I’m sure it will help other viewers as well.
Hey ladies I have a question ,once I make this paste is it assured that for all the recipies from you site where you use seperaty minced ginger nd minced garlic this can be substituted or do we have to freshly mince ginger nd garlic that time too … I head fresh is the best kindly confirm on this …thank you
Hi Shobana,
Yes, you can use this paste as you would fresh ingredients. As a general rule, fresh ingredients will almost always taste better than premade. You have to decide what level of convenience you want.
hii hetal
I made the ginger garlic paste today exactly by your recipe but i had a hard time grinding it for almost half an hour..i wanted to know if a little water could be added to speed up the grinding process???or adding water would spoil the paste??..please let me know ASAP bcoz i was very happy to know that this paste has a shelf life of 2 months in the refrigerator as everytime i made the paste it wouldn’t stay that long..so please let me know if there is any option to speed up the grinding process??waiting for ur reply..
thanks
Hi Sam,
Water would not be a good idea, especially while trying to preserve the paste for a long time. I hate to say this, but its probably your blender/grinder that is not working well.
I have to go for a tour for 3 months, so how to store the ginger garlic paste for longer duration without use of refrigerator, bcz i dnt have refrigerator over their.
Can u plz let me know the process for preparation & storage for the same.
Hi SK,
Sorry, we don’t have any ideas without refrigeration. Maybe some of our viewers can help…
hi anuja and hetal,
i always prepare separate ginger,garlic and green chilli pastes.
i prepare the ginger paste like this:( dry grind recipe)
wash, dry , chop and grind ginger finely ( not paste) and store it in tupperware containers.i can use them for 1 1/2 months.
without adding oil and salt we can use this method to put ginger ( it looks sort of grated) in indian tea also.
but now that i have ur recipe i will prepare ginger garlic in ur way. also post a recipe with green chilli- ginger – garlic. it will be really helpful.
good presentation. i will visit ur site for more reicpes.
Hi, would you store the paste in the fridge or in the freezer?
I have read that it is possible to freeze the paste in ice cube trays so you can drop the little paste cubes into the pot when you are cooking.
Hi Shu,
This particular recipe allows you to store the paste in the refrigerator without it becoming greenish. You can use as much or as little as you like (something you cannot do if its frozen unless you thaw the cube).
Hello Hetal and Anuja! I would be concerned about using oil that has been heated until almost smoking, since it becomes cancerous!The raw flavour of the ginger/garlic would anyway be gone when you actually use it during cooking…
Hello ladies,
I have a question that’s bothering me. I have read everywhere you guys posting about how ‘bad’ the oil gets once it is cooled down after reaching smoking point. On one hand, you say it is unhealthy to consume such oil, and on the other hand you ask us to use the same oil for this paste. Can you explain why? Or am I missing something here?
Thanks
Please reply.
Hi Divya,
Yes, we do say that oil that has been used for frying should not be cooled and used again as its chemical composition changes and it becomes unhealthy. There is a difference here though. The oil is heated only slightly to remove the raw flavor and to help preserve the ginger garlic paste. It is similar to the oil you would use to cook any subzi or vegetable. It has not been heating for the entire duration of the frying process, then cooled and then heated again for another frying session. Hope that clears up any doubts.
Thank you Hetal!
Hetal and Anuja,
I would suspect ginger and garlic paste could be made seperately and stored in their own containers. The amount of oil used for each would come out to about 2 Tbs. each. Do you think there might be a problem with storage compared to having the twomixd together?
Rich
Hi Rich,
We have not tried this method with individual ginger and garlic but don’t see any reason that it wouldn’t work. We usually use both together so it is more convenient to do it together.
Hi Hetat and Anuja, this is a really good site.You guys are doing a great job.I’ll be visiting your site more often.thanks.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I follow your recipes regularly. Your recipes are healthy, quick and tasty.
I used to have problem with homemade ginger garlic paste as it turns green after a week or so. By using oil, it stays longer than a month. Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe.
Your welcome Deepthi! 🙂
Hi ladies,
I love watching your videos, I must admit that I got hooked on cooking indian foods.
