Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)

Toum is a thick and flavorful 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!

Hello Reader! I try my hardest to research recipes as best as I can before posting to ensure I am representing each culture correctly. If this recipe is from your country and I have made a mistake or you have suggestions for how to make it more authentic, I would love to hear! Please leave a comment below letting me know what should be different, and I will rework the recipe. It is always my intention to pay homage and respect to each cultural dish that I cook. Thanks for reading!

Whether it’s shawarma, grilled chicken, or just a plain sandwich, there are a few things that could not benefit from a little extra garlic. When you’re looking for a kick of flavor, Toum is the condiment you need.

Toum is a common Lebanese condiment 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 Toum 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. It would be delicious spread across a slice of Brioche Bread too. If you love garlic, you are sure to love the amazing flavor this Toum sauce provides, and once you get the hang of putting it together, it’s sure to become a staple condiment in your home too!

Make sure to serve it alongside Kibbeh Nayeh, Baba Ganoush, and Grape Leaves for a delicious Lebanese feast! Don’t forget to mix up some 7 Spice to get Lebanese flavors in your everyday cooking as well.

Recipe Origins

Toum is a very classic recipe that has been passed down for centuries in Middle Eastern countries. Back then it took great skill to grind the garlic with a mortar and pestle and then whip with oil and water until emulsified. 

The name Toum translates to “garlic” in Arabic, and you can find variations of Toum 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.

Toum is traditionally prepared on Sundays, for use throughout the week to add incredible flavor to a wide variety of dishes. Today you can find this creamy sauce served all over the Middle East and in Lebanese restaurants.

Why Make This Recipe?

1. Restaurant Quality Sauce: This creamy garlic sauce may be offered at your local Lebanese restaurant, but it is just never enough. 
2. 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.
3. 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!

What Do You Need to Make This Recipe?

Ingredients 

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

1. Garlic Cloves: You want to use fresh garlic for your Toum 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. 
2. Kosher Salt
3. Neutral Oil: I used avocado oil but you could use canola oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, or even vegetable oil.
4. 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

1. Food Processor: Toum 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: Prep the Garlic

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 the garlic and the kosher salt to a food processor and process until minced, about 1 minute. 

Step Two: Add the Oil

Next, add 2 tablespoons of oil to the food processor, replace the lid, and run the processor until a paste forms (another 1-2 minutes). 

Step Three: Emulsify

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. 

Once the sauce is emulsified and your liquids have been used up, serve and enjoy! 

Expert Tips

• I buy my garlic cloves pre-peeled at the grocery store. It makes this type of recipe so much easier! However, garlic is the key ingredient, so the fresher your garlic, the more flavorful your sauce.
• For the best texture for your Toum, which should be light and creamy, you 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.
• If you feel like the garlic flavor is too intense for you in this garlic sauce recipe, try soaking your garlic cloves in a bit of water next time. Fill a bowl with ice water and place your garlic cloves into the water for 30 minutes, then dry the garlic and proceed as normal. 
• 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 preparing Toum 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 of ways you can try to fix it: 

1. Potato: The first is to add a little potato to 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 Toum may not last as long in the refrigerator and should be enjoyed within a week.
2. 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 You Store Toum?

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 your Toum in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You may notice the flavor begin to fade over time and that’s your sign to go make more!

What Type of Oil Works Best?

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 Toum recipe.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 Toum, but if the flavor is too strong it is worth a try!

How Does It Work?

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 Toum without it breaking. Be patient and keep your mixture thick. This creates more friction and helps to separate the tiny droplets of oil from spreading through the sauce. 

How Do You Serve Toum?

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. 

Toum can also be used as a spread, like mayonnaise or aioli on sandwiches, burgers, wraps, or the best garlic toast.

Toum can also be added as a garlicky addition to marinades, sauces, salad dressings, pasta, or mashed potatoes.

Did you enjoy this Toum recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you: 

• Garlic Redskin Mashed Potatoes
• Pan con Tomate from Andorra
• Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers