How to Get Rid of the Smell of Garlic

by Talonial Admin

Garlic is delicious and is a great addition to many savory meals. The smell, however, can be a little off-putting. It can cling to your hands or the cutting board on which you chopped up the garlic. The smell of garlic can also make your breath unpleasant for hours after you’ve finished cooking or seep into the interior of your refrigerator. Regardless of where you’re looking to remove the smell from, you can get rid of the odor by using substances that neutralize garlic’s smell.

1

Removing the Smell from Your Hands

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    Rub your hands on stainless steel to remove the smell of garlic. If a garlicky odor is clinging to your hands after you’ve chopped up garlic cloves, rub your hands across a stainless steel object. Pieces of steel silverware work well. Hold your hands under a stream of cold tap water while rubbing a stainless steel item between them for 1–2 minutes.[1]
    • A metal alloy called chromium that’s contained in stainless steel works to neutralize the smell of garlic on your hands.
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    Spray your hands with fresh lemon juice if you don’t have steel objects. Acidic citrus fruits like lemon and lime are great at neutralizing the odorous compounds contained in garlic. If your hands smell like garlic, try squirting out about 1 teaspoon (4.9 mL) of lemon juice onto 1 hand. Rub the juice over both of your hands (including your fingers). Then wash your hands with cold water and soap. Give your hands a sniff; the smell of garlic should be gone.[2]
    • Fresh lemon works best for removing garlic’s smell. If you happen to have a lemon fruit at your home, cut it in half and squeeze the lemon juice right onto your palm.
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    Rub coffee grounds over your hands to scrub off embedded odors. If you have fresh coffee grounds in your kitchen, pour 1 scoop into your palm. Put your hands together and rub the coffee grounds over the fronts and backs of your hands and between your fingers. The coffee grounds will get rid of the garlic smell and replace it with the pleasant smell of coffee. Rinse your hands under the tap to get the grounds off.[3]
    • As an added perk, the coarse coffee grounds will exfoliate your skin when you rub them over your hands.
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    Spray 1–2 spritzes of perfume on your wrists to mask the smell. If you don’t have the time or equipment to remove the smell of garlic from your hands, your best bet may be to cover it up with a more pleasant odor. Pick up a bottle of perfume (or cologne, if you prefer) and spray 1 or 2 blasts directly onto your hands or wrists. This should mask the garlicky smell for 4–5 hours.[4]
    • Once that amount of time has passed, you can either reapply perfume or use another method to deodorize your hands.

2

Neutralizing Your Breath

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    Drink a glass of lemon juice to neutralize garlic’s smell with acid. Lemon juice is mildly acidic. When combined with the garlicky residue around the inside of your mouth, the acid in the lemonade will neutralize the garlic’s smell. Try drinking about 1 cup (240 mL) to start and see if that takes care of the smell.[5]
    • Drinking lime juice should have the same effect.
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    Have a glass of milk to neutralize the smell of garlic if you dislike lemon. If you’ve recently eaten garlic and are concerned that the smell may be lingering on your breath, try sipping a glass of milk. Many people find milk more palatable than lemon juice, so try this option if you dislike sour foods. Studies have indicated that milk reduces the presence of garlic on people’s breath.[6]
    • If you don’t want to have to worry about garlic breath at all, just have a glass of milk with your garlicky meal.
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    Drink a cup of green tea if you have some on hand. Similarly to milk and lemon juice, green tea contains chemicals that neutralize the unpleasant odor of garlic in your mouth. More specifically, the tea leaves contain chemicals called polyphenols that cancel out the smell caused by garlic.[7]
    • Varieties of green tea can be found at any supermarket or grocery store.
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    Eat a fresh apple 30 minutes after your meal to help break down the garlic. There is an oxidizing enzyme in apples that, when ingested, will neutralize the odor-causing compounds in garlic. These compounds are called sulphides, and they release garlic’s notoriously unpleasant odor once your body has started to digest the garlic. Waiting a little while before you eat the apple will allow the apple to neutralize the garlic smell as soon as it’s released.[8]
    • You could also try eating an apple with your meal to prevent your breath from developing an unpleasant garlic smell in the first place.
    • The smell of garlic may stay in your lungs for 24-48 hours (1-2 days) after you eat it. The solution to getting rid of garlic breath isn't as simple as washing your mouth out or brushing your teeth since the garlic smell isn't just in your mouth.

3

Deodorizing Kitchen Utensils

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    Make a paste of 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water. Baking soda absorbs and neutralizes all kinds of unpleasant smells and is a great ingredient to get rid of unwanted garlicky odors that may have been worked into a cutting board or other kitchen utensil. Combine the baking soda and water in a small bowl. Stir them together with a spoon until a thick, grainy paste forms.[9]
    • If not all of the baking soda is absorbed into the water, add a few more drops.
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    Rub the baking soda paste onto utensils that have a garlicky smell. If you’ve used, for example, a cutting board or measuring spoons with garlic and they still smell, try getting the smell off with the baking soda paste. Scoop the paste onto the surface of the utensil. Rub the paste into the object. Do this for 1–2 minutes to make sure that the baking soda paste eradicates all of the garlic odor.[10]
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    Scrub the paste in with a lemon for particularly resistant garlic odors. Some kitchen utensils may have the smell of garlic deeply engrained in them. In this case, if you have a lemon on hand, try cutting it in half and using half the lemon to rub the paste into your garlicky kitchen utensil.
    • The lemon’s acidity will help further neutralize the garlic odor.
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    Rinse the kitchen utensil clean with cold water. Turn on your kitchen sink’s tap and hold the cutting board, measuring spoon, or other kitchen item beneath the running water. Rub 1 hand back and forth across the paste-covered surface until you’ve rinsed off all of the paste. Set your utensil in a drying rack and give it 2–3 hours to dry.[11]
    • Once it’s dry, sniff the cutting board. The unpleasant garlic smell should be gone!
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    Scrub garlicky items with vinegar if you don’t have baking soda. If you’re out of baking soda, vinegar works equally well as a deodorizer. You can use it to clean the same items that you can clean with baking soda. Just pour a little vinegar onto a clean sponge and scrub it across the surface of whatever kitchen items have an unpleasant garlicky smell. This works well on plastic cutting boards, frying pans, silverware, and even your stovetop.[12]
    • Also try pouring vinegar into a plastic spray bottle and spritzing it across larger items that smell like garlic. This works well for larger cutting boards and stovetops.

4

Getting the Smell out of Your Environment

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    Leave a bowl of baking soda in a garlicky area to remove the smell. Baking soda can do an amazing job of absorbing unpleasant odors and neutralizing the air in a room. If you’ve recently cooked with garlic and find that the smell has lingered in your kitchen (or other rooms in your home) longer than you’d like, pour about 1/4 cup (32 g) of baking soda into a bowl. Place the bowl on a counter and leave it for 2–3 days.[13]
    • At the end of this time period, the garlic smell should be gone.
    • If you’re concerned about your fridge smelling like garlic, you can just leave an opened box of baking soda in the back to absorb bad odors. Leave the open box in the back of your fridge overnight and, by morning, the garlic odor should have vanished.
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    Wipe down the interior of your fridge to remove absorbed odors. If the garlic smell remains after you’ve left baking soda in the fridge overnight, clean the interior of the fridge to get rid of the smell. First, remove all of the food from the shelves and drawers in your fridge. Then, dampen a sponge with vinegar. Use the sponge to wipe down all of the interior surfaces of the fridge. This should get rid of the lingering garlic odor.[14]
    • In general, vinegar is a great cleaning agent and deodorizer.
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    Simmer pleasant-smelling spices in a saucepan for 15–20 minutes. Fill a pan with 2–3 cups (470–710 mL) of tap water and heat the water to a simmer. Then add a few cloves, an orange peel, and 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks. Let the homemade potpourri simmer for at least 15 minutes to fill your kitchen with a pleasant aroma that will cover up any unpleasant garlicky smells.[15]
    • If you don’t have spices on hand or prefer the smell of citrus fruits, try simmering 1 sliced lemon, some orange rind, and a handful of mint leaves in water.[16]
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    Set a bowl of vinegar out overnight to absorb unwanted garlic smells. Select a bowl from your cabinet and fill it with 1 cup (240 mL) of white vinegar. Vinegar absorbs smells from the air around it and can clear the air in your kitchen (or any room in your home) after you’ve cooked with garlic. By the time morning comes, the bowl of vinegar will have gotten rid of the unpleasant garlicky smells.[17]
    • If you don’t have vinegar on hand, don’t worry. You can use coffee grounds instead. Fill a bowl with 1/2 cup (64 g) of freshly ground coffee and leave it out overnight.
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