My question is when is the best time to put ginger or garlic paste when cooking such as curries? Is is better to use it early on and saute it with the masalas or put it when you have already poured the tomatoe and onions purees?
Thanks and more power,
Gerald
Hi Gerald,
If you will be using onions, the ginger and/or garlic goes in after the onions have been cooking for a minute or two. This prevents mainly the garlic from burning too fast in the hot oil and turning bitter. After the oil separates from the mixture of the onion, garlic and ginger, the tomatoes go in and are cooked until the oil separates once again.
My wife showed me a really neat trick for peeling ginger. You simply use the edge of the bowl of a metal teaspoon and scrape the skin off. It comes off like magic immediately! It is also a great way to navigate those little nooks and crannies where a branch joins another finger of ginger on the same hand. I can peel an entire hand-sized hand in less than a minute!
Hi Dave,
You obviously have a smart wife 😉 !
It is a neat trick 🙂
Really delicious paste.Garlic has been found to reduce cholesterol and thin the blood, which prevents the risk of stroke, hypertension and heart disease.
Can you make the same thing with green chilly, adding hot to keep the color.
Hi Kitty,
This was a user submitted recipe so we followed it exactly. We have never tried it with green chilies. Maybe you can try a small batch…we’d love to hear your feedback.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I have been following your site for a couple of years. Please feel free to visit my newly set blog. I will use your way of ginger-garlic paste today. It’s for my brother who lives alone in Scotland. The paste will be ideal for him to cook his dinner quickly. Thanks for all your lovely recipes.
hi
i usually make ginger paste and keep in a freezer.so,that it remains fr more than a year..likewise may i keep this ginger garlic paste in freezer? can u tell me for how many months this ginger garlic paste will remain good?
Hi Vidya,
This paste remained fresh (no color change) in the refrigerator for 2 months. We added the oil to be able to keep it in the fridge rather than freeze it. If you are going to freeze it, adding the oil is not necessary.
Great recipe. I would definitely give this a try very soon.
Could you please post some recipe for Baked Veg that uses white sauce.
Dear Ladies,
Can we use this tip for green chilies?
Thank you so much!
Rani
Hi Rani,
This was a viewer submitted recipe so we followed it exactly. We have not tried this process with green chilies.
Not a good tip. i have tried and still its turning green.
Hi Peter,
Sorry to hear that. Our’s stayed completely white for over 2 months. Did you make sure the ginger and garlic were completely dry before grinding them?
I have been trying some of your recipes. Your clear presentation with perfect measurements is good.
Wow! Now I can avoid the store bought ones with preservatives. Great recipe!
It would be great if you can show how to make some easy,fresh, healthy soups or salads the indian way.
Thanks Swarna!
We have quite a few different soup and salad recipes. You can look under the “Soup” tab or “Salads & Raita” tab. Here are the links:
https://34.233.61.50/category/soups/
https://34.233.61.50/category/salad-raita/
Hey there, I’m wondering about the risk of Botulism if Garlic is stored in this manner. Uusually, if you store garlic in oil in the fridge, there is a high risk of Botulism. So the advice is to freeze it to stop the Botulism fro developing.
Hi Aini,
You do have a valid concern. However, it is more prevalent with garlic flavored oils and garlic that will be consumed raw.
We add ginger & garlic paste to our pan at the beginning of cooking any dish and the dish is usually cooked for 15 to 20 minutes. The botulism spores (if any are present) would then be killed.
Hi
I use garlic more often in my cooking and want to make garlic paste!! can i use the same tecnique??
Hi Lavi,
We followed this viewer submitted recipe exactly, but you should be able to separate out the ginger and garlic. Since we have not tried it, we cannot give you an exact answer, but you can try it out on a small batch. If you do, we’d love to hear your feedback. Thanks.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Being in Texas, you guys should show us some good tostada recipe. That’s missing in your Mexican cooking theme. Enjoy your shows.Recipes are great. Good job!
