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With only 5 ingredients (I mean, come on. That’s even including ice water and salt) and a food processor, you’ll be churning out spoonfuls of dreamy, spreadable magic with this 100% vegan toum recipe.
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Toum meaning “garlic” in Arabic, is a fluffy Lebanese garlic sauce that’s found everywhere from street food joints to big family tables across the Levant. Sometimes called salsat toum or toumieh, this cloud-like emulsion delivers knockout flavor with nothing but everyday staples. I’ve refined the technique so you can get it right on your first go, no broken sauce drama that will make you scream and wave your fists in the air.
It’s one of the all-stars in the Middle Eastern dip game, alongside Lebanese baba ganoush, Moroccan matbucha, Syrian muhammara, and Israeli hummus.
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🥰Why you’ll adore this toum recipe
✅ Vegan AF: Like all my vegan Middle Eastern recipes, this doesn’t have eggs, yogurt, or dairy. It’s ready to slap on anything!
🧄 Garlic to the Max: The emulsification process gives you that magic whipped texture without any cream, eggs, or roasting. It’s like aioli alchemy, and this is gonna be your life’s new mayo forever.
💨 No Fuss, Big Payoff: Aside from peeling garlic (worth it), the blender or food processor does most of the work. No cooking required.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, this one was tested and tweaked by hundreds of recipe testers, and it whipped up perfectly for them.
🤘Learn to make killer vegan Middle Eastern food
This guide to my most popular plant-based Middle Eastern recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🧄Toum Ingredients
Garlic
You have entered the raw garlic mega-plex with this one, and there’s no going back. Using fresh, firm cloves with no sprouts will give you the smoothest result. If the garlic is older, use a paring knife to remove the dry butt end and any green sprout in the center—they’ll make the sauce harsh an less smooth.
Neutral-Tasting Oil
Sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil is perfect for letting the garlic shine without interference. Avoid olive oil, which can turn bitter when blended vigorously. Grapeseed oil or avocado oil are great choices—just make sure they’re light-tasting and not the full-flavored, buttery kind.
Lemon Juice
Freshly squeezed lemon juice adds brightness and balances the intensity of the garlic. It also helps stabilize the emulsion. In place of lemon juice, white vinegar or apple cider vinegar can be used for an event brighter, more mayonnaise-like toum, if that’s your thingy.
Crushed Ice and Water
The ice water cools the mixture and prevents the emulsion from breaking while giving toum its airy texture. Ideally, this ice water should be mostly crushed ice, with just enough water added to fill up the spaces left behind in the measuring cup.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Harissa Toum
Blend in a spoonful of harissa sauce while the toum is emulsifying. It sneaks in smoky, citrusy heat and a gorgeous color without messing up the texture.
Baharat Garlic Aioli
Add a spoonful of baharat while making your toum. It brings that classic Lebanese 7-spice flavor, which is super clutch for dolloping onto borani banjan in place of herb yogurt or spooning over Moroccan lentils for a heck of a good time.
Toum Rice
Stir a generous spoonful of toum into hot Lebanese rice, Egyptian rice, Persian rice, or Moroccan-style rice just before serving. It melts into the grains, adding garlicky awesomeness and a slick of richness.
📖 How to make toum
Follow the step-by-step photos and tips below, or scroll to the recipe card for a quick print-and-cook option if you can’t wait any longer.
Step One
Garls In Charge:
Add garlic and salt to a food processor. Process for 60 seconds, pausing once to scrape down the sides.
✅ The sharp, tiny crystals of salt act as an abrasive, helping to tear up the garlic into smaller particles than your food processor will be able to handle on its own. If possible, use a slightly coarser salt for this reason.
Step Two
Lem the Right One In:
With the processor running, drizzle in ½ cup of oil in a thin, steady stream. Once fully blended, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and process for 20 seconds.
Step Three
Oil Be Back:
Add another ½ cup of oil slowly while the processor runs, then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Process again until smooth.
Step Four
Garls Barkley:
Slowly drizzle in the remaining oil in a thin stream while continuing to process until the mixture becomes thick and white.
Step Five
Icy Spicy Leoncie:
Add the crushed ice water mixture one tablespoon at a time, processing between additions, until the toum reaches a smooth, spreadable consistency.
Step Six
Cool Runnings:
Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate. Let rest for at least 2 hours before serving perhaps with a little fresh parsley on top.
💡Serving Ideas
Toum is the a sucker for anything grilled. Smear it inside vegan shawarma, spoon it over mujadara, or use it in place of hummus for a next-level sabich sandwich.
You can also pair it with fluffy Arabic kuboos or serve it alongside Middle Eastern faves like Moroccan carrot salad, makdous, vegan labneh, Shirazi salad, or some loubia.
Basically, if it needs a garlicky mic drop, toum’s your guy to drop that mic straight off the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
👉Top tips
- Peel Thoroughly: Garlic cloves should be totally clean with no green shoots or dry butt ends.
- Keep It Cool: Heat is the enemy of emulsification. Use cool oil and add ice water only as needed to keep it stable.
- Don’t Rush the Drizzle: Very slowly stream in the oil to avoid breaking the emulsion. Pouring too fast turns this from toum to soup.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Usually, it’s because the oil was added too quickly or the garlic was too warm. Always use cold oil and go slow.
Technically, yes, but it’ll get bitter. Stick to neutral oils like canola or sunflower.
Garlic intensity varies by clove and season. Letting the toum rest helps tame that raw intensity.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. The flavor will mellow and improve with time.
Nope, not unless you want to ruin it. Freezing breaks the emulsion, and the oil and water will separate into a gloopy mess. If you made too much, share it; your garlic-loving friends will be grateful.
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Toum
Equipment
- blender optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup garlic cloves peeled
- 1 ¾ cups sunflower oil canola oil, or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup crushed ice and water
Instructions
- Place the garlic and salt in a food processor. Process for 60 seconds until finely minced, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- With the processor running, drizzle in ½ cup of oil in a thin, steady stream. Once fully blended, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and process for 20 seconds.
- Add another ½ cup of oil slowly while the processor runs, then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Process again until smooth.
- Slowly drizzle in the remaining ¾ cup of oil in a thin stream while continuing to process until the mixture becomes thick and white.
- Add the crushed ice water mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, processing between additions, until the toum reaches a smooth, spreadable consistency.
- Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate. Let rest for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
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Reshyll says
This toum sauce is fire. Slathered it on pita, and almost ate it with a spoon. If you love garlic, you'll regret not making this sooner!!