Fluffy Toum Garlic Sauce Recipe (5 Ingredients)
By Sayam
Fluffy Toum Garlic Sauce
Quick Overview
Toum is a traditional Middle Eastern garlic dip known for its velvety, cloud-like texture and bold, punchy flavor. Made entirely without dairy or eggs, this smooth spread gets its signature fluffiness from emulsifying fresh garlic cloves with oil, lemon juice, ice water, and salt.
It pairs perfectly with grilled chicken, warm pita bread, roasted vegetables, and shawarma sandwiches. Once you master this simple method, you will never buy store-bought garlic spread again.
• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 0 minutes
• Total time: 10 minutes
• Servings: 16 (about 1 cup total)
• Estimated calories per serving: 95 kcal
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
• 1 cup (approx. 120 g) fresh garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed
• 1 tsp (6 g) coarse sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) ice-cold water
• 1 cup (240 ml) neutral oil (such as canola, sunflower, or avocado oil)
How to Make Fluffy Toum Garlic Sauce
- Place the peeled garlic cloves into the bottom of a narrow mason jar or immersion blender cup.
- Add the salt, fresh lemon juice, ice-cold water, and neutral oil directly over the garlic in the jar.
- Lower your immersion blender all the way to the bottom of the jar, ensuring the blades fully cover the garlic cloves.
- Blend on high speed for 10 seconds without moving the blender, allowing the bottom layer to emulsify into a thick white cream.
- Slowly tilt and tilt-pull the immersion blender upward to incorporate the remaining oil from the top.
- Continue blending in short up-and-down motions for 30 seconds until the mixture is fully emulsified, thick, and bright white.
Pro Tip
Never use olive oil or warm ingredients. Olive oil turns bitter when blended at high speeds and breaks the emulsion easily. Always stick to a neutral liquid oil and ensure your water is ice-cold to prevent the blades from heating up the garlic emulsion.
Serving & Storage of Fluffy Toum garlic sauce
Serve this garlic sauce spread generously on warm pita bread, grilled chicken skewers, falafel wraps, or roasted potatoes. It also makes an incredible spread for burgers and turkey sandwiches.
Store the prepared toum in a clean, airtight glass jar in the refrigerator. It will continue to firm up as it chills and remains fresh for up to 3 weeks.
Do not freeze this sauce, as freezing breaks the delicate oil emulsion and causes the mixture to separate upon thawing.
FAQs fluffy toum garlic sauce
Can I make toum in a regular food processor?
Yes, but you must blend the garlic and salt first, then alternate trickling in the oil, lemon juice, and cold water very slowly to form the emulsion.
Why did my garlic sauce turn out runny or separated?
The emulsion broke, usually because the oil was poured in too quickly or the blending process created too much heat.
How can I fix a broken toum?
Scoop out the mixture, place one fresh egg white or tablespoon of ice-cold aquafaba into the jar, and slowly blend the separated garlic mixture back in until thick.
