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Garlic scapes are the curly green flower stalks that shoot up from hardneck garlic in early summer, and they’re one of the perks of growing your own garlic. This roundup pulls together 30+ garlic scape recipes, from quick sautes and dips to pickles, pasta, bread, and full meals, so you know exactly what to do the next time you come home with a big bundle.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Vermont Kitchen
- What Are Garlic Scapes?
- How Long Do Garlic Scapes Keep?
- Garlic Scape Recipes
- Grilled and Sauteed Garlic Scapes
- Garlic Scapes on Toast and Eggs
- Garlic Scape Pesto and Dips
- Garlic Scape Sauces and Dressings
- Garlic Scape Pickles and Preserves
- Garlic Scape Pasta Recipes
- Garlic Scape Bread Recipes
- Garlic Scape Soups, Stir-Fries, and Mains
- Garlic Scape Egg Dishes
- Garlic Scape FAQs
- More Garden Fresh Recipes
- More Spring Recipe Roundups
- More About Growing Garlic
- Find the Perfect Recipe
Growing garlic is almost a religion here in Vermont, and just about everyone I know puts in at least a few rows. We plant ours in the fall and harvest the following summer, which is a lovely way to stretch our short 100-day growing season right through the snow-filled winter and out the other side.
The scapes are the bonus. They come along in June, weeks before the bulbs are ready to dig, and they only show up on hardneck garlic varieties, not the soft neck garlic you usually find at the grocery store. If you want that early scape harvest, you’ll need to be growing your own hardneck garlic, since most store-bought garlic never produces a flower stalk at all.
This year we planted around 400 garlic bulbs, which means we end up with a whole lot of scapes and a real need for ideas. If you’re not growing your own, you can usually find them bundled up at the farmers market for a few dollars a bunch, and buying them is a nice way to support local growers who’d otherwise toss a useful crop.
Notes from My Vermont Kitchen
Scape season always lands in the busiest stretch of the year, when the garden needs everything at once, so I’ve learned to have a plan before the harvest hits. With a few hundred plants going at once, I get more scapes than I can eat fresh in the week or two they stay tender, and I hate to waste a single one.
My routine goes like this: I put up a few jars of pickled scapes first, since they’re quick, then I make a big batch of pesto to freeze. I pack away six or eight jars of garlic scape pesto every June and lean on them all winter, and honestly that stash is half the reason we grow so much garlic in our raised bed garlic patch in the first place.
What Are Garlic Scapes?
Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of hardneck garlic. They form right before the bulb starts sizing up, and the plant sends up a tall, curling green stem topped with a pointed bud. Since garlic is technically a perennial, that stalk is the plant’s attempt to reproduce and carry on to the next year.
For the most part, that “flower stalk” doesn’t produce true flowers so much as a cluster of tiny garlic bulbils, or mini cloves. They’re like little garlic seeds that can drop, get carried off by animals, and start new plants elsewhere.
There are a few true flowers tucked in there, but they’re rarely pollinated, so if you want actual garlic seed you have to hand pollinate the tiny flowers to produce true garlic seed, which takes real dedication.
Here’s the practical reason to cut them: when a garlic plant pours energy into that stalk and its bulbils, it has less to give the developing bulb underground. If you want big, healthy heads of garlic, trim the scapes off as soon as they start to curl.
You can let them reach 6 to 12 inches so you get a meaningful harvest to cook with, just don’t let the bud open, since past that point your bulbs won’t size up the way they should.
How Long Do Garlic Scapes Keep?
Garlic scapes are a lovely early-summer bonus, but they don’t hang around long once they’re cut. Fresh scapes are tender, a lot like fresh asparagus, and they start turning tough and woody within days of harvest.
Store them in a bag in the crisper drawer and try to use them within a week, ideally within a few days. Leave them much longer than that and they’ll be too stringy to enjoy.
You can freeze garlic scapes, but they come out rubbery and the flavor fades, so I don’t love them that way. If you need to hold onto a big harvest, I’d rather turn the scapes into a recipe first and freeze that. Pesto freezes beautifully, and so does garlic scape quiche. And of course there are always canned pickled scapes if your freezer is already full.
Garlic Scape Recipes
As a general rule, you can use garlic scapes anywhere you’d use fresh garlic or garlic chives, and they also stand in nicely for a green vegetable like asparagus. Grill them whole as a side, toss them into a stir fry, or chop them into half-inch pieces and fold them into scrambled eggs.
Below I’ve sorted my go-to ideas into small categories so you can find the right one for however much time and energy you’ve got.
Grilled and Sauteed Garlic Scapes
The simplest way to enjoy garlic scapes is to cook them whole and let the flavor speak for itself. A few minutes on the grill or in a hot pan softens them up and mellows the sharp garlic into something sweet and almost nutty.
These are the recipes I turn to on a busy weeknight when I just want a fast side or a snack. They take only a handful of ingredients, and they’re a good introduction if you’ve never cooked scapes before.
- Grilled Garlic Scapes with Sea Salt
- Sauteed Garlic Scapes with Lemon Butter
- Bacon-Wrapped Garlic Scapes
- Garlic Scape Tempura with Aioli
Garlic Scapes on Toast and Eggs
Garlic scapes and eggs are a natural pairing, and a little chopped scape wakes up a plate of scrambled eggs first thing in the morning. They bring the same garlicky note you’d get from a clove, only softer and greener.
The same goes for toast and garlic bread. Spread a scape mixture on good bread, or bake it right into the loaf, and you’ve got a snack that comes together in minutes.
Garlic Scape Pesto and Dips
Garlic scapes were made for blending into sauces and spreads, and this is the category I lean on hardest all season. Garlic scape pesto is the one I come back to year after year, and I freeze several jars every June to spread on toast and stir into pasta through the winter.
