White Garlic Sauce Recipe for Shawarma (Cava Lebanese Toum)

White Garlic Sauce Recipe for Shawarma (Cava Lebanese Toum)

White Garlic Sauce Recipe for Shawarma (Cava Lebanese Toum)

what is in cava garlic dressing

If you’re wondering how to make the creamy white garlic sauce recipe that’s served over cava bowls, chicken shawarma, some shish tawook pita bread wraps, then look no further! Inspired by Cava’s Creamy Garlic Sauce and Traditional Lebanese Toum sauce, this white sauce is much looser for the perfect drizzle.

What is Cava’s White Garlic Sauce?

If you’re like me and always order extra garlic sauce to pour over anything and everything, then you are in the right place!

Unlike traditional lebanese toum, this shawarma sauce variation is much looser to help you achieve the perfect drizzle.

It’s not really a fluffy garlic sauce – more of a creamy white sauce that you’d find at a fast casual mediterranean restaurant or a halal cart. If you’re familiar with Cava, then you can think of this recipe as something more similar to their creamy garlic sauce.

It’s made with mostly simple ingredients (except for the aquafaba) which helps create a light and fluffy garlic sauce while also being loose enough to drizzle.

In my opinion, this is the best garlic sauce for rice bowls, wraps, and even rotisserie chicken topped salads since it’s not super thick like regular homemade toum sauce.

But if you’re looking for more traditional lebanese recipes, I recommend checking out my friend Liz from the Lemon Bowl or Yumna from FeelGoodFoodie.

Ingredients & Substitutions for White Sauce

  • Fresh Garlic – You’ll want to use the freshest raw garlic you can find since this is the main ingredient that gives the most flavor. You can either use a garlic bulbs or the pre-peeled garlic that comes in a bag at the grocery store. I do not recommend using the pre-minced jarred variety.
  • Kosher Salt – If you’re not using kosher salt, use a little less since other salts will taste more salty. I always recommend kosher salt because it makes the food taste more like itself rather than salty if that makes sense.
  • Fresh Lemon Juice – I recommend juicing your own fresh lemon juice by squeezing lemons yourself. You’ll probably need about 1.5 lemons to get the amount needed in this recipe. I do not recommend using the shelf stable variety.
  • Canola Oil – If you don’t have canola oil, try using another neutral oil like vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, safflower oil or another flavorless oil. I do not recommend using olive oil as the flavor is pretty strong and will influence the overall taste.
  • Aquafaba – Aquafaba is the liquid inside a can of chickpeas. It acts like egg whites in binding the sauce together. If you don’t have it, you can use an egg white but aquafaba is preferred and what cava uses. I actually saw it on their tiktok.

How to make this Creamy Shawarma Inspired White Sauce

Making this creamy white sauce is a lot like making traditional lebanese garlic sauce – except with one addition – aquafaba.

To begin, add half a cup of garlic cloves to a wide mouth jar or to the bowl of a food processor.

Then add the kosher salt, fresh lemon juice and the aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas).

Turn on the immersion blender or food processor and blend until smooth and fluffy. If you’re using a food processor, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down to incorporate all of the fresh garlic back into the sauce.

Now here is the most important step which will make or break the end result.

Once the mixture is smooth and creamy, slowly drizzle in a thin stream of canola oil. By doing this in small batches, you’ll basically add one tablespoon of oil at a time which will help with the emulsion of oil.

If this is your first time making this Mediterranean sauce, be patient. Allow yourself ample time because this creamy sauce takes some time to come together.

You’ll know the sauce is ready when it’s bright white with a glossy finish. If it’s too thick, you can stir in another tablespoon water.

Once this delicious garlic sauce is ready, you can store it in a mason jars or another airtight container and keep it in the fridge.

What goes with this Shawarma Sauce?

I love drizzling this delicious garlic sauce on EVERYTHING!

From delicious harissa honey chicken bowls with Cava’s Crazy Feta Dip, to BLT sandwiches with this instead of mayo, you can’t go wrong!

I love it smeared on a grilled cheese served with tomato soup, over a chicken bacon ranch salad, or even in a pasta salad.

Recipe

This post was last modified on November 29, 2024 9:40 am