Authentic & Easy To Follow Garlic Dipping Sauce

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My Lebanese family's easy-to-follow, never-fail, traditional fluffy toum recipe. This creamy garlic dipping sauce can be used in shawarma, pasta, fries, and more. It is super garlicky! Suitable for a vegan and gluten-free diet.

garlic dipping sauce in a brown bowl with a spoon — Freshly made fluffy garlic dipping sauce called Toum

What is Lebanese Toum?

Toum is a Lebanese garlic sauce that is made with garlic, lemon juice, salt, and vegetable oil.

It has a smooth, creamy, and fluffy texture and a strong garlic flavor. It’s the crown jewel of Lebanese condiments.

Toum is often served as a side of garlic dipping sauce or as a kebab sauce.

It can almost always be found on a Lebanese mezze table.

(I’d like to take a moment to appreciate our elders, who used to make this by hand (mortar & pestle) - even my mom back in the day)

How To Pronounce Toum?

Toum is pronounced as "toom", the "u" is silent. The "ou" is pronounced as a long "oo", like in the word "oops". There is an emphasis on the "t" sound at the start of the word.

😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s a never-fail recipe - works every time!
Stores for months in the fridge
Pairs well with so many foods. Can be used as a garlic dipping sauce, as garlic kebab sauce, as a sauce for pasta, in bakes, in salads and so much more
It is super garlicky!
Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free (vegan), and nut free

🧄 Ingredients You’ll Need

The complete list of ingredients with measurements, can be found in the full recipe card below.

Garlic is best used in its fresh form for this recipe, this will yield the best and strongest flavor. Select good quality firm bulbs and take out any of the green parts.

Add the peeled cloves directly into the blender/food processor/immersion blender.

If you must, frozen garlic is okay to use. DO NOT use garlic powder.

If you have a heap of garlic to use up, check out this method of drying garlic.

Oil should be neutral such as sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil. It is best to avoid heavy oils such as olive oil.

Lemon juice should be freshly squeezed. It helps to flavor (a nice light sourness), binding, and brightens this garlic dipping sauce. Only add a tablespoon at a time until all is used up.

Salt helps to boost the flavor and break down the garlic in step 1.

🧄How to Make Garlic Dipping Sauce

Step 1 - Place garlic and salt into a food processor or an immersion blender and pulse until garlic is finely minced (this is no more than a minute) You will need to scrape the sides of the food processor/blender, to ensure even mincing.

peeled garlic in a half cup measurement — half a cup

garlic and salt in an immersion blender — half a cup

Step 2 - If using a food processor, drizzle a ¼ cup of oil via a very fine pour line (hairlike - DO NOT pour in oil) blend until it starts to thicken, once this happens add a tablespoon of lemon juice and blend to start the emulsification process.

Drizzle in another ¼ cup of oil and then a tablespoon of lemon juice, repeat this process until all is used up.

Step 2 - If using an immersion blender, add one tablespoon of oil and blend until it starts to thicken, then add another tablespoon of oil and blend for another minute. Repeat this once more. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and blend until completely blended.

From here on you’ll want to add a 4:1 ratio of oil:lemon juice, i.e., blend a tablespoon of oil four times (not together) and then add in the lemon juice. Continue to do this until all have been used up.

Tip - During the last blending phase, the toum becomes thick and fluffy, able to hold peaks. Because of this, when pouring the oil in, it will pool at the top, you will need to help it by mixing it through with a spatula and then blending.

initial mincing of garlic in food processor — step 1

adding a spoonful of oil to the minced garlic — step 1

blended garlic and oil — about half way through

garlic sauce in a food processor with oil on top — about half way through

Step 3 - Transfer the toum into a jar, allow it to cool down to room temperature, and then seal (making sure it is airtight) and store in the refrigerator for a couple of months.

Tip: Following the process of blending the ingredients together is vital to the success of this garlic dipping sauce. Don’t take shortcuts.

Avoid water at all costs. Ensure the area, utensils, and equipment you are using to make your toum is free from water. Water will separate the oil.

About halfway into blending you will notice the blender starts to sound a little different, this is normal, as it is at this point the paste starts to lighten up.

a finished batch of white sauce in a blender

🥙What To Eat With Garlic Dipping Sauce

Traditionally, Lebanese toum is eaten with kebab, shish tawook (try my skwered tofu shish taouk version), shawarma (check out my mouthwatering vegan shawarma)

Try it with a falafel pita sandwich.

This garlic dipping sauce is also great for dipping air fried fries into.

Here are some other suggestions for what toum is used for;

As a spread in a sandwich
On the side with grilled vegetables
Add it to pasta sauces
With roasts, check out this list of different vegan roasts including sauces and sides.
This garlic dipping sauce for pizza is the best!

garlic sauce in a brown bowl with a side of lemon

❄️ How to Store Garlic Dipping Sauce

Once you're happy with the consistency of your garlic dipping sauce, allow it to cool down to room temperature (sometimes the blender heats up) before sealing it in a container as condensation drops may cause separation.

