Naturally vegan and gluten free, this Lebanese Garlic Sauce is light, fluffy and packed with flavor. Serve with grilled meat, shish kebobs or warm pita.
I am so lucky. As much as I would love to say that I am a self-taught, self-made home chef, I really can’t take credit. It’s in my blood. It’s in my DNA. It’s in my genes. My family is full of incredible cooks on both sides but today’s post is about one woman in particular, my Aunt Paula.
She won’t let anyone photograph her, ever. As you know, I’m a bit camera happy and always have it out at family gatherings and parties. Whenever she seems me come near she looks the other way.
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My Aunt Paula is known for gifting friends and family with food all year round. If you’re sick, she will defrost homemade chicken soup and deliver it with a bag of fritos – the best chicken soup topping in the world. Just have a baby? She’ll stop by at dinner with a platter of Hushwee rice.
At Christmas, she is notorious for The Gift of Butter (Clarified Butter). If we happen to stop by for a walk during the weekend, it’s almost a guarantee she is baking up a loaf of barley bread for my Uncle Randy to pack in his lunch box during the week. Inevitably, she’ll have a loaf to send you home with. Aunt Paula is the best and I owe all of my Lebanese food skills to her.
As you probably guessed, this Lebanese Garlic Sauce was the most recent food gift I received from my Aunt Paula. The recipe is just four simple ingredients but with a little love it turns into a magical, intoxicating and addictive sauce you’ll be spreading on pita sandwiches, serving with Beef Shawarma or dipping with Chicken Tawook.
Your fork is waiting.
Take a look at my Lebanese Pinterest board to see more recipe ideas!
Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum)
Ingredients
- 1 cup garlic cloves peeled (roughly 3 heads of garlic)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups canola oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about one lemon)
Instructions
- Place the garlic cloves and salt in a large food processor and puree until smooth. It's a good idea to scrape down the sides two or three times to ensure that all of the garlic is finely processed.
- Turn the machine back on and slowly drizzle in the oil through the lid starting with 1/2 cup. After the first 1/2 cup has been added, pour in a teaspoon of the lemon juice.
- Continue alternating between 1/2 cup of the canola oil and a teaspoon of the lemon juice until you've added all of the oil and lemon juice. Alternating between the two is the key to proper emulsification which creates the light and fluffy garlic sauce.
- You know it's done when the sauce is white and thick with a similar consistency of mayonnaise. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes.
Notes
If the mixture breaks while processing, stop adding additional oil and lemon juice and continue pulsing until it comes together again.
Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Recipe from Mama's Lebanese Cuisine.
For a helpful video to watch the process, check out this Toum Recipe Video.
Rachael
This didn’t work for me, I’ve never tried to make garlic sauce before, so maybe I’m doing something wrong? I followed the recipe but it came out watery. If the sauce looks like the perfect texture, should I stop adding oil and juice? It was good to a point then the more I added it fell apart at the end. Should I have stopped? Thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
Yes exactly that’s the point you stop!!
Maariya
Unfortunately this recipe did not work out for me… I think there should be a note that this recipe will NOT work with just a blender. I followed the recipe so precisely, measured every ingredient, added slowly, pulsed when it came apart, and still ended up with a watery mixture at the end.. Flavor was great, but texture like water. I even read the comments and tried cooling it down in the freezer for 30 minutes, whisking it by hand, shaking it in a sealed container (all the time with absolutely no water, not even a drop), none of this worked. I then blended a little extra garlic, slowly poured in the old watery mixture, hoping it would somehow fluff up, but it never happened… Kinda sad
Liz DellaCroce
Hi Maariya, So sorry this didn’t work out for you! As mentioned in the recipe, it requires a food processor. I would not recommend a blender which is why I don’t mention one in the recipe. So sorry!