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bowl of toum

No Fail Toum - Lebanese Garlic Sauce

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 25 reviews
  • Author: Cosette's Kitchen
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: no cook
  • Total Time: 0 hours
  • Yield: 2 pounds 1x
  • Category: condiment
  • Method: no cook
  • Cuisine: Lebanese

Description

Toum is a Lebanese garlic sauce that is the perfect dip, marinade or cooking condiment. There are so many uses for it, once you start using toum in your cooking - you won't be able to go back to a kitchen without it!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 cup of peeled garlic - 135-140 grams
    (measure using dry measuring cup) about 2 full heads
  • 3.8oz water (about 1/2 cup):
    Add water to your garlic filled measuring cup - should fill to the top
  • 4 cups of neutral oil (canola, vegetable or avocado are preferred)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons citric acid or juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Begin by peeling your garlic, to get a full cup you'll need to peel about 2 large heads of garlic. Be sure there are no green stems. Sprouting is an indicator of old garlic.
  2. Trim the tops of each piece where they were attached to the head.
  3. Add your garlic pieces to a dry 1 cup measuring cup.
    • 1 cup of peeled garlic - 135-140 grams
      (measure using dry measuring cup) about 2 full heads
  4. Add water to your garlic cloves.
    • 3.8oz water (about 1/2 cup):
      Add water to your garlic filled measuring cup - should fill to the top
  5. Pour garlic + water into bowl of food processor (see FAQs about using other machines). Process on high for 1 minute until a paste forms.
  6. Then begin slowly streaming your oil with machine running. You want to stream as slowly as possible, this is what creates the emulsification. It should take about 2 minutes per cup of oil, 8 minutes total to stream 4 cups.
    • 4 cups of neutral oil (canola, vegetable or avocado are preferred)
  7. At the very end of your processing, add your salt and citric acid (or lemon juice) to stabilize. If you find your Toum has already thickened, just mix in without the machine on to ensure you don't process too long. 
    • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
    • 2 teaspoons citric acid  or juice of 1 lemon
  8. That's it! Place in a sealed container and refrigerate. Good for up to a month or freeze for up to 6 months.

Notes

Pro Tips:

  • A good food processor is the best tool for toum. Check out this Cuisinart machine that I adore. 
  • Toum can be stored for at least a month in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer, some natural separation will occur.
  • Different varieties will yield different strengths of flavor.
  • If toum separates, try the egg white tip or simply use for cooking.