Can't Get That Pesky Garlic Smell Off Your Hands? Butter Just Might Be Your New Best Friend

There are a multitude of ways to cut garlic and change how it tastes, but none can help you avoid getting that garlic smell all over your fingers. You might have given up a long time ago, and just accepted the fact that every time you make Italian food, you're going to end up smelling like you washed your hands in garlic juice. But according to one cleaning expert, there is a way to escape this fate. Ryan Knoll, founder of Tidy Casa – a professional home cleaning service based in the sunny Arizonian cities of Phoenix and Tucson — spoke to Food Republic, and he had an unorthodox solution that is nonetheless widely accessible: butter. And, yes, it can be any kind of butter you have on hand, too.

"Garlic's strong scent comes from sulfur compounds, primarily allicin, which bind stubbornly to the proteins in your skin," Knoll shared. He explained that the high fat content in butter acts as a trusty solvent for unwanted odors, "essentially dissolving those sulfur compounds and lifting them away from the skin." He had an example to back it up, too, telling us to consider when there is sticky residue from a sticker on a glass jar; we use oil or an oil-based product to remove it. "Once the [garlic] compounds are suspended in the fat, soap and water can wash them away much more effectively," he insisted. Knoll did admit it's a bit of a messy hack, "but it's surprisingly effective if you're in a pinch — pun intended."

If the idea of rubbing butter into your hands has you feeling a little icked out, there are other, more fragrant, methods for removing the strong odor of garlic from your fingers. "Alternatively, I'm a huge fan of using lemon and stainless steel to remove garlic," said Ryan Knoll. He suggested squeezing lemon juice onto your hands and then rubbing them against something made of stainless steel — your sink, your fridge, you can even use the side of a wide chef's knife (carefully!). "So you can save the butter for toast," he joked.

If you don't have any stainless steel readily available, you can also use the juice of a lemon (or lime) to rinse your fingers with, and that should remove at least some of the pungent odor — just don't use this method or the method above if you have any cuts on your hands. Baking soda is also a great odor neutralizer that is often used to naturally clean your kitchen. You can mix it up with some salt and water to make a paste, then rub it all over your smelly fingers before rinsing it off.