Toum is a creamy, bold, and totally addictive Lebanese garlic sauce with just 4 ingredients: garlic, oil, lemon juice, and salt. Once you make this simple recipe, you’ll be hooked!
I first learned about this Lebanese garlic sauce from my mother-in-law, Dina, who owned a Mediterranean restaurant in grand Rapids, Michigan. Toum was one of the most requested items at the restaurant, where they served it with all their grilled meat and veggies. Every morning, Dina would whip up a large batch of her special toum recipe, and it was inevitably sold out by the end of the night! That’s how good it is!
Growing up in Egypt made me a firm believer that it’s the dips and sauces that take a meal to next-level delicious. You may already be familiar with tahini, tzatziki, and hummus. But toum may be the most under-rated! Once you master this easy 4-ingredient garlic sauce recipe, you’ll be using it in all sorts of ways. Some of my go-tos:
- To dip pita chips and fresh vegetables.
- With grilled meat and fish.
- As a sauce for sandwiches, wraps like gyros, and burgers.
If you love big flavor and you’re not afraid of a little garlic–or a lot of garlic, rather–this recipe is for you!
What is in Toum?
Some toum recipes call for mayonnaise, but this traditional recipe is completely vegan. To me, it tastes far better while remaining nice and creamy. You only need 4 ingredients:
- A whole head of garlic: Toum means “garlic” Arabic, after all!
- Kosher salt
- Neutral oil: As much as I love my extra virgin olive oils, grapeseed or sunflower oil is best for toum. The lighter flavor lets the garlic do all the talking.
- Lemon juice: Or substitute lime.
How to Make Toum
Making toum (or touma) is all about the very slow and steady emulsification process that whips the garlic and oil together. Traditionally, a mortar and pestle are used to make this garlic sauce recipe, but I have found a small food processor to work just as well.
- Process 1 whole head of garlic. Smash the garlic with the side of your knife, then remove the peels. Optionally, remove the green germ from the center as you go (it can be bitter). Place the peeled garlic and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in the small bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until the garlic looks minced, stopping to scrape down the sides. Add the juice of 1 lemon and pulse a few times to combine, again scraping down the sides.
- Slowly incorporate 1 3/4 cups neutral oil. With the food processor on low speed, drizzle in the oil in ever so slowly through the opening at the top. After you’ve used about 1/4 cup or so, add in about 1 tablespoon of the ice water. Stop to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl.
- Finish, adjust the seasoning, and serve. Keep the processor running and continue to slowly drizzle in the oil, adding a tablespoon of ice water after every 1/4 cup of oil. Continue on with this process until you have used up the oil entirely. The garlic sauce has thickened and increased in volume (it should look smooth and fluffy). This should take somewhere around 10 minutes or so. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt and or lemon juice if necessary. Enjoy!
Toum Tips
I have a few tips for this toum recipe before you get started, which will ensure a light and airy sauce that’s beautifully emulsified:
- Use the best fresh garlic. This toum recipe is all about garlic! Avoid using peeled garlic from a package, which won’t pack quite the same punch.
- Slice the garlic in half and remove any green sprouts. This is optional, but it prevents the bitter flavor it can impart.
- Don’t skip the lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice adds brightness, and it should be added at the beginning to help the emulsification. (Some recipes add the lemon juice toward the end, which causes the sauce to break.)
- Do not rush the emulsification process. Adding the oil ever so slowly is what makes this sauce! Alternating the oil with a small amount of water prevents the emulsion from breaking.
- Use a small food processor. For the amount of garlic used in this recipe, a smaller processor works well because the blade can easily mince the garlic without it flying all over the bowl. (I use the small bowl attachment on this one). If you double or triple the recipe, you can easily use a large food processor.
Too(m) Strong? Three Ways to Mellow
For some who need their toum to be less powerful, three things you can do:
- Leave it in the fridge a few days. Time in the fridge will take a bit of the edge off.
