Garlic Boiled Peanuts!

This is our summer starter! The first week that school lets out for summer I go pick up a batch of raw green peanuts and make them for my dearest Anela. It's become a bit of a tradition over the past 3 years and one that she now looks forward to. This is always my go to recipe for my peanuts and it never fails to bring a huge smile to her beautiful little face.

This is a really simple recipe and for anyone that lives in the south, you know how much boiled peanuts are a go to summer thing! I grew up eating boiled peanuts from a can. Many memories of sitting in my pop play tent in my front yard with my friends (Jenny and Maura!) eating can after can of the salty, wet goodness. We would get them at roadside stands on the way to the beach, at family owned food stands at the flea markets, anywhere you seen boiled peanuts I was there ready to go!

This recipe is very easy and very basic as far as ingredients, however, cooking time is torture! Especially when your house starts filling up with the salty aroma and your mouth wont stop watering!

Ingredient list:

3lbs of raw green peanuts

1 cup of salt

1 whole head of garlic 

(or 1/2 cup of pre minced garlic)

You will also need:

a large cooking pot

1 cup measuring cup

1/2 cup measuring cup

a slotted spoon

a large mixing bowl

a strainer

Dump your peanuts into a bowl and separate out the bad ones.

Rinse peanuts well a few times in cool tap water and drain.

You need to dice a whole large head of garlic. each large head of garlic should have around 12-15 cloves in it. if you do not want to use fresh garlic you can buy pre minced garlic in a jar, use 1/2 cup of drained minced garlic.

fresh garlic can be very sticky and kinda annoying to deal with but it is very much worth the effort for the flavor.

to chop it up, remove each clove of garlic from the whole head. cut a small piece off of each end and the paper should come off easily. (you can also lay a large knife ontop of a whole clove and wack it and the paper should come off, but frankly hitting a knife scares me)

once you have removed the paper off of each clove, slice each clove into thin pieces, and slice those thin pieces into sticks. slice your sticks into tiny chunks.

do this over and over until you get 1/2 cup of garlic. I used an entire head of garlic, I think around 15 cloves.

As I said before, chopping garlic gets sticky and you will want to peel all of it before you start chopping.

1/2 cup of chopped up garlic

1 cup of salt

Fill your pot up about 3/4th of the way with tap water. the raw peanuts will float.

Add your garlic and salt and bring your peanuts to a boil. every time i boil peanuts they take around 4 hours sometimes longer. i don't put the cover fully on the pot because it tends to overflow. i keep the heat at a medium high once the boiling starts and vent the lid. as they cook you may have to add more hot water to the pot. don't over fill it or they might boil over.

once the peanuts start to sink they should be done. you can taste them throughout the cooking time to see if they are at the texture that you like.

Tada! you made your very own garlic boiled peanuts!

don't forget to put them in the refrigerator once they cool down!

you can keep them in a large bowl with an air tight lid or seal them into some freezer bags and enjoy them whenever you crave them!

nomnomnom! enjoy <3