Toum is a thick and flavorful Lebanese Garlic Sauce perfect for spreading, dipping or using as a marinade. It requires just four ingredients and packs a powerful punch of flavor that garlic lovers will crave!
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Whether it’s shawarma, grilled chicken, or just a plain sandwich, there are few things that could not benefit from a little extra garlic. When you’re looking for a kick of flavor, this Lebanese Garlic Sauce is the condiment you need.
Toum is a common Lebanese sauce made by emulsifying oil into water with garlic and a hint of lemon juice. If the word ‘emulsion’ scares you, don’t run away yet!
This recipe calls for very simple ingredients and with a little patience it comes together beautifully, creating essentially a garlic mayonnaise perfect for many Middle Eastern dishes.
Spread it on grilled chicken, shawarma or a burger. Stir it into soup (like this Fagioli Soup), an Italian Dressing, or this Instant Pot Pasta Salad. If you love garlic, you are sure to love the amazing flavor this sauce provides, and once you get the hang of putting it together, it’s sure to become a staple condiment in your home too!
Recipe Origins
Toum is a very classic recipe that has been passed down for centuries in Middle Eastern countries. You can find variations of this recipe all along the Mediterranean including Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Greece and Italy. Some varieties of this Middle Eastern garlic sauce mix in a hint of mint or are thickened with flour.
I grew up in metro-Detroit, about 40 minutes from Dearborn, Michigan. Strangely enough, that city has the largest population of Lebanese people outside of Lebanon, so I was never too far from delicious Lebanese food.
I grew up on this garlic sauce, putting it on everything. When I moved to North Carolina, I missed Lebanese food SO MUCH, and I knew that I needed to learn how to make my favorites for myself! This recipe is a result of that hard work, and now I’m sharing it with you!
Why Make This Recipe?
- Restaurant Quality Sauce: This creamy garlic sauce may be offered at your local Lebanese restaurant, but it is just never enough.
- Simple Ingredients: Homemade Toum only requires the freshest garlic, a neutral oil and some fresh lemon juice. It’s a simple dipping sauce that makes a big difference.
- Taste of Lebanon: This traditional Lebanese garlic sauce has been passed down for centuries. It packs so much flavor you’re going to want this creamy spread on everything!
Key Ingredients for Lebanese Garlic Sauce
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Garlic Cloves: You want to use fresh garlic for this recipe as the garlic is the key ingredient. I like to purchase the bags of pre-peeled garlic cloves which makes recipes like this, which calls for a good amount of garlic, even easier.
- Neutral Oil: You want to use an oil that has a neutral flavor so it does not take away from the other ingredients. It’s also a good idea to use a light colored oil so your sauce keeps a white color. I recommend avocado oil, grapeseed, canola or vegetable oil. Olive oil is not a good choice for this recipe.
- Lemon Juice: The lemon juice plays an important role in making the science behind this recipe work. It acts as a binder and also adds to the flavor. Be sure and use fresh lemon juice.
Tools
- Food Processor: This recipe has been made by hand for centuries but using a food processor sure does make it easier! A food processor will give you the best and smoothest consistency.
How to Make This Recipe
Step One: Slice each garlic clove in half lengthwise and remove the green part that may be in the middle. Add the garlic and the kosher salt to a food processor and process until minced, about 1 minute.
Step Two: Add 2 tablespoons of oil into the food processor, replace the lid, and run the processor until a paste forms (another 1-2 minutes).
Step Three: As the food processor runs, continue alternating between lemon juice and neutral oil, just a little at a time. Continue the food processor running the whole time until both of the liquids are used up and the paste is emulsified fully. This should take about 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- For the best texture, which should be light and creamy, you really need a food processor. Most blenders and even an immersion blender are not able to whip the ingredients the way a food processor can.
- Green sprouts on your garlic may cause a hint of bitterness. If your garlic has any green, take it out.
- Do not rush the emulsification process or skip the alternating of oil and lemon juice. There is science behind why this works and if you try to save the lemon juice until the end it may cause your mixture to break.
What if My Emulsion Breaks?
The biggest pitfall with this recipe is if your emulsion breaks, leaving you with a runny, oily sauce. This happens when you try to add one ingredient too quickly or forget to alternate between the lemon juice and oil. Sometimes it can happen simply because your food processor got too hot or your garlic was too old.
