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Toum is a Lebanese garlic sauce that’s actually more like a spread because of its thickness. It’s super popular to spread it over Shish Tawook, grilled chicken, shawarma, rotisserie chicken and many other Middle Eastern dishes. It’s basically a slow and steady emulsion process of garlic and oil and it’s utterly heavenly!
I used to think the proper way to make toum involved mayonnaise or egg whites. To me, it sounded like such a high-calorie sauce to be making at home and I saved it for dining out only. But then I discovered Maureen Abood‘s recipe for Lebanese garlic sauce, and it uses 4 ingredients: garlic, oil, lemon juice and salt. I was sold! It’s flavor-packed, vegan and easy-to-make!
What is garlic sauce made of?
- Garlic: The most important part of the recipe is the garlic. Find the freshest garlic bulbs you can find. Test them for firmness to make sure that they have the best consistency and flavor. You will need 1 cup of peeled garlic. You can freeze the remaining garlic.
- Oil: You can use canola oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil or any other neutral oil you prefer. While avocado oil is neutral and won’t change the taste of the sauce, it will give it a yellow/green color. I do not recommend using olive oil because it will change the color of the garlic sauce and lend a stronger flavor than than the neutral oil. You want the garlic flavor to stand out more than the oil flavor. You’ll need 3-4 cups of oil.
- Lemon juice: The lemon plays a supporting role in the Lebanese garlic sauce, and helps to combine and emulsify so the oil doesn’t overpower the garlic. I use ½ a cup but you can decrease according to your taste preference. The lemon juice acts as a binder, so don’t leave it out.
- Salt: The salt helps to finely grate the garlic by adding traction to garlic’s natural wetness in the beginning of the processing. Plus, it helps to flavor the sauce.
RECIPE VIDEO TUTORIAL
How to make garlic sauce
Peel one cup of garlic cloves, which should be about 4 garlic bulbs. You can also buy pre-peeled garlic, but make sure it’s very fresh. I sometimes ask my local supermarket to peel it for me with their industrial machine, so I know it’s freshly peeled.
While our ancestors made garlic sauce by using a mortar and pestle and whisking patiently, that is a laborious process. I highly recommend using a food processor for the quickest way to make a light and airy texture. Place the peeled garlic and the kosher salt in the food processor and blend until it’s well minced, scraping down the sides as necessary.
In order to emulsify, just like making pesto, it’s important to run the oil very slowly in a thin stream and small batches at a time. When you first introduce the oil, start with only one tablespoon of oil. This gives the oil ample time to blend well into the salted garlic. You can’t really rush the process.
Make sure to scrape down the sides so that all the minced salted garlic gets well incorporated into the oil. After scraping down the sides, you can slowly add another tablespoon of oil. This initial introduction of the oil to the garlic is the most important step of making homemade toum.
You want it to look creamy and emulsified, like the image on the left, before you can speed up the process. Once it becomes airy and fluffy, it’s your cue to continue making the garlic sauce by alternating between pouring in the oil and pouring in the lemon juice. After about 15 minutes, it will look like the image on the right.
To let the garlic set, I cover it with a paper towel and store in the fridge, and let the flavors set in overnight before enjoying it. The paper towel allows some of the moisture to wick away while setting in the flavors. You can remove the paper towel after 24 hours and just cover it with a tight-fitting lid.
The end result is a light, airy, totally garlickly and beautifully creamy Lebanese garlic sauce. Its smooth texture and aromatic taste makes it so addictive to enjoy in so many ways!
Tips for making homemade garlic sauce
- Remove the green sprout from inside the garlic. This step is not necessary, but by doing so, it ensures that you remove the oldest part of the garlic to be left with the freshest whitest part of the garlic. The result in a less bitter sauce, so it’s worth the step if you have time.
- Soak the garlic in ice water for a few minutes for a less potent taste. Some readers have mentioned that the taste of the garlic was really strong. One way to reduce that potency is by soaking the garlic with ice water. Make sure to dry them thoroughly though afterwards if you do this.
