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Toum, a traditional Lebanese garlic sauce, is intensely garlicky and delicious. This is the Middle Eastern dip people go bonkers over! The thick, creamy garlic spread comes together with just 4 simple ingredients and tastes great on just about everything.
What is toum?
Toum is a popular condiment in Middle Eastern and Lebanese cuisine. Sometimes called Lebanese garlic dip or garlic spread, it is an emulsion of garlic, oil, lemon juice, and salt that forms a creamy, thick paste that is often compared to aioli.
Toum is all about garlic: it’s a sauce devised somewhere deep in Lebanese history to allow us all to eat garlic as a spread, a dip, a sauce, a joy. โToumโ is the Arabic word for, you guessed it, garlic!
Use toum as a spread, a dip, and as an accompaniment to all kinds of foods, including pita bread, shawarma, cauliflower shawarma, and kafta.
What does toum garlic sauce taste like?
Though toum includes oil, lemon, and salt along with garlic, the flavor of toum is very forward and clear: toum tastes like light, airy garlic! The best garlic you have ever eaten! Garlic lovers, this is for you.
Ingredient notes
The ingredients for Lebanese garlic sauce are just a handful:
Garlic is the main ingredient in toum. Look for the firmest, freshest garlic you can find, squeezing the whole heads of garlic to avoid any hollow or old heads. Pre-peeled garlic cloves work well here. Use at least one full cup of peeled garlic cloves.
Oil suspends the garlic in its emulsion. This is one of those rare Lebanese recipes that does not call for olive oil. Olive oil imparts a bitterness and color to toum that we want to avoid. Use a neutral oil, which is a flavorless oil such as canola oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil.
Lemon juice. Use fresh lemon juice for toum. The lemon juice adds a fresh, bright flavor dimension, balancing the strength of the garlic. It is also important to the emulsification process. By adjusting the amount, you can change the texture and get a fluffy garlic spread or a creamy garlic sauce.
Salt is essential not only as a flavoring but also to help the garlic cloves gain the traction they need at the start of processing.
How to Make Toum
The best way to make toum sauce is in a food processor (large or prep-sized). My tried (and tried again!) and true methods work well whether you’re making toum in a food processor or by hand.
Prep the garlic cloves by peeling enough cloves to make about 1 ยฝ cups. If using pre-peeled cloves, all the better and a much faster process!
As you process the garlic and salt, the key is to stop repeatedly and scrape down the bowl of the processor.
The other key to making toum: adding the oil very slowly.ย The initial introduction of oil into the garlic is the most critical step in making toum.ย Use a teaspoon for better control and add the oil one droplet at a time, then two droplets, then three into the drip hole in the top of the food processor while it is running. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then run the processor again and add drops of oil one at a time. The less oil you add here very slowly, the more success for emulsion youโll have.
ย The garlic will begin to take on a slight creaminess as it accepts the oil correctly, then more and more creaminess as you dribble in more oil.ย When the oil is introduced too quickly or too much at once, the mixture becomes a liquid that looks like garlic coated with oil, rather than a thick creamy sauce. Adding the oil takes a bit of a long time, but patience will yield results!
Once creaminess is achieved, and the emulsion is set, Iโve discovered that it really doesnโt matter how much more oil you add. Add much more to make a larger batch, or not a ton more for a smaller batch, and the flavor and texture are fine either way. Try one cup of oil to the cloves of two heads of garlic (about a cup depending on the size of your garlic) in a mini-processor. In a standard processor (about 11 cup size), use at least 1 ยฝ – 2 cups of garlic cloves and up to 4 cups of oil, which makes a big batch.
You can now alternate adding the oil in a slow stream and the lemon juice in droplets, until the toum is the consistency of thick yogurt. The consistency of a thick spread is best here, then the toum spread can be thinned out as needed to make dips and sauces.
Making toum by hand
This is the oooold fashioned way, and it sure does work. I find this method, using a whisk and a bowl or a mortar and pestle, works best with a smaller amount of garlic. Whisk or pound the minced garlic with ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt until creamy.
