Making Easy Black Garlic Oil (Mayu) for Ramen

At many Ramen-ya (Ramen Shops) you may find a small bottle of black garlic oil nestled near other Japanese add-on condiments such as chili oil and shichimi togarashi. Black garlic oil adds a slightly bitter, smoky and earthy hint of flavor to ramen and having the ability to add it yourself allows you to control how much you want those notes to spring out among the other flavors in your ramen.

Mayu, or black garlic oil, is made using black garlic and infusing its flavor into a neutral oil or mixed with an aromatic one like sesame oil. There are two well-known ways to blacken garlic. The more complicated way includes keeping cloves of garlic at a steady 140F for 10-14 days. I am sure slow roasting garlic for such a long period is worth it, but I want to guess not many of us have the patience or time to spare. The more simple way to blacken garlic is in a pan with oil (the old fashioned way).

This super simple recipe shows you how to make your own bottle of black garlic oil which you can store in the fridge and use anytime you make homemade or instant ramen at home.

Homemade miso ramen using the black garlic oil I made with this recipe

Ingredients

10-12 cloves of garlic sliced thin like chips (if you’re not a slicer, crushed, chopped, or pressed can work)
1/2 cup of a neutral oil (e.g. vegetable or canola)
1/3 cup of sesame oil
Frying pan
Heat proof bowl
Blender or immersion blender with blending cup
Bottle/jar to store

Steps

Slice your garlic cloves thin. Note, I do not love the idea of slicing garlic with a mandolin (you are asking for a visit to the ER) but rather you use a sharp knife. If you cannot slice them thin with a knife chop them, crush them thin and separate, or press in a garlic press. I think slices spread out easier since they’re flat, cook more evenly since they’re uniformly thin and are a bit easier to manage later in the frying process when the garlic gets “sticky”.
Set your pan on the stove on low-medium heat and pour the neutral oil in first. On my stove medium is at 5, but I keep it at 4. Garlic burns easy and you don’t want to go straight for the char on this one.
Before the oil even gets hot I add in the garlic chips and spread them evenly in the pan. I mix them a bit with a spatula to make sure they’re all coated with oil before spreading them out evenly for the shallow fry.
At this point the garlic should be covered in oil and starting to brown. Remember, garlic burns easy but since we have the heat on medium-low it will take about 10-12 minutes to blacken, or until they start to smoke.

The garlic below has been cooking for about 2-3 minutes.
I know burning garlic is not everyone’s first instinct .You may be tempted to take them out at this stage 4-5 minutes in, but resist temptation! While they do taste great at this stage, you want to wait until they get black.
After about 10 minutes – or when your garlic is black and starting to smoke – you can turn off the heat and transfer your black garlic and the oil to a heat proof bowl or baking dish to cool for 2-3 minutes while you get out your blender.
When the garlic and oil are cool enough to handle, pour them into a blender with the sesame oil. Since this was a “small” job, I used a large blending cup that came with our immersion hand blender. Sesame oil gives an additional blend of aromatics to the Mayu. Blend for 30 seconds or until the black garlic bits are infused into the oil.
When you are finished, store the Mayu black garlic oil in a jar with an air-tight lid or a small condiment squeeze bottle to use for dispensing when you are ready to use! I had some of these nifty 5oz squeeze bottles left over from when I made habanero hot sauce. They have a narrow tip which is perfect for making beautiful dots of oil and making your ramen Instagram-worthy (and delicious)!