Lebanese garlic sauce, or Toum, is one of the best parts of Mediterranean cuisine. If you have ever had a classic chicken shawarma or shish tawook, you have tried this iconic garlic sauce that is a staple of Lebanese cuisine. With a thick, creamy, and luscious texture, this immersion blender toum recipe is as easy as it gets at home!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No complicated methods: Homemade toum can be finicky to make, but the immersion blender takes the guesswork out of it. You get the same emulsification process as when making traditional toum in the bowl of a food processor, with half the steps. An immersion blender produces a stable emulsion 99% of the time, which is ideal for first-time toum-makers!
- Versatile uses: This toum makes a delicious dip, spread on a sandwich, or even an addition to a mezze platter with homemade baba ganoush, crazy feta dip, hummus, and tzatziki.
- Fridge stable: You can prepare a batch of this garlic sauce and keep it on hand in the fridge for 3-4 weeks in an air-tight container. You can have garlicky goodness on hand, on demand!
Ingredient Notes
- Fresh garlic: It is best to use fresh garlic bulbs for this creamy garlic sauce recipe for the best garlic flavor. Whole heads of garlic do take longer to peel, but the flavor is worth it. This is not the time to use jarred, minced garlic.
- Fresh lemon: Lebanese toum has very few ingredients, so fresh is best. Fresh lemon juice adds a brightness that bottled juice lacks.
- Neutral oil: I do not recommend using extra virgin olive oil for this toum sauce, as it has an overpowering flavor. Neutral oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, or even avocado oil are the best options for this garlic sauce.
A full list of ingredients with measurements is located on the recipe card, below.
Substitutions
- Fresh garlic: You can use pre-peeled cloves as long as they are relatively fresh and have not been sitting in your fridge for too long. The goal is to use the freshest garlic that you have available.
- Fresh lemon: In a pinch, bottled lemon juice can be used.
Variations
- Spicy: Add a spoon of harissa, Calabrian chili paste, or sriracha to the finished toum for a spicy version.
- Herby: Mix in chopped mint, parsley, or cilantro for an herbaceous twist on classic toum.
- Raw egg: You can make this toum recipe more stable by using raw egg whites in garlic paste. This will make the whole thing a little bit more mayonnaise-like in texture, but there is less chance of the emulsion breaking, too.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Work Before Cooking
Collecting all ingredients: This will make cooking so much easier. Gather all the spices you will need, and keep them nearby.
Peel garlic cloves: Remove the skin from the raw garlic cloves.
Split each garlic clove in half. Remove the inner garlic germ from the garlic cloves. This is an extra step, but it helps tone down the spiciness of the toum, especially when using such a large amount of garlic. [photo 1]
Add the peeled garlic cloves to a mason jar or the mixing jar that came with your immersion blender. Top with salt and lemon juice, and blend with the immersion blender until a smooth paste has formed. [photo 2]
Pour the neutral oil ontop of the garlic paste while the stick blender is positioned at the bottom of the jar. [photo 3]
Start to blend the mixture at the bottom of the jar. As you start to see the mixture thicken, gradually raise the immersion blender in small increments, until the toum has completely thickened. [photo 4]
Expert Tips
How to fix spicy toum: If your toum is too potent or spicy try these methods:
- Refrigerate the prepared garlic sauce for 1-3 days. As the toum sits in the fridge, the flavors will mellow out.
- Add a spoonful of mayonnaise, greek yogurt, or mashed potatoes to the prepared sauce. These mix-ins will balance out the spiciness of the toum.
- Blanch the garlic in ice water 30 minutes to 1 hour before making the dip. This will take some of the edge off of the raw garlic.
Use cold ingredients: Colder ingredients work as better emulsifying agents with the end result being a fluffy texture. If your ingredients get too warm, it will be more likely that your emulsion breaks.
Serving Suggestions
- Dip: This Lebanese garlic dip is the perfect dipping sauce for pita bread, french fries, or even homemade naan. Vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, and cherry tomatoes are great dippers too!
- Condiment: This toum is the perfect condiment to serve with Middle Eastern favorites, grilled meats, and your favorite sandwiches. Some of my favorites include batata harra, pork souvlaki, or chicken souvlaki pitas. It is also a great way to jazz up store-bought shortcuts like a rotisserie chicken.
More Sauce Recipes
Immersion Blender Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 bulbs Fresh garlic - approximately 25 cloves
- 1 cup Canola oil
- 1 Large lemon - juiced
- 2 teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
- Remove the skin from the raw garlic cloves.2 bulbs Fresh garlic
- Split each garlic clove in half. Remove the inner garlic germ from the garlic cloves.
- Add the peeled garlic cloves to a mason jar or the mixing jar that came with your immersion blender. Top with salt and lemon juice, and blend with the immersion blender until a smooth paste has formed.2 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1 Large lemon
- Pour the neutral oil ontop of the garlic paste while the stick blender is positioned at the bottom of the jar.1 cup Canola oil
- Start to blend the mixture at the bottom of the jar. As you start to see the mixture thicken, gradually raise the immersion blender in small increments, until the toum has completely thickened.
✱Recipe Notes
- Refrigerate the prepared garlic sauce for 1-3 days. As the toum sits in the fridge, the flavors will mellow out.
- Add a spoon of mayonnaise, greek yogurt, or mashed potatoes to the prepared sauce. These mix-ins will balance out the spiciness of the toum.
- Blanch the garlic in ice water 30 minutes to 1 hour before making the dip. This will take some of the edge off of the raw garlic.
Stacy says
This came out great! The immersion blender technique was a winner. Will make again.