Start adding the oil one droplet at a time, whisking or pounding after each addition, then slowly adding more oil. Stop as you go and alternate with adding lemon juice just a few droplets at a time until the toum has a fluffy texture and is spreadable.
What to Eat with Toum?
Toum is fabulous with anything that loves garlic:
- As a salad dressing. Use toum thinned out with more olive oil and even some vinegar to make a vinaigrette for salads or vegetables.
- Thin it out to use as a dip for pita bread, pita chips, veggies, or french fries. Add it to your Lebanese Mezze Platter.
- As a sauce for chicken shawarma or shish tawook.
- Spread on top of slices of good bread and broil until toasty for the best garlic bread
- As a great base layer for a white pizza or any pizza
- As a sandwich spread
- Eat it alongside a juicy rotisserie chicken to ramp up flavor
Storing Leftovers
You can store toum in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for months at a time!
Can you freeze toum? I recommend storing toum in the refrigerator rather than in the freezer. Freezing toum does not extend the shelf life of toum, since it keeps so well in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
This surely happens to most toum-makers at some point or another. The liquid will not be toum sauce but can be put to use in recipes such as vinaigrettes and pasta sauces. Try again making sure the initial addition of oil takes place very slowly.
Commercial toum is available more and more. Check outย Anneโs Toumย and other toum sauces at Whole Foods and other specialty shops. These are a good option when you can’t make your own, but homemade garlic sauce always tastes best.
Some recipes do call for raw egg white as a way to make the mixture hold together better.ย
The strength of the garlic flavor depends on the freshness and general flavor of your garlic cloves. If your toum is burning or too strong, know that it will mellow on its own over several days in the refrigerator. Add the strong toum to other ingredients such as yogurt or tahini to make a garlic sauce that is not as strong.
No, the immersion blender does not have enough blade surface area to properly pulverize the garlic and create an emulsion.
Toum and aioli are alike in that they are both emulsions. Toum is an emulsion of garlic, salt, lemon, and a neutral oil and can be thick enough to use as a spread. Traditional aioli is an emulsion of garlic and olive oil, but more often is a garlicky mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is a version of aioli that also contains eggs.ย Toum is a traditional Lebanese garlic sauce. Aioli is a traditional European sauce from France and Spain.
Toum Recipe
Ingredients
By hand:
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup neutral oil, such as canola or safflower (look for expeller pressed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water
For small-batch, In a mini-processor:
- 1 cup garlic cloves, peeled (from about 2 bulbs)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup neutral oil, such as canola or safflower (look for expeller pressed
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2-3 tablespoons ice water
For large-batch, in a standard processor:
- 1 1/2 cups garlic cloves, peeled (from about 4 bulbs)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 to 4 cups neutral oil, such as canola or safflower (look for expeller pressed
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup ice water
Instructions
- To prepare the garlic, slice the cloves in half lengthwise and remove any green sprouts. Worth the effort here, as the sprouts contribute to burn and bitterness.
- If making toum by hand, mince or grate the garlic on a fine grater into a medium bowl. Set the bowl over a towel or use a non-skid bowl, to hold it in place as you whisk. If making toum in a processor, blitz the garlic with the salt until it is minced, stopping to scrape down the bowl as you go.
- Take your time here. Whisking constantly or with the processor running, use a teaspoon to drop a droplet of oil into the garlic. Stop and scrape down the bowl. Then add another droplet, stop and scrape, then another. Continue in this way even though at first it seems like nothing is happening.
- Once the garlic begins to look a bit creamy, you can add the oil a couple of droplets at a time, stopping and scraping the bowl down as you go. Stay with it.
- Continue in this way until the garlic becomes thick and spreadable. Once the emulsion is fully formed and what you have looks like a thick white spread, you can increase the speed of adding the oil. Rather than droplets, add the oil in a slow, thin, steady stream while processing or whisking. Stop and taste and keep adding more oil if the toum is too strong. Don't be surprised if this process takes up to 15-20 minutes.
- Finish by processing or whisking in the lemon juice and ice water.
Video
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Lebanese Recipes with Garlic
- Garlic tahini eggplant is a Lebanese favorite! Slices of eggplant are drizzled with a garlicky tahini sauce and topped with pomegranate seeds.