- Place the peeled garlic in ice water for 30 minutes or so before making the garlic sauce. But be sure to dry the garlic very well before you start.
- Add boiled potato (mashed) or a couple tablespoons of Greek yogurt. Either of these items will thicken the toum sauce and take a bit of the garlic edge off. You would add a little bit at a time during the process.
What to Serve with Toum
This Lebanese garlic sauce is a versatile condiment you will use over and over. Pretty much anything you think might need a kick of garlic, you can use toum! It’s a great swap for mayo and aioli. Some ideas:
- Meat: Chicken kabobs, shawarma, grilled lamb, Shish Tawook.
- Vegetarian: Falafel and the traditional Greek roasted vegetables, Briam, are both delicious.
- Fish: The garlicky punch is absolutely delicious with fresh and smoky grilled seafood.
Love Garlic? Try These Recipes Next!
I always say I would wear garlic as a perfume, so you’re in good company! I know you’ll love these recipes as much as I do:
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 3/4 cups grape seed oil or sunflower oil a neutral tasting oil
- 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- Process the garlic. Smash the garlic with the side of your knife, then remove the peels. Optionally, remove the green germ from the center as you go (it can be bitter). Place the peeled garlic and kosher salt in the small bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until the garlic looks minced, stopping to scrape down the sides. Add the lemon juice and pulse a few times to combine, again scraping down the sides.
- Slowly incorporate the oil. With the food processor on low speed, drizzle in the oil in ever so slowly through the opening at the top. After you've used about 1/4 cup or so, add in about 1 tablespoon of the ice water. Stop to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl.
- Finish, adjust the seasoning, and serve. Keep the processor running and continue to slowly drizzle in the oil, adding a tablespoon of the ice water after every 1/4 cup of oil. Continue on with this process until you have used up the oil entirely. The garlic sauce has thickened and increased in volume (it should look smooth and fluffy). This should take somewhere around 10 minutes or so. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt and or lemon juice if necessary. Enjoy!
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Notes
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients, including olive oils, honey, jams, and spices.
- For best results, do not rush the emulsification process. Remember to add the oil very slowly as the processor is running, alternating with a little tiny bit of ice water. If your processor does not have a top opening to drizzle the olive oil, still add the oil very slowly, about a tablespoon or so at a time, and run the processor to whip the garlic well. And again, don’t forget to add a bit of the ice water as well. Keep whipping the garlic until you have used up all the oil. Alternating the oil with a small amount of water prevents the emulsion from breaking.
- It helps to use a smaller food processor. I used an older version of this one.
- Storage: toum can best be stored in a tight-lid mason jar or container in the fridge for 4 weeks or so. You can also freeze some for later use (do not thaw out, use from frozen). I do prefer the fridge method.
- This recipe is adapted from Maureen Abood’s cookbook Rosewater and Orange Blossoms.
Nutrition
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I’m so excited to try this – a local mediterranean restaurant serves this and it’s divine. I bought a plastic jar of peeled garlic. Can you recommend a volume translation for a head of garlic? Is it 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup?
After seeing all the comments about it not thickening, I was a little afraid of trying. However, it turned out perfectly and is delicious! I believe the key is to drip the oil VERY slowly for at least the first 1/4 cup. I only added 2-3T of water overall and drizzled the oil from a spoon in a very thin stream after it was already setting up.
Yes! You for sure want to take your time with this one and add the oil VERY slowly. Thanks for sharing your process, here. So glad it was a success!
This didn’t work at all, simply didn’t thicken even with the dropper function on my food processor for adding the oil very slowly.
Personally, I find the dropper function to be too fast to be honest. I didn’t try it with this recipe, but mayonnaise works much the same way. The oil has to be dripped pretty slowly in the beginning. I just made this recipe, and it did thicken up.