Cheers,
Priya
Hello Hetal and Anuja
Thank-You so much for sharing my recipe. Nice advice on soaking the ginger and grind it along with the skin. Will definetly try that next time. You guys come up with the best recipes. Have tried many of your recipes and the results simply awesome.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Again
Nilofar
Hi Nilofar,
You are very welcome…thanks for sharing your recipe with us! Feel free to answer any of the questions from other viewers regarding this recipe (eg. Why must the oil be heated?).
Thanks again!
hi hetal……
The raw oil may start giving bad odour after a period. i think tat may be the reason to heat it….
Hi, Can we make the green chillies paste the same way as the ginger-garlic paste?
Ok i will definitely try out my ginger garlic wth oil…and hey i wanted to share one recipe on the blog and i created my account on showmethecurry.com but i actually dnt understand where should i write. I mean i was confused whether i would post it on somethng wrong. can you send me the URL where i can share one nice recipe.
hello ladies:
hmmm another good recipe….
wow…that is a great way of making g&g paste. i remember, my mom use to make g&g paste, but she used the mortar and pestal (pounding on a stone).now-a-days, grinding machines make life much easier. thanks for sharing the recipes. love the website.
by the way…any new curry recipes coming up? please post some veg and non veg curry recipes. also, really need a good recipe for Chicken nuggets….please
have a marvelous day
rizwana from richmond texas…… 🙂 🙂
thanks again
Just curious – What is the reason for heating up the oil?
Hi John
The reason for heating up the oil is to get the raw flavor out of it.
I process the ginger too and keep it in the freezer. I put it in a ziplock bag and freeze it flat so I can break off how much I want to use. Don’t overfill the bag so it will be easier to break apart the amount you need.
We also prepare ginger/garlic paste at home and green chili masala as well to save a lot of pre-cooking time. The way we do it is we mince the ginger/garlic in a food processor without any salt or oil. Store the extra paste in the freezer in bottles ( can use Ziploc bags as well) and take the bottle out as we need and keep that bottle in the refrigerator. We do the same with green chili masala as well. Since this is freezed up, it can stay good for months and saves so much time.
This is just another option that works and we have been doing this for atleast 20 years.
Hi ladies, bit of a daft question, but if i wanted to make garlic/ginger pastes separately would i just use the same technique? Would the shelf life be roughly the same as well? Love your recipes and think you two are fantastic, its like having two really great friends who are brilliant cooks xx
Hi Parul,
Since this was a viewer submitted recipe, we followed it exactly. We haven’t tried separating the two but it seems like it would be the same process.
Hello ladies,
I think you meant to post ‘Ginger & Garlic Paste’ and not ‘Past’ as it appears on my Firefox page!
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Mika
Thanks Anamika.
Unfortunately, some titles on our front page get truncated after some characters. It pulls the title from the post and it is spelled correctly there.
Hi,
If we dont add oil, paste turns in green in few days, so is this green paste is unhealthy or not gud for dishes?Will this green paste harm to us?
Hi Priya,
Honestly, we don’t know if the green paste is bad for health but it always feels better to cook with ingredients that look fresh. “We eat with our eyes.”
Hi… I make the paste same way…just add little less oil and that too without heating it… just wanted to know the reason for heating…. thanks….
Hi Nusrat
The reason for heating up the oil is to get the raw flavor out of it.
Hello there,
Thanks a lot for sharing these great tips and recipes.
I wanted to let you know the spelling of “paste” on the main page is coming up as”past”, if you wanted to correct the error.
Thanks Nidhi.
Unfortunately, some titles on our front page get truncated after some characters. It pulls the title from the post and it is spelled correctly there.
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just curious, wat was ur first video on smtc
Hey, Hetal and Anuja
I always like to prepare things in advance so that i can reduce my time in kitchen. So things like Ginger-garlic paste are always found in my kitchen. This was a nice recipe but i use lemon instead of oil(you used) and even that stays for 2 months or more. It was just an option i would like to add.
Hi Priyanka,
Lemon juice is a great preservative but it will “pickle” the ginger and garlic, resulting in a difference in taste. By using oil, you will be assured that the taste remains neutral. If you will be using the paste up in a few days, lemon juice is a great alternative.
Hey Hetal,
I really love your recipes….