Toum will keep in the fridge for a couple of months stored in an airtight container.

❓FAQ

How to make toum without a food processor?

Traditionally toum was made with mortar and pestle, which can take up to an hour to prepare and requires continuous effort. The texture may not be as fluffy.
Here's how to make toum with a mortar and pestle:
1. In the mortar, sprinkle the salt over the garlic and crush it with the pestle until it forms a paste.
2. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the garlic paste and mix it until it is fully incorporated. Continue adding lemon juice and mixing until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy.
3. Slowly and gradually add the vegetable oil in a thin stream, while continuing to mix with the pestle.
Keep mixing and adding oil until the Toum becomes thick and glossy.

Why did my toum separate?

There are a few reasons why toum can separate whilst making it, here are some possible causes;
1. Either too much oil was added too quickly during the emulsification process
2. Water is present in the mix, there should be no water present
3. Too much lemon juice was added to quickly
4. The food processor became too hot resulting in the mixture breaking.

Is toum vegan?

Yes and no. Some homemade toum recipes can be vegan, containing only plant-based ingredients such as garlic, salt, lemon juice, and vegetable oil. However, some like to add eggs.

Some store-bought Toum products may contain non-vegan ingredients. It is important to carefully read the labels and look for ingredients or logos that indicate vegan certification.

Here are some ingredients to watch out for when buying store-bought toum:
Dairy - some brands may include milk or milk-containing ingredients.
Preservatives and additives - some of these may not be derived from plants.
Natural flavors - also may not be plant-derived.
Sugar - while it comes from a plant source, some processing methods may use bone char (animal bones) to make it white.

Even vegan-friendly ingredients may have trace amounts of animal products from the manufacturing process or equipment. Therefore, it is helpful to look for vegan certification logos on the labeling to ensure that the product is truly vegan.

Looking for another dip? Lebanese chickpea dip or aubergine dip.

Otherwise, another Lebanese sauce is tarator, a creamy shawarma sauce made with tahini.

Or learn how to roast garlic.

Did you make this? I'd love to know! Leave me a comment below with a ★★★★★ star rating or tag @plantbasedfolk on social media.

Recipe

Garlic Dipping Sauce (Lebanese Toum)

My Lebanese family's easy-to-follow, never-fail, traditional fluffy toum recipe. This creamy garlic dipping sauce can be used in shawarma, pastas, fries and more. It is super garlicky! Suitable for a vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free diet.

Print Pin Rate Save Recipe

Course: Condiment, Side Dish

Cuisine: Lebanese, Middle Eastern

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Prep Time: 30

Total Time: 30

Servings: grams

Author: Janelle Hama

Ingredients

½ cup Garlic cloves peeled
1½ cups Vegetable oil or any neutral oil
½ medium - large Lemon (juice) freshly squeezed
¼ teaspoon Salt

Instructions

Place garlic and salt into a food processor or an immersion blender and pulse until garlic is finely minced (this is no more than a minute, you'll need to scrape down the sides and blend to ensure garlic is evenly minced)
½ cup Garlic cloves, ¼ teaspoon Salt

Hand held / immersion blender

Add 1 tablespoon of oil every thirty seconds and blend well before adding the next lot. Repeat this 3 times then add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Repeat until all is blended.
1½ cups Vegetable oil, ½ medium - large Lemon (juice)

Blender / Food processor

Continually drizzle oil (hairlike pour) into blender / food processor. Every so often, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. (DO NOT over add - this will cause the sauce to break up) Continue to add oil and lemon juice until all blended.
1½ cups Vegetable oil, ½ medium - large Lemon (juice)
Seal in an airtight jar and store in the refrigerator for a couple of months.

Video

Notes

Following the process of blending the ingredients together is vital to the success of this toum. Don’t take shortcuts.

Avoid water at all costs. Ensure the area, utensils, and equipment you are/using to make your toum is free from water. Water will separate the oil.

During step one, ensure that all the garlic is chopped finely. You will need to scrape down the sides.

About halfway into blending you will notice the blender starts to sound a little different, this is normal, as it is at this point the paste starts to lighten up.

Immersion blender - During the last blending phase, the toum becomes thick and fluffy, able to hold peaks. Because of this, when pouring the oil in, it will pool at the top, you will need to help it by mixing it through with a spatula and then blending.

Once you're happy with the consistency of your garlic sauce (toum), allow it to cool down (sometimes the blender heats up) before sealing it in a container as condensation drops will cause your garlic dipping sauce to separate.

Toum will keep in the fridge for a couple of months, store in an airtight container.