Toum is a Traditional Lebanese Garlic Sauce that’s creamy, fluffy, garlicky, and full of that zing factor! Popular in the Middle East as the perfect shawarma garlic sauce. Get a few ingredients ready, and all your garlic, and make this creamy and dreamy Lebanese garlic sauce!
This recipe is absolutely foolproof, with a simple extra step of adding a boiled potato, you will be left with the creamiest garlic sauce ever, that’s much more palatable than others.
This will easily become a staple in your home, as it’s an absolute must-have condiment in my house. We are garlic lovers after all!
WHAT IS TOUM
Toum sauce is a traditional Lebanese garlic sauce that’s an absolute staple in most Lebanese households. Every family makes it slightly different, and my recipe is the absolute most palatable yet still pungently garlicky! The best part is that’s nearly foolproof with one extra step, that makes it all worthwhile.
This sauce is not only found in Lebanese homes but is also a staple in one of our most popular street food and is widely used as a Chicken Shawarma garlic sauce.
Which, if you’ve never tried it, you must! It’s filled with flavorful meat and wrapped in a pita that’s been slathered with this amazing Lebanese sauce and stuffed with fries and pickles alongside meat. In downtown Beirut and most cities, you will find this sandwich as a quick meal on the go!
WHAT MAKES THIS TOUM CREAMY AND MORE PALATABLE
This recipe is the creamiest and the most palatable because of 2 extra ingredients that I use; boiled potato and Greek yogurt. These two ingredients both have a strong purpose in this recipe and create this garlic sauce that is dangerously good!
Boiled potato. I take the time to boil a potato for this recipe because it makes all the difference. Potato is the perfect starch to thicken the batter to such a creamy consistency, meanwhile slightly diluting the strong raw garlic taste.
Yogurt. Yogurt in this recipe is a must! It adds the perfect amount of creaminess to complete this well-rounded Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe.
FOR THIS RECIPE, YOU WILL NEED
- Food processor.
- Small pot.
- Measuring Cups.
- Bowl to serve, or mason jars to store. I love these wooden bowls!
- Neutral oil.
- Garlic. A whole lot of it!
- Boiled potato.
- Yogurt.
- Lemon.
- Salt.
HOW TO MAKE LEBANESE GARLIC SAUCE
This sauce is quickly whipped together in the food processor!
After you have your boiled potato ready, add all your ingredients except the flavorless oil and blend.
Slowly drizzle in the oil to avoid the sauce separating.
Once the oil is incorporated, taste for salt, and add more to your liking.
Serve, or allow to sit in the fridge to meld further.
TOP TIPS FOR MAKING
- Make sure the potato is completely soft and almost mushy. Using a harder potato will prohibit this recipe from becoming the creamy frothy texture it needs to be.
- Blend the ingredients until completely creamy, the longer, the better, prior to slowly drizzling in oil.
- Use a flavorless oil, not olive oil. Though I usually gravitate towards Extra Virgin Olive Oil in most of my recipes, this one will be the exception. Olive oil has a strong flavor that takes over in this sauce. So use any flavorless oil of choice.
- Use a food processor to make this Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe in as little time as possible!
WAYS TO USE THIS SAUCE
This Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe is so versatile. I like to make sure we always have it on hand to add to any meal throughout the week. Here are some ideas to use this sauce, that we love:
- SHAWARMA GARLIC SAUCE. Our recipe is packed with flavor!
- THE PERFECT GARLIC DIP FOR A BBQ . The other most popular way to enjoy this Lebanese garlic sauce is with BBQ’d chicken. This is hands down the best garlic sauce for chicken. It’s a pairing made to be together!
- USE AS FRY SAUCE. This is our second favorite way to use it is on fries or roasted potatoes! Scoot over stadium garlic fries! Make your own by drizzling toum and sprinkling fresh parsley.
- ON SANDWICHES. Lather on bread and pair with any meat, cheese, and veggies you enjoy.
- DRIZZLE OVER COOKED FISH. Pour a light drizzle over.
- DRIZZLE OVER YOUR PIZZA. Garlic sauce for pizza anyone? Yum! I know I’m not alone in wanting extra garlic sauce for pizza, and this sauce couldn’t be more perfect for the job! It will pair well with most pizzas.
- USE AS VEGGIE DIP. Simply dip cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, or other veggies in it.
- DRIZZLE ON AN OMELETTE. I added it to a Crab Omelet recipe and it couldn’t have been more delicious! Though you will need to be mindful not to enjoy this breakfast on a day full of meetings :).
- DRIZZLE OVER YOUR PASTA OR USE IT AS PASTA SAUCE.
- TOSS THIS GARLIC SAUCE WITH ROASTED VEGGIES. Just yum!
TOUM SAUCE TOO RUNNY
The number one complaint in making this Lebanese garlic sauce, is the ingredients not binding and therefore your sauce becoming too runny, since you want it creamy and fluffy. My secret to this dilemma is adding boiled potatoes!
Potato acts as a natural binding agent and with the help of Greek yogurt to keep it the perfect creamy consistency.
Both the potato and Greek yogurt in this Lebanese Garlic Sauce recipe will be sure to cut the edge off the raw garlic, without compromising the pungent garlic flavor whatsoever.
HOW LONG DOES TOUM LAST
This creamy homemade garlic sauce recipe lasts about a week in the fridge! I typically store it in an airtight condiment dispenser or in a mason jar. My family runs through this garlic sauce fairly quickly!
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CAN YOU FREEZE TOUM
Yes! You sure can! I freeze mine in mason jars. Though the texture does change slightly, making the sauce a little bit runny, the flavor is still spot on! So it’s best to use fresh, but if you have a lot left over, it’s best to freeze and later use as a marinade.
TOOM VS TOUM VS LEBANESE GARLIC SAUCE
There are many names for this garlic sauce recipe, as some spell it “toum” and others “toom”. While some prefer to call it Lebanese garlic sauce. So, what is the correct name for Lebanese Garlic Sauce?
Let’s start with the basics – Where does the name the name come from?
Toum is actually the name for garlic in Lebanon. Everyone has adopted their way of spelling it. Regardless of how you prefer to spell it, it all means the same thing – Garlic!
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Creamy Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup garlic cloves
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup potato, cut in cubes , about 1 small potato
- 1 cup flavorless oil avocado oil, canola, vegetable
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Place the cubed potato pieces and boil for approximately 15-20 minutes, until fork tender. Remove potato, and place aside to cool.
- To a blender, add potato, yogurt, garlic, lemon and salt. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- To the mixture, slowly drizzle in oil while blending for an additional 2-3 minutes. Be sure to not pour all the oil at once, as this may cause separation. Remove once mixture is smooth and frothy.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Cover and place in the fridge until completely chilled.
Notes
Nutrition
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So delicious. Gotta put this on everything!
Thank you! We sure have a hard time not adding it to everything ourselves.
I bet this would be so good with French fries 🙂
We love it with french fries, and well, just about everything else too :).