Beyond pesto, scapes blend into all sorts of creamy dips. Fold them into hummus, a white bean dip, or a tangy labneh, and you’ve got something garlicky to set out with crackers and cut vegetables.
Garlic Scape Sauces and Dressings
When I want a garlicky sauce with a little more zip, scapes go into the blender with oil, herbs, and something acidic. They give a chimichurri or a salad dressing a fresh, punchy bite without the harshness of raw garlic.
The compound butter is another one worth doubling, since it keeps in the freezer and melts over just about anything off the grill. A spoonful on a steak or a baked potato goes a long way.
Garlic Scape Pickles and Preserves
Since garlic scapes are savory and hold their crunch, they take beautifully to the pickle jar. I put up a few jars of pickled scapes first thing every year, even before I start on pesto, because they’re quick and they keep me in garlicky snacks long after the fresh scapes are gone.
If you’d rather go sweet and savory, garlic scape jam is a savory spread made with white wine and a good bit of vinegar to balance the sugar. It isn’t quite like homemade fruit jam, but it earns its keep on crackers with cheese or tucked onto a charcuterie plate.
- Pickled Garlic Scapes
- Garlic Scape Jam (Approved for Canning)
- Garlic Scape Chutney on Grilled Naan Bread
- Lacto-Fermented Garlic Scapes
Garlic Scape Pasta Recipes
Pasta is better with garlic, and garlic scapes give you the garlic flavor plus a bit of green vegetable in the same handful. They’re good simply sauteed in butter and tossed with hot noodles.
If you have a little more time, these recipes take them somewhere more interesting, from a bright cherry tomato pasta to a rich scape carbonara.
- Garlic Scape and Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Spicy Garlic Scape Spaghetti
- Lemony Garlic Scape Spaghetti
- Garlic Scape Carbonara
Garlic Scape Bread Recipes
Garlic and bread belong together, and scapes bring both garlic flavor and fresh green notes to the loaf. I lean toward the quick cheddar biscuits when I want something on the table fast.
The focaccia and sourdough are worth the effort on a slow morning when you have time to let the dough rise. They fill the whole kitchen with the smell of garlic as they bake.
- Garlic Scape Biscuits with Cheddar
- Garlic Scape Sourdough Boule
- Garlic Scape and Spring Onion Focaccia
- Garlic Scape Fergazza Bread
Garlic Scape Soups, Stir-Fries, and Mains
When I want garlic scapes to be the star of a meal rather than a background note, these are the dishes I make while they’re in season. Diced into a soup or a stir fry, they melt into the pot and season the whole thing.
They also hold their own in heartier dishes like a creamy risotto or a grilled potato salad. Anywhere you’d reach for garlic and a green vegetable, a handful of chopped scapes fits right in.
- Garlic Scape Soup
- Garlic Scape Stir Fry
- Sausage and Garlic Scape Risotto
- Grilled Garlic Scape Potato Salad
Garlic Scape Egg Dishes
Eggs and garlic scapes belong together, and a frittata or quiche is a great way to use up a big handful at once. The eggs carry the mild garlic flavor well, and they turn scapes into a full meal at any time of day.
These are the dishes I make for a lazy weekend brunch, when I’ve got scapes to use and a bit more time to cook. A slice of quiche or a wedge of frittata is just as good cold the next day.
Garlic Scape FAQs
Garlic scapes taste like a milder, greener version of garlic, somewhere between a garlic clove and a scallion. They have a fresh vegetal snap when raw and turn sweet and mellow when cooked, so you get real garlic flavor without the sharp bite of a raw clove.
Yes, raw garlic scapes are milder than raw garlic and work well minced into dressings, dips, and compound butter. Use the tender curled stem, and trim off the tough bottom of the stalk and the hard flower bud at the top, since those stay fibrous even after cooking.
Keep garlic scapes in a bag in the crisper drawer and use them within a week, ideally within a few days. They start out tender like asparagus but turn tough and stringy the longer they sit, so they are best used soon after cutting or buying.
Raw garlic scapes freeze poorly and come out rubbery with a faded flavor. It works much better to turn them into pesto or jam and freeze that, or to chop them and freeze them specifically for cooked dishes like soups and stir fries where the softer texture will not matter.
Garlic scapes stand in for both garlic and garlic chives, so you can use them anywhere you would add fresh garlic. They are milder than cloves, so use a little more than you would garlic and adjust to taste. Chopped into short pieces, they fold right into eggs, pasta, and stir fries.
Garlic scapes show up in early summer, usually around June, and only on hardneck garlic. The season is short, just a few weeks, so watch your own plants or grab bundles at the farmers market while they are around.
More Garden Fresh Recipes
Looking for more ways to put the garden’s bounty to good use? Here are a few more of my seasonal recipe roundups to dig into next.
- 50+ Rhubarb Recipes
- 30+ Lilac Recipes
- 50+ Green Tomato Recipes
- 30+ Blackcurrant Recipes
- 60+ Nasturtium Recipes
- Zucchini Canning Recipes
More Spring Recipe Roundups
Did you find this garlic scape recipes roundup helpful? Tell me in the 📝 comments below how YOU use garlic scapes on your homestead, since I’m always looking for new ideas. And while you’re here, follow along on social for more seasonal recipes.
More About Growing Garlic
Find the Perfect Recipe
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I haven’t clicked on all of them but The Martha Stewart link is for roasted garlic and
The Scape hummus link isn’t right, not even sure what kind of website that is….
Thank you for catching that, it looks like that site’s gone a bit off…I switched the link to Serious Eats, which has a great recipe.
I’m doing scape pesto today. Your article is very informative. I’ll come back when I grow my own garlic for more ideas. 🙂
Lovely!