(I am not sure if it would work, but to correct mayonnaise you start with another egg yolk (or whole egg if you use that method) and then use the broken emulsion in place of the oil until it emulsifies. Then you continue adding the remaining oil (since you are doubling the recipe). The only thing is you will have at least double of what you intended to make. Not sure if it would work in this case though…)
Hello, I would like to try making this recipe. Can cold roasted garlic be used? It is easier to peel.
Hi, Hannah. That’s not something we’ve tested with this recipe, so it’s hard to say. If you give it a try, though, please stop back and share your thoughts!
Horrible recipe
I’ve done toum a lot in the past and forgot my recipe, this one is NOT it.
This is lemon garlic dressing recipe.
To everybody who tried this recipe and it ended up too runny try these ratios this worked perfect for me:
1 cup garlic cloves peeled
▢2 teaspoons Kosher salt
▢3 cups neutral oil such as safflower
▢½ cup lemon juice
Thanks for sharing your tips here, Aaron!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it has never thickened up without adding egg white. And it never thickens up as much as it should even with the egg whites. I’m thinking I need a different recipe.
Watery lemon garlic oil. Followed recipe completely. Tried adding some aquafaba. Didn’t help. Waste of expensive oil. So disappointed.
Pity – I should have read the comments first. Came out like a thin lemon salad dressing. To salvage it I did another half head of garlic and an egg white.
What do you do if it doesn’t thicken? I followed your directions too a tee. I it’s like water. Now I’ve wasted almost 2 cups grapeseed oil,which isn’t cheap. How do you make it thick?
I’m so sorry this happened. We’ve never tested this, but in research, we’ve seen it recommended that you can try to add a binder such as potato, egg white, or even the aquafaba from a can of chickpeas.
Delicious simple sauce. No issues w/immersion blender. Used avocado oil. Enjoying your site. Thank you.
Thanks, Kathy!
Hey, I love Mediterranean food. Hopefully, you’ve been to Texas and to Houston, and maybe you have tried “Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill” and Cuisine. If not, I sure wish you had, because it’s pretty good. But their prices have really went up last year or two, so we’re trying to copycat it at home. Hopefully, some people really good and knowledgeable can teach the rest of us how to make great Mediterranean food at home for less money. It’s just too expensive to go there any more with a group of people and have to pay $25/person, then tips and taxes. It’s impossible for our family now.
So, I sure wish someone would copycat and help rest of us save money. I just can’t believe someone hasn’t learned how to copycat like all the other places.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, David! Hope you can find a lot of recipes here that are similar to those you’ve enjoyed at restaurants so you can continue to make them at home. That’s more fun, anyway :).
Did I read the part about not using olive oil? Yes. Did I still use it because it’s the only oil I have on hand? Yes. I’m not a pro so I really didn’t see any problem with using it 😂 To my surprise, it emulsified beautifully, but the EVOO taste was soooo strong (and it was upon taste testing that I fully understood what “neutral tasting oil” means lol). But I decided to add a spoonful of it to about a half cup of greek yogurt, + a little water to make it more of a drizzly sauce and it actually tastes pretty decent! I’m excited to try this again with the correct oil haha
Read that olive oil, turns bitter when you run it through the food processor. I know when I made it with olive oil once this was my experience.
I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to actually make this fantastic sauce. I have been getting little plastic containers of it from restaurants, up until now. I had heard it was easy to make, just never did it. So easy, and so quick for a delicious outcome! The bulb of garlic I used was pretty big, and it turned out super thick. I did add a little extra lemon juice and olive oil. 😋🥰
I’m from Grand Rapids MI! What restaurant did your mother-in-law own?
Hi, Iantha! Suzy’s in-laws actually had 2 restaurants: Sababa’s (it used to be on 28th street) and Jerusalem (in the the Kentwood area). Sadly, they sold both a long time ago.
mixture is not broken, but did not thicken. i thought maybe my food processor had gotten too hot and let it sit the fridge to cool. after cooling i attempted to mix it again and it did not change the consistency. also tastes way too strongly of lemon.
Same. Add 1 egg yolk..add a little until you get the consistency you want.