- Make sure to alternate the lemon juice with the oil. I’ve had the garlic sauce fail on me a couple times when I tried leaving the lemon juice until the end, but the oil becomes too heavy to support the garlic that way. The lemon juice helps keep the consistency light, so I suggest alternating it as soon as the mixture is initially emulsified.
- Don’t use a blender. It’s really difficult to get the mixture to emulsify in a standard blender or immersion blender. A blender also doesn’t allow the ease of slowly drizzling in the oil while the motor is running over a large surface area. I do not recommend a blender.
What to eat with garlic sauce
The possibilities of how to serve toum are endless. I mostly enjoy it with grilled meat and chicken. But it works really well with grilled fish, in sandwiches, in pasta. It also works as a dip with pita bread and crackers. Or you can use it as a base for a garlickly salad dressing. Here are some great recipes that work with the garlic sauce.
- Shish Tawook (Chicken Skewers)
- Broccoli and Shrimp Pasta Alfredo
- Chicken Shawarma Salad
- Roasted Cauliflower Pitas
- Shawarma Pita Pizza
Frequently asked questions
If you keep it in an airtight container, this garlic sauce will last 3-4 months in the fridge! After that time, the strength of the garlic will start to fade.
You want to use a neutral oil like canola, vegetable, grapeseed or safflower oil. Olive oil will make it more dense and the color won’t be as bright and white.
It has happened to me a couple of times when I left the lemon juice at the end or when I added the oil too quickly. So it’s important to alternate the oil and lemon juice and don’t rush the process. If the mixture didn’t get fluffy and looks more liquid, it’s possible that it didn’t emulsify.
I would recommend adding 1-2 boiled potatoes to the food processor and allowing the potato to help emulsify it. In that case though, be sure to only store the garlic sauce no more than 7-10 days.
Before making the garlic sauce, you can soak the garlic for 30 minutes in ice water. After making the garlic sauce, you can whisk in some lemon juice to mellow down the flavor. I find it mellows down with time though.
More Lebanese Recipes
- Tahini Sauce
- Homemade Labneh
- Ful Medames
- Peas and Carrots Stew
- Lebanese Falafel
- Mujadara
- Kousa
- Lebanese Freekeh with Chicken
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
This Garlic Sauce Recipe was originally published on July 11, 2018. I’m updating the post to include step-by-step photos and a video tutorial. Here’s the original photo!
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Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup garlic cloves peeled
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 3 cups neutral oil such as vegetable or canola
- ½ cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Slice the garlic cloves in half lengthwise and remove any green sprouts.
- Transfer the sliced garlic cloves into a food processor and add the kosher salt to the garlic cloves. Process for a minute until the garlic becomes finely minced. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the food processor afterwards.
- While the food processor is running, slowly pour one to two tablespoons of oil, then stop and scrape down the bowl. Continue adding another tablespoon or two until the garlic starts looking creamy.
- Once the garlic looks emulsified by the few tablespoons of oil, increase the speed of pouring the oil and alternate with the ½ cup of lemon juice until all the oil and lemon juice is incorporated. This will take about 15 minutes to complete.
- Transfer the sauce into a glass container and cover with a paper towel in the fridge overnight. Makes about 4 cups.
- The next day, replace the paper towel with an airtight lid and keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Hi!
So unfortunately this did not work out for me. I give it 5 stars for the flavor, but it was thin (not broken) so I added a potato like you said and then THAT broke it LOL. I should have just enjoyed it thin instead of ruining the entire thing. I removed a lot of the oil after it broke and might still consider using the base because the flavor was PHENONMENAL.
I would literally put that on popcorn LOL. It had so much flavor. Who knew garlic could make such a complex sauce with a little oil, salt, and lemon.
As a professional Chef, I have made tons of hollandaise, mayo, Béarnaise, Beurre blanc, etc so I thought this would be pretty easy. I guess not. Thankfully my mom was at the store so I had her just pick some Toum up from a local farmer that distributes to our grocery stores.
Thanks for the recipe, I am sorry it didn’t turn out.