- If you’re looking for a healthy dish that comes together quickly, make this easy cabbage salad with garlic and lemon.
- This garlicky sumac shrimp packs so much flavor, and it’s perfect for dinners on the grill!
- Warm up your body and soul with a bowl of Lebanese lentil soup. I love to add garlic to my recipe to ramp up the flavors.
- Try a very simple way to garlic flavor with Roasted Garlic.
Love your Toum recipe. It is sooo good! Thank you!
Thank you Angela!! Just so delicious to keep on hand!
This by far the best recipe I have ever used for tuom. It’s simple, foolproof (if instructions are followed) and does keep for a long time- if not used up quickly as it’s so useful. Thank you for doing the work so we all benefit!
Gale I’m honored! Thanks so much for your kind words and excellent rating!
O WOW! My first encounter with Toum (I live in South Africa) and it came out light like a feather. I made your Lebanese Tabbouleh which is so fresh with your Chicken Shawarma. Everything came out a roaring success and so very delicious. Summer time here and I adore the freshness and full bodied tastes. Tank you!
What a pro first-timer with toum!!! Isn’t it just the best condiment to have on sooo many good dishes. Your meal is five stars!
I made this and the emulsion seemed to be fine. I used about about 1 1/4 cups garlic that I bought peeled. I cut off the ends and checked for green sprouts. There were none. I added what I think was about 3 cups canola oil-maybe more. The toum still has a very heavy garlic (tiny bit bitter?) aftertaste. It is not bad, but it is not the amazing flavor I remember from the farmer’s market toum I bought. My concern is if I add more canola oil, I will lose the garlic flavor. The garlic flavor was way too strong after 2 cups, so I kept adding canola oil. I don’t know if the issue is the canola oil, the quality/taste of my garlic, or whether I should add more lemon or water. Any suggestions? Now that it has been refrigerated, is it too late to try adding more ingredients? The thickness is good right now, but I’d rather it be somewhat thinner with better taste if possible.
Hi Karen, sometimes the garlic flavor can be stronger simply depending on the freshness of the garlic. When this happens, stir in more lemon juice to balance the flavor. And you can do that anytime after the toum is finished and in the fridge. I do that often for different uses for the toum, sometimes needing it thicker or thinner. Also I find that over time if the garlic flavor is strong/bitter, it does subside as the toum rests. Keep me posted!
I will try making this. How do you give it a light whipped texture?
Gayle great! That whipped lightness comes from emulsifying the oil and garlic. Take it slowly and it will work!
I always come back to your recipe Maureen..because for one* you test your recipes. And second because they are delicious..thank you
That is very special Salma, thanks a million!!
Just wow!!! 10 out of 10
Cammie thank you!!!
I used avocado oil and my toum came out beautifully and was delicious!! The only thing is, 1 week of sitting in the fridge and the second I take it out, it starts melting on my plate. Why is this and how can I avoid this in the future?
How interesting Nura. Something is up with avocado oil I think, but I wonder what. The issue may be that more oil is needed. Is the toum fluffy, or more saucy, when you take it from the fridge?
Hello Maureen,
I would like to make this delicious recipe and I was wondering if I could use olive oil instead of vegetable oil? Thank you!
Hi Bernadette! I’m so glad you’re going to make toum! This is one recipe that is much much better with a neutral oil. Even light olive oil imparts a flavor that isn’t ideal for toum. Let me know how it goes!!
I made the most fabulous toum yesterday with my immersion blender. I had seen the exact technique in several places so I tried it. It called for using a one quart wide-mouth Ball jar and adding in 1 cup of peeled garlic cloves, each cut in half. To that, add two teaspoons of salt and 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Using the immersion blender, make a paste of the jar ingredients. A slight foam will develop. It took 30 seconds. With the immersion blender already in the jar and resting on the bottom of the jar, add all 2 cups of oil, at once, onto the top of the garlic paste. Immediately turn on the immersion blender and after the ingredients begin to emulsify, you slowly move the blender up and down inside the jar. In three to five minutes, the toum will be perfectly emulsified and light and fluffy. It is marvelous! I used a Braun immersion blender.
