I Tried This Easy Hack To Get Garlic Smell Off My Fingers—and It Actually Works

I’m one of those people who sees the number of garlic cloves a recipe calls for and casually adds one or two more. Or maybe doubles it. Garlic is usually the best part of any savory recipe, and I do believe that more is more when it comes to this particular ingredient. But there’s just one downside to cooking with lots of garlic: the lingering smell on your fingers from slicing or mincing.

It’s one thing to enjoy the smell wafting through your home as you prepare something delicious in the kitchen, but it’s another to catch whiffs the next morning every time you lift your coffee cup to take a sip. Context is everything, and I can do without those types of leftovers. But great news: I have a simple trick for instantly getting rid of garlicky fingers that I swear works.

My Easy Trick for Getting Rid of Garlic Fingers

Often I’m cooking with garlic and lemon in the same recipe, so I’m sure my trick was born out of a moment of experimentation. All I do is rub a lemon wedge between my fingers. It can be one that’s already been squeezed or one that’s been sliced solely for this purpose. It doesn’t matter how much juice is left in the lemon, I just smother my fingers in whatever is available for about ten seconds, then rinse my hands with water. In my experience, this gets rid of 80-100% of the garlic smell immediately. So simple!

More Lemon Tips

It makes a lot of sense that this works. After all, the natural citric acid in lemon is known to be a pretty powerful cleaning and deodorizing agent that can be used for cleaning a multitude of kitchen essentials like blenders and cutting boards. It can also be used to deodorize items like the fridge, garbage disposal, and more. 

While I haven’t ever tried it, it stands to reason that you could also use lemon juice to remove the smell of onions, fish, or any other unwanted odors from your hands.

So the next time someone gives you lemons, sure—make lemonade. But also, see if there’s anything in your home that needs cleaning. Lemons are always up for either job!