If this happens to you, there are a couple ways you can try to fix it:
- Potato: The first is to add a little potato into your dish. You can add 1 small boiled potato to your mixture in the food processor to bring the sauce back together. With this option your garlic sauce may not last as long in the refrigerator and should be enjoyed within a week.
- Egg White: The second option is to use an egg white. Whip one egg white with ¼ cup of your runny sauce until it becomes light and fluffy. Once this happens, you can slowly add the remaining sauce to your egg whites and let it whip up into a beautiful garlic paste.
How Do I Adjust the Garlic Flavor?
It’s no secret that this condiment is made for garlic lovers, but some people find the garlic flavor to be too overwhelming.
You can use any of these methods to make the garlic flavor just a bit more mellow:
- You can soak your garlic cloves. Soaking the garlic cloves in ice cold water for 30 minutes before using them can take some of the edge off the garlic flavor.
- Leave it. This sauce loses flavor over time so you may find simply putting it in the refrigerator overnight helps with a too-powerful garlic flavor.
- Add to your sauce. You can add a little bit of boiled potato or even Greek yogurt to your sauce to help thicken it and calm down the garlic. It’s not the most authentic way to enjoy this recipe, but if the flavor is too strong it is worth a try!
Recipe FAQs
One of the best things about this recipe is it stores so well and can be used for so many different dishes! You can mix up a large batch and use it daily.
Store this in an airtight container for up to one month. You may notice the flavor begin to fade over time and that’s your sign to go make more!
Emulsion is the process of mixing two incompatible liquids, like oil and water, by dispersing tiny droplets of one into the other with the help of a stabilizing emulsifier. In this case the garlic releases emulsifiers as it is ground and helps stabilize the oil and lemon juice in the recipe.
Garlic is not as strong an emulsifier as an egg, so it does take some skill to create your toum without it breaking. Be patient and keep your mixture thick. This creates more friction and helps to separate the tiny droplets of oil to spread through the sauce.
Toum is a condiment or side dish for so many dishes. It is excellent on grilled meats like chicken kabobs, steak, grilled lamb, salmon or swordfish. It is also a delicious dip or the perfect condiment when served with pita bread, french fries, crackers or raw vegetables.
This dip can also be used as a spread, like mayonnaise or aioli on sandwiches, burgers, wraps, or the best garlic toast. It is the perfect, garlicky addition to marinades, sauces, salad dressings, pasta or mashed potatoes.
Did you enjoy this Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
If you tried this Toum Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum)
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 ½ cups neutral oil, I used avocado
- ¼ cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Slice each garlic clove in half lengthwise and remove the green part that may be in the middle. This removes the bite from the garlic and makes for a smoother taste.
- Add 1 cup garlic cloves and 2 tsp Kosher Salt to a food processor and process until minced, about 1 minute.
- Next add 2 tbsp of oil into the food processor, replace the lid, and run the processor until a paste forms (another 1-2 minutes).
- As the food processor runs, continue alternating between ¼ cup lemon juice and the rest of the 2 ½ cups neutral oil, just a little at a time. Continue the food processor running the whole time until both of the liquids are used up and the paste is emulsified fully. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Once the sauce is emulsified and your liquids have been used up, serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Garlic Cloves: You want to use fresh garlic for this recipe as the garlic is the key ingredient.
- Neutral Oil: You want to use an oil that has a neutral flavor so it does not take away from the other ingredients. It’s also a good idea to use a light colored oil so your sauce keeps a white color. I recommend avocado oil, grapeseed, canola or vegetable oil. Olive oil is not a good choice for this recipe.
- Lemon Juice: The lemon juice plays an important role in making the science behind this recipe work. It acts as a binder and also adds to the flavor. Be sure and use fresh lemon juice.
- For the best texture, which should be light and creamy, you really need a food processor. Most blenders and even an immersion blender are not able to whip the ingredients the way a food processor can.
- Green sprouts on your garlic may cause a hint of bitterness. If your garlic has any green, take it out.
- Do not rush the emulsification process or skip the alternating of oil and lemon juice. There is science behind why this works and if you try to save the lemon juice until the end it may cause your mixture to break.
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