Wait, WHAT?!?!?! Carol thank you so much, I can’t wait to try this!! Wow!!!! I’ll be doing asap!
I’m going to make the large-batch recipe for Christmas and noticed that there is no ice water amount listed in the recipe. Does the juice of one lemon eliminate the need for ice water in this recipe?
Hello, great catch thank you! Still use about 1/4 cup of ice water for the toum. You can add more once the toum is completed, to loosen it as needed.
Hello Maureen,
I would love go make your Toum Garlic Sauce. Would it be okay for me to use my Vitamix to prepare Toum? I love garlic slathered on almost everything. Thank you for this luscious recipe!
Jeanette
Hi Jeanette–with blenders the blades are much shorter and more challenging to create an emulsion. But with persistent, relentless stopping and scraping down the sides of the blender it should work for you!!! The most delicious thing in the world…!
Dear Maureen, I would love to make your Toum and wonder if I could substitute avocado oil for the canola or safflower oil? I would appreciate hearing back from you.
Have a blessed holiday.
Jeanette
Hi Jeanette! Yes, you can use avocado oil for toum–BUT, your toum will be light green in color rather than pure white, and will have a slightly different, vegetal flavor from the avocado oil. Thank you for asking! Let us know how it goes!
I have a Lebanese dad, and I live in SA. I have just made Toum for the first time. It is so absolutely delicious! We are eating it for lunch on slices of hot buttered toast!
Thank you Maureen.
This makes me so happy! Thank you!
I have wrestled with making toum in the past, until I happened upon a recipe by Yumna Jawad, which has always been successful. I just pulled it out to compare, and now it’s no surprise, you are fully credited, and Yumna’s recipe is adapted from yours. We love this recipe, and use it on many things. Thank you so much!
Also if to salty how to fix?
To fix over-salted toum, add more oil and more lemon juice. As noted below you can also add mashed potato.
Hello I fell in love with toum/garlic sauce years ago from a restaurant called Lamias in Mi, it was served on a chicken shawarma but I always got extra sauce thought I try to make it myself first time failed but tried again, came out so good even my picky 16 year old tried it and loved it . I donโt like the spicy so it was toned down a lot. I made it again yesterday and it was not as thick as last time because I added more lemon juice and some oil to mellow it out. My question is can I thicken it back up if I put it back in the food processor? And also since my kids love it I want to make a a larger batch, so to mellow it all the way out but still that garlicky taste should I add more oil or lemon? (Thanks In Advance )
Hi Cerise. Thickening completed toum can be a challenge. You could try pureed cooked potato (mashed potatoes). You can always increase the recipe for toum; more garlic is easier to make anyway! To soften the garlic flavor add lemon, yes, and more liquid such as ice water. Also you can try using elephant garlic (very large cloves) as these are not as pungent as standard garlic.
Iโm so thrilled to read this recipe! In 1975 I was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and loved what I now know was a serving of toum at a posh restaurant. Iโve hungrily thought about that spread ever since, and now I know what it was and that I can make it myself! Thank you so much for your extremely helpful and detailed recipe that I will make soon. I found my way to your site after reading an article about a new start-up, Annieโs Toum, which is exploding. You have other great recipes that Iโd love to try, as well. Cheers!
Cora that is so exciting, to be making toum after all these years since first trying it! Thank you so much and we’ll love to hear how it goes!
Hi , the day i made the sauce it came out perfect but after a day it taste too strong and sour/lemony ? How can i fix it pls help
Hi Cora–that’s interesting, usually toum can start off too strong then mellows out over time. Try adding more lemon juice and also mix the toum when serving with some yogurt for a gentler taste until the garlic mellows and can be eaten on its own.
I just made this and it emulsified great, but it tastes just a little oily. I used canola oil (at least Iโm pretty sure I did). Any suggestions?
So glad the toum worked for you Danny! Add more lemon juice and/or ice water to loosen and give the toum sauciness. You can also mix the toum with yogurt and/or tahini when you turn it into a sauce to serve.
