‘I made viral 40 clove garlic pasta and need one change next time’

A viral 40 clove garlic pasta has taken the internet by storm, and it only needs a minor change to make it a must-use recipe.

Taking to X and sharing the recipe with members of the public, the 40 cloves of garlic in the recipe was trialled by Madeline, who purchased the haul of garlic bulbs needed for the recipe.

The first step in the recipe was not adding ingredients but preparing them, particularly shelling and peeling the 40 cloves of garlic. Doing this preceded placing all the peeled cloves into boiling water.

Those forty heads of garlic were then added to a pot, with the recipe prep and result having gone viral.

It may seem like an excessive amount of garlic for one dish, but those who have made it in the past will agree it’s the most important part of the prep.

Madeline confirmed she made some minor chanes in making the recipe, such as adding an extra quarter cup of oil to the recommended quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Also needed fro this recipe is a 450g of rigatoni pasta, a can of crushed tomatoes, half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and 40 garlic cloves.

Madeline’s recipe prep saw her share a handy tip for those who wanted to make it themselves but could not stand the smell of garlic. She shared: “The nice thing about this is the lid is on for most of the cooking so the smell is contained and then I open it to stir and it’s a blast to the sinuses, but like, it is beginning to tamp down a bit as it cooks.”

She continued: “Tomatoes are in! And with all due respect, what is the actual point of a quarter teaspoon of chilli flakes.”

Despite this, the finished meal was quality and good enough to make again, but with a minor change needed.

Madeline confirmed: “The garlic is not the problem here, would make again but with some other adaptations.” Those changes appear to be for the tomatoes and spice.

An earlier post from Madeline saw her suggest measured spices are for baking, not for cooking, and that you can afford to be freehanded with measurements in cooking.

Another change was an increase to the amount of chopped tomatoes. The recipe calls for just one can, though Madeline used two cans at 800g total.

Members of the public were thrilled by the recipe and can’t wait to try it for themselves. One joked: “Do you reckon the garlic will be a noticeable part of the flavour profile?”

The biggest change of all that some are only just realising was the point of the recipe is the use of 40 bulbs of garlic, not 40 cloves. One garlic bulb usually contains 10 to 12 cloves. The final count from Madeline for her recipe is 417 cloves.