Kristi
Hi Kristi, so sorry the toum didn’t work out for you! Any chance you left the lemon juice until the end or added the oil too quickly? Slowly alternating the oil and lemon juice is a critical step and typically the reason why the sauce doesn’t thicken up and emulsify properly.
Just wanted to add I’ve made Toum only twice before, the first time it did not set up and was way too thin, second time I had refrigerated my oil because I figured everything had gotten too warm, that worked perfectly! (This is great, especially when I make shawarma….miss it from when we lived in the Middle East)
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and perspective, Car! This is really helpful.
Hi Yumna! I saw this recipe a few weeks ago and decided to make it tomorrow. It looks delicious! I was planning on doing a sort of toum BLT thing on naan with lettuce, tomato and bacon, but then I saw an image above of your Shish Tawook and MY GOD that looks so good! Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Your toum BLT idea sounds so good too!! I hope you enjoy both recipes! Thanks, Kristi!!
I absolutely love this garlic sauce!! I never thought I could make this at home, until now!! Wow! It is easy and delicious. I made it today to use tomorrow on your Shish Tawook. Thank you so much for the great recipes!!
Yay, so glad you love it!! I hope you like it on your shish tawook, let me know what you think!!
Wow! I just found my new favorite condiment. I cut the recipe in half and it worked just fine. I didn’t have an open spout on my mini processor so I just added about a tablespoon or two at a time. I love garlic and this sauce is amazing. I plan to cut it with Greek yogurt for chicken gyros tomorrow instead of having tzatziki sauce. Can’t wait to see what else I can use it on!
Yay, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you, Lori! So glad you love the recipe!
G’day Ms. Yumna,
Thank you for sharing Ms. Yumna 🙂
I fell in love with garlic sauce the first time I tasted it when I came to Sydney 20yrs ago. Since then I planned to make it. I asked a couple of my Lebo friends but I never actually tried making. Not until I started planning my own business. So, I want to ask permission if I may base your garlic sauce recipe version to my version, please? I did a couple of catering test and they liked it. I hope you wont mind me sharing with your success. And I want to ask permission if I may also advertise your website at my food stall, please? 🙂
Thanking you in advance 🙂
God bless you more!
Aww thank you so much for the kind words and I’m so happy you’re enjoying the recipe so much and want to use it in your catering business. That’s totally fine with me. Thank you!
I have been making this Toum recipe for years. I reduced the oil by half a cup as I prefer a firmer texture. Love it!!
Amazing! So happy you love it, Katia!
I made this for the first time tonight. My brand new food processor jammed and refused to turn back on after I removed the jam. So – I used my blender! It worked great! The toum tastes wonderful. I am so excited to use it tomorrow night with my salmon kabobs and herb rice.
Amazing! Sounds so good paired with salmon kabobs and herb rice. Thanks, Roxie!
OMG thank you for sharing this recipe! I had that giant bag of peeled garlic from Costco and was trying to figure out uses. I LOVE the ready-made Toom brand garlic dip but never knew I could make it myself! It’s cheaper and no preservatives! And it’s sooooo easy!!! I followed your instructions to the letter including using safflower oil.
Question: what’s behind covering with a paper towel overnite before sealing with a lid?
Yay! So happy you love it, Madhvi!! The paper towel helps some of the moisture wick away while the flavors set in.
Oh that makes sense. It turned out wonderfully!
Perfect, wow! Exactly the taste and texture of toum, just like at a Lebanese restaurant. I’m proud!
I think I understand why some people end up with a more liquid texture. In my case, my food processor is old and overheats when I run it for more than 10 minutes. I noticed that the emulsion was much less effective when the container got hot, so I transferred everything to my stand mixer (which doesn’t overheat) and continued adding the oil, and the texture is perfect.
I used fresh garlic from a local farm (im in Canada), canola oil and fresh Lemon juice. Miam!
Yay!! So glad your toum turned out amazing! That’s a good point, some older food processors might struggle to run as long as it takes for the sauce to emulsify. Thanks, Marie!!