Thank you for all the tips and details .Fantastic recipe ,helpful description .Excellent! Thank โค๏ธ you.
Thanks so much Rumana!
I have had 3 failed attempts at making toum. It tastes wonderful but is too thin. I have tried all the โtricksโ and still canโt get the correct consistency. Iโm thinking that the problem is that Iโm not Lebanese. I soooo want to be able to make a batch that looks like yours!
Maria, I hear you! But you can do this! Try starting with lots and lots of garlic cloves and just little drops of oil (with salt), by hand.
I just sent you a note on Twitter, but here goes: my toum has 8-10 garlic cloves, 2 tblsp chilled lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp sea salt. 3 tblsp mild oil, 1/3 c cooked, mashed, cooled starchy white potato. I will email you the recipe I was given years ago from a dear friend.
Love it, I’ll try it, thanks so much!
Hi,
Will this recipe work using immersion/stick blender ?
Worth a try! I suspect it will be difficult to get the emulsion though.
It works great with an immersion blender — better than my food processor. The trick with the immersion blender is to do it in a jar so that the blender at the bottom isn’t much smaller than the jar itself. Then the emulsification happens really quickly and gets thick. There’s a great article on how to emulsify from J. Kenji Lรณpez-Alt (two-minute mayo recipe which I HIGHLY recommend). The mayo came out great and I applied the same vortex principle to my toum and it was amazing.
Great tip thank you! Fascinated about the immersion blender.
I used a teaspoon of salt with the 5-6 cloves and it was way too salty, but I did get the emulsion with the whisk! And then I worked in more garlic and oil in the blender. Emulsion broke when used the lemon juice but saved the whole thing by restarting and adding more garlic and oil to start the emulsion and then adding in the broken toum and oil in very slowly, and then doing extra blender cycles if it looked like the emulsion was getting weak. Nice to know I can do this, but I think I need a food processor.
Thank you for the report!!!
Hi. I do not have access to lemons.
Would white vinegar work?
Lisa, you could try vinegar, perhaps not as much quantity as the lemon juice. I have not tried this but if you do we’d love to hear how it goes.
Hi Maureen. I just love garlic sauce..a chef had taught me to add the ingredients you have mentioned, he also added egg whites…what is the difference. Also, what is the alternative for kosher salt.
Hi maureen
hope you are doing fine in this quarantined phase of life ! a big hello from OMAN (muscat)
waiting to give your recipes a try this ramadan .
sending loads of warm hugs !
And warm hugs to you! Enjoy this absolutely delicious toum!
Hi thanks for posting this recipe and more importantly the discussing the method.
Too many people post this recipe and just say alternate back and forth slowly.
I found your method of salt plus garlic then oil and lemon at the end to take a lot of guesswork out the process.
I also used some others suggestions of refrigerating my olive oil, immersion blender blade half, and blending container as I live in a hot area. Thanks again!
Michael, thank you! Immersion blender, great idea!
Maureen, thank you for explaining how emulsions work and for the wonderful recipe!
Carlette, I was able to save a previous batch of liquid Toum by putting the whole batch (still in the food processor cup) in the freezer for 10 mins or so – it thickened the oil enough to create resistance for the food processor blades and my Toum whipped back up to its fluffy state in no time. I used avocado oil but I’m sure this trick will work regardless of the type of oil you used.
I’m SO excited to try your freeze method to fix a broken toum emulsion! Also intrigued to try this with avocado oil. Thank you!
There was the sweetest little Shawarma spot on Commercial Drive in Vancouver B.C. Canada, right close to the Broadway skytrain station, and it was there i first experienced Toum and OMGOSH, I couldn’t stop ordering my meals there largely (but not only) because of the fabulous Toum – just like yours! I am immensely excited to have found you and your site. It’s all gung-ho from here! THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL RECIPES and precise directions!!!
Toum is just such a key flavor maker! I’m excited you’re going to make toum, game-changer! Keep us posted…
I just made this. Perfect consistency…until I added the water and lemon juice. How do I save this? It went from paste to vinaigrette.
