Garlic is a staple ingredient in just about every household. It is used primarily as a flavoring agent to add an earthy and more pronounced taste. 

However, cooking with garlic can be quite confusing especially when following recipes to a tee. While many of us are comfortable eyeing ingredients and making a meal out of them, some call for exact measurements.

When a recipe calls for a certain amount of teaspoons of garlic, you may have a dilemma on your hands.

Questions like, “How do I measure teaspoons when garlic is given to be in gloves?” and “Do I weigh the clove before or after I press it?” may come to mind.

But not to worry, as this article will tell you just how many teaspoons there are in a clove of garlic.

With this, you can have a benchmark for these measurements and work your way from there.

What Is Garlic, and What Does It Taste Like?

Those who are unfamiliar with cooking may not be well acquainted with garlic. It is a type of fresh or dried bulb that comes from the lily family. Its scientific name is Allium sativum.

Garlic grows in the ground in bulb form. These bulbs have individual sections called cloves, with each bulb having approximately 10 to 20 cloves per head, depending on its size.

The whole of the garlic is enveloped in a thin, paper-like skin that needs to be removed in order to consume the flesh within.

Eaten raw, garlic has a somewhat spicy and earthy flavor that takes over your mouth.

It also gives a strong and pungent flavor to a dish. However, cooking it helps yield a nutty taste with much milder flavors, sometimes with a hint of sweetness peeking through.

Besides being considered and used as a flavoring agent, garlic is also used to help treat or address a variety of conditions, including common colds.

Packed in this little bulb are vitamins and nutrients such as manganese, vitamins B6 and C, selenium, iron, calcium, copper, potassium, and many others.

It can help boost a person’s immune system and even reduce the risks of heart attacks and strokes, making it good for heart health.

There are also studies that find it effective in keeping cholesterol levels low.

How Many Teaspoons Is a Clove of Garlic?

Now that we know more about garlic and its properties, it’s time to learn about conversions and measurements for garlic. This way, we can use and refer to these measurements in times of need.

So just how many teaspoons is a clove of garlic? To answer this question, a single small clove of garlic is equivalent to ½ teaspoon.

Remember, this is an approximation given there are slight variations in the size of garlic cloves.

So, a large or medium-sized garlic clove yields about 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons.

Minced vs. Chopped Garlic

The way the garlic clove is chopped also plays a factor in the amount of garlic in a single clove.

For example, a medium-sized garlic clove may yield a teaspoon of garlic when chopped. However, when you mince the same garlic clove, the amount may be less than 1 teaspoon.

Chopped garlic usually has bigger pieces, while minced garlic is on the finer side. This means that for every 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic, you will have around ½ teaspoon of minced garlic.

If you are buying readily minced or chopped garlic in jars from the grocery, you also have to factor in how finely they are minced or chopped.

Depending on the size, you can use anywhere from ¼ or ½ teaspoon to a whole teaspoon in order to get the equivalent of one garlic clove.

Garlic Conversion Sheet

A clove of garlic is roughly ½ teaspoon or 1 teaspoon when chopped. If you decide to mince it, it will only yield ¼ teaspoon or half the original.

When you are substituting garlic powder for fresh garlic, you can simply use 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder per clove required. You may also want to consider using the same amount of garlic flakes when replacing your fresh garlic.

Meanwhile, those of you who are using granulated garlic may want to use ¼ teaspoon instead.

For a more concentrated flavor without the chunks of chopped garlic, ½ a teaspoon of garlic juice will give you just the right taste as well.

The Takeaway

Now that you know many teaspoons are in a clove of garlic, you can finally make your way around the kitchen with no difficulties.

As a matter of fact, you can even make substitutions based on what you need, whether freshly chopped or minced garlic, jarred varieties, or dried, powdered, and even granulated options in a pinch.