Toum Roasted Potatoes
Roasted baby potatoes tossed with toum, an egg-free garlic, oil and lemon sauce.
- Original yieldYield
- 4 side servings4 side servings
- PrepPrep time
- CookCook time
- TotalTotal time
Published Updated
Original recipe: 4 side servings
The story behind the recipe
Put a bowl of toum beside roasted potatoes and there's a reason to reach for another browned edge. The sauce is pale and fluffy, with a raw-garlic bite and lemon behind it. A little coats the potatoes; the rest stays on the side so each person can choose how much sauce to add.
Meet the garlic sauce
This Lebanese sauce takes its name from the Arabic word for garlic. Food writer Maureen Abood describes it alongside shawarma and kafta, or used as a dip or spread. Roasted baby potatoes make a contemporary partner for it, with browned edges to dip and soft centers beneath.
Read more about this recipe
That white sauce has no cream
Four ingredients make this toum: garlic, oil, lemon and salt. Its creamy appearance comes from an emulsion, with tiny droplets of oil held throughout the mixture. No cream or egg is involved.
Rush the first additions of oil and the mixture can separate. The slow start matters most, while the garlic and oil are beginning to form the emulsion; once it turns opaque and thickens, the oil can go in as a thin stream.
Why there are two oils
Use neutral oil for the toum. Abood explains that olive oil can add bitterness and color to the sauce, where the aim is a pale whip with garlic and lemon at the front. Canola, grapeseed or sunflower oil lets those flavors stand out.
Olive oil still belongs on the roasting tray. Its flavor suits the potatoes, and there's no reason to insist on one oil for both parts of the dish.
A crisp edge to dip
Baby potato halves are easy to pick up and dip, with enough soft potato behind each crisp face to hold its own against raw garlic. They need only simple seasoning. Piling on more garlic or spices would leave less room to notice the toum.
Leave some browned edges showing.
Only a small portion of the toum coats the hot potatoes; the rest goes alongside in a bowl. You get a light glaze on the platter and a spoonable sauce for anyone who wants more. Give that bowl its own spoon so people can help themselves without burying every potato under garlic sauce.
Make it your wayOriginal: 4 servings · Makes 4 side servings
Original recipe: 4 side servings
Ingredients
For 4 side servings. Quantities are shown as written.
Source measurement convention: Metric. Explicit unit definitions take precedence; unconfirmed measures must be checked before conversion.
Original quantities for 4 side servings.
- Baby yellow potatoes, washed and halved700 g
- Olive oil (for roasting)30 mlAuthor measures: 2 metric tbsp (1 metric tbsp = 15 ml).
- Kosher salt , divided between potatoes and toum5 gAuthor measures: 1 metric tsp (1 metric tsp = 5 ml).
- Fresh garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthwise70 g
- Neutral oil (such as grapeseed, canola, or sunflower oil, well chilled)360 ml
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice (chilled)60 ml
Measurement notes
Measurement notes
Original ingredients
- 700 g baby yellow potatoes, washed and halved
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil (for roasting)
- 5 g kosher salt (1 tsp), divided between potatoes and toum
- 70 g fresh garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthwise
- 360 ml neutral oil (such as grapeseed, canola, or sunflower oil, well chilled)
- 60 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (chilled)
Equipment
Food processor
Rimmed baking sheet- Large mixing bowl
Instructions
Heat the oven and season the potatoes
Preheat your oven to 220°C (425°F). Place the halved baby yellow potatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 30 ml of olive oil and season with 3 g (approx. 1/2 tsp) of the kosher salt. Toss to coat, then arrange cut-side down in a single layer.
Roast the potatoes
Roast at 220°C (425°F) for 25 to 30 minutes, until the flat sides are deeply golden and crispy, and the interiors are creamy and fork-tender.
Prepare and mince the garlic
While the potatoes roast, prepare the toum. Halve the peeled garlic cloves and remove any green inner germs. Place the garlic and remaining 2 g of kosher salt into the bowl of a food processor. Choose a bowl small enough for the blades to engage the starting garlic, but with enough rated liquid capacity for the full batch of oil, lemon juice and garlic. Do not exceed the manufacturer's fill limit. Pulse until finely minced, scraping down the sides.
Blend the toum emulsion
With the food processor running continuously, slowly drizzle in 15 ml (1 tbsp) of the chilled neutral oil in drops. Wait 5 seconds, then add another tablespoon. Once an emulsion forms and turns opaque white, slowly alternate drizzling thin streams of oil and chilled freshly squeezed lemon juice, taking about 8 to 10 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed and the toum is thick, airy, and fluffy.
Toss the hot potatoes with toum
Transfer the piping-hot roasted potatoes directly from the baking sheet into a large mixing bowl. Add 45 ml (3 generous tablespoons) of the fresh toum. Toss vigorously until the toum melts slightly and glazes every potato.
Serve with extra toum
Transfer to a warm serving platter, spoon extra toum on the side for dipping, and serve immediately.
Estimated calories 370 kcal
Nutrition portion: 1/4 of recipe · Original yield: 4 side servings
Source & assumptions
Ingredient-based estimate using CoFID 2021 and a representative whipped-toum volume-to-mass model. About 370 kcal per nutrition portion: one-quarter of the potatoes, the 45 ml toum coating divided between four portions, plus 15 ml extra toum for dipping per portion. Uses sunflower oil and Obour plain toum’s 28 g per two US tablespoons as a density proxy, with the homemade sauce calculated from its own ingredients. Aeration and the amount of dipping sauce change the estimate; the full sauce batch is not divided between four portions.
Recipe notes
Original recipe notes
These notes describe the original recipe. Quantities mentioned here do not change when you adjust servings.
Toum yield and storage: This makes a larger batch of toum than the potatoes need. Use 45 ml for coating and serve extra alongside. Refrigerate the remaining sauce promptly in an airtight container at 4°C (40°F) or below and use within 4 days of preparation, or freeze small portions for longer storage. The lemon juice doesn't extend this storage limit.
Emulsion troubleshooting: Use a processor bowl small enough for the blades to engage the starting garlic. Add the first oil a few drops at a time, scrape the bowl as needed, and wait for the mixture to turn opaque before adding oil in a thin stream. If the sauce splits, stop blending. For a fluffy whip, start again with the original formula, using the smaller bowl and adding the initial oil more slowly.
Potato varieties: Baby Yukon Gold or fingerling potatoes hold their shape and develop browned roasted crusts.
Divide the 5 g kosher salt: use 3 g for the potatoes and 2 g for the toum. The 70 g garlic amount is approximately 15 to 18 cloves; clove sizes vary.
Read the scaling guide. Times, temperatures and equipment need their own consideration. Open the recipe tool to review and correct individual amounts.
Recipe details
- Cuisine
- Middle Eastern
- Browse category
- Main Dishes
- More details
- toum roasted potatoesgarlic emulsion