Oh Carlette, this sure can happen. Toum can be tough! I have not had luck trying to “fix” a broken toum emulsion. Best to start over. I’m not sure what your factors were that caused your broken emulsion but it is often to do with the speed at which the liquid is added–must add one drop at a time.
I made this last night and it turned out fabulous as far as looks go and consistency. When I tasted it, I realized I had left out the salt! Yummy garlic taste, but definitely needed salt. Can I go back and add salt or will it break the
emulsion? Thanks for any help!
Hi Susan–so glad you have your toum ready to go! You can stir in a little salt at a time and the emulsion should be just fine.
I have a Lebanese friend who taught me how to make this many years ago. Her recipe has one large raw potato with those other ingredients and it it s fantastic. But unfortunately you canโt use olive oil for this one which would make it healthier. And in order for it to be fluffy you must use a food processor and slowly drizzle the oil in. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Michelle!
can i use a regular blender
Tracy yes, you can use a regular blender but you’ll want to use the small batch ratios. That’s because it will require a lot of scraping down between blending to keep the garlic around the blades.
What a wonderful recipe instruction! Love how much detail you’ve put into this. I had toum the other night in Portland for the first time and fell in LOVE. Went back home to MT and made it today per your large batch recipe and it didn’t get very fluffy. The mix emulsified but wasn’t the same consistency as what we got at the Lebanese restaurant. I made sure to add in the oil per your instructions/very slowly, drip by drip. Also, the garlic taste was SUPER bitter in the final product…any tips for counteracting this? There were no green stems to remove. Your recipes look amazing! After eating at the Lebanese restaurant I immediately went online when I got home and bought your cookbook as it was so highly recommended! Really looking forward to trying more Lebanese recipes!
Hi Katherine! I’m happy you’re here and impressed you went after the toum! You aren’t alone in experiencing the bracing heat of that much garlic. This will subside and mellow out in the next few days, and after a week the toum is pretty near perfect, depending on your garlic. So I like to keep the toum on hand rather than making and using it right away, to give it time to calm down. You’ll want to try the elephant garlic that’s now more readily available; it’s not as strong as smaller garlic. As for the consistency, I’ve been doubling up the amount of garlic and find that the emulsion is much fluffier and stronger when I start with more garlic (2+ cups cloves).
I followed your instructions for the big batch of garlic and my whole family was obsessed with it! They even said it was better than the garlic spread we normally buy in Dearborn restaurants, which are heavily populated by the most authentic Lebanese restaurants. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Wonderful!!! We live for this toum too!
Made this yesterday and it turned out perfect. Amazing that something so simple can be so delicious, it is very similar to Greek skordalia.Thanks for the recipe and detailed instructions.
Hurray!
Always look forward to your recipes but even more so the stories that attach to them….(you really are a great writer, make the reader feel we are right there with you) . Iโve tried and tried to attempt this heavenly garlic spread of goodness and always comes out chunky and gooey, although still very edible not all that appealing. Lived in California for years before moving back home to MI, there was a restaurant called Zankou that served Toum with their rotisserie chicken that was just perfectly smooth, creamy and just the right amount of garlic, I could never replicate it, but I think youโve done it with this recipe my friend….thank you so much for sharing your secrets and your whispers with us. Canโt wait to try it.
How beautiful Danielle! Thank you for your generous words. I’m excited for you to try the toum! Let us know how it goes!
This is one of my favorites but Iโve never tried making it. Would it work in a blender or is food processor the way to go?
Holly, great question…I would need to test it out in a blender. I suspect the blade action just isn’t enough, though. Maybe in a Vitamix. If you have a processor, go with that!! Let me know what you think!
Thank you for covering all the angles with this wonderful toum recipe! This is why your recipes are always fail-safe, Maureen. I have never made toum, and now I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks again.
Ah Carlos…thank you so much. I hope you do try it! Let us know how it goes!
Maureen your recipe for garlic (Toum) spread is fun, elegant and delicious. Our family LOVES it.
The fact that it keeps so well in the refrigerator helps for a โmake ahead โ recipe to keep on hand.
I will try your lemon juice suggestion for the next batch. Toum-alicious!
Diane, thank you for the toum-alicious inspiration! You’re such a phenomenal cook!