If you enjoy bold flavors and a touch of heat, you'll love this vegan spicy garlic sauce—a delightful twist on the classic toum! Perfect for drizzling over roasted vegetables, slathering on sandwich bread, or as a dip for your favorite snacks, this spicy sauce packs a punch and adds a burst of zest to any dish.
For other spicy recipes with Korean flair, try my easy gochujang sauce and single-serve gochujang eggs.
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✔️ Why This Recipe is Great
Healthy Sauce: made with fresh garlic, oil, and spices, this easy garlic sauce is packed with flavor and nutrients - plus it's vegan and gluten-free.
Easy to Make: this spicy garlic sauce recipe is incredibly easy to make, and requires only a few simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.
Versatile: this spicy toum can be used as a dipping sauce for fries, a spread for sandwiches or wraps, a marinade for proteins, or even as a dressing for salads.
🧄 Ingredients
Garlic: as the star ingredient of this sauce, you'll need a lot of fresh garlic cloves to make it. The more garlic, the more flavorful your sauce will be - I recommend getting a bag of peeled garlic from H-Mart or your local Asian market.
Chili Powder: this adds the spicy kick to the sauce, though you could substitute gochugaru to make it a more Korean spicy garlic sauce. You can adjust the amount based on your personal preference.
Lemon Juice: this should be freshly squeezed for the best flavor and emulsifying properties. Once the sauce is emulsifie, you can add more or less depending on how tangy you want your spiced garlic sauce to be.
Neutral Oil: you can use canola oil for this recipe, or any other neutral oil such as avocado or grapeseed oil, but I like using olive oil for a healthier pick.
Ice Water: this is optional, but it helps to stabilize the sauce and prevent it from separating once it's been emulsified.
See recipe card for exact ingredients and quantities.
📝 Substitutions and Variations
- Oil - any neutral-tasting oil can be used in place of canola; I prefer olive oil, but it does add more of its own flavor to the blend.
- Chili Powder - chili powder can be replaced with fresh red chilis, chili pastes like gochujang, or other chili powders.
- Sweet Garlic Sauce - for more balanced flavor as a dip or spread, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of honey to the food processor as it's emulsifying.
- Herb-Infused - blend in up to 2 tablespoons of fresh-chopped herbs like cilantro, parsley, or basil for a more herbaceous flavor.
🥣 How to Make Spicy Garlic Sauce (Step-by-Step)
Step 1) Prepare the garlic. If your garlic is a bit older, cut each clove of garlic in half, removing any green sprouts in the center (image 1).
Step 2) Then combine the garlic and salt in a food processor, pulsing until finely minced together, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed (image 2).
Step 3) Add about 2 tablespoons of oil and pulse everything into a smooth paste (image 3).
Step 4) Then, with the food processor running continuously, alternately drizzle in about ¼ cup of oil and ½ tablespoon lemon juice until all the ingredients are used; this very slow process could take up to 10 minutes, as adding them slowly creates the signature emulsion.
If your emulsion breaks, slowly drizzle in up to a tablespoon of ice water, until the emulsion reforms (image 4).
Step 5) Finally, blend in the chili powder (and any honey, if using), about half a teaspoon at a time, until your sauce reaches your preferred level of spice (image 5). Taste as you go, before adding in more.
🥘 Storage
This spicy garlic sauce lasts for about a week in the fridge when stored in an airtight container - if you freeze it, it will lose its emulsification, so be careful to use it up before it goes bad.
👨🏻🍳 Expert Notes & Tips
Buying Garlic: Make sure your garlic is as fresh as possible, as this will affect the taste and quality of the sauce.
Emulsifying Tips: Do not rush the emulsification process - remember to add the oil very slowly as the processor is running, alternating with a little tiny bit of ice water.
🌶️ Other Spicy Recipes
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
If your toum is too spicy, try adding a bit more oil or lemon juice to balance out the flavors.
You can definitely use roasted garlic for a milder flavor, but keep in mind that it will alter the texture of the sauce.
This spicy toum goes great with just about anything savory! Use it as a dip for veggies and chips, spread it on wraps or toast, use it as a marinade for proteins, or mix it with tahini to dress up salads.
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Spicy Vegan Garlic Sauce (Spicy Toum)
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic 35g, peeled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons chili powder alt. gochugaru, hot paprika, or other hot pepper powder
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1½ cups neutral oil canola, avocado, or other
- 1-2 tablespoons ice water if needed
Instructions
- Prepare the garlic. If your garlic is a bit older, cut each clove of garlic in half, removing any green sprouts in the center.
- Then combine the garlic and salt in a food processor, pulsing until finely minced together, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of oil and pulse everything into a smooth paste.
- Then, with the food processor running continuously, alternately drizzle in about ¼ cup of oil and ½ tablespoon lemon juice until all the ingredients are used; this very slow process could take up to 10 minutes, as adding them slowly creates the signature emulsion. If your emulsion breaks, slowly drizzle in up to a tablespoon of ice water, until the emulsion reforms.
- Finally, blend in the chile powder (and honey, if using), about half a teaspoon at a time, until your sauce reaches your preferred level of spice.
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