Fool-proof Garlic Aioli Sauce with Just 2 Ingredients

Make this easy garlic aioli sauce recipe with just 2 ingredients.  It only takes 10 minutes and it will reward you with incredible flavor that you can’t buy in a bottle.

Garlic aioli sauce has a long history.  It was first mentioned by Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia, 2000 years ago, and was called simply “garlic” or its Latin equivalent, aleatum.  It is a creamy emulsion of crushed raw garlic and olive oil that is served around the Mediterranean from Spain to the Middle East.  It has all the health benefits of raw garlic and virgin olive oil.  It’s tasty.  It’s versatile.  In the time it takes you to read this article you could have it made and waiting for you in the fridge.

I make it with new garlic and keep a jar in the fridge to dip into as needed.  It will keep a week to 10 days in the fridge, but I use it up long before then.

I use a spoonful at a time in salad dressings, marinades, on baked or mashed potatoes, baked vegetables, and over noodles or bread.  Crusty French bread, spread with aioli and toasted under a broiler is amazing!  Grilled zucchini is amazing marinaded in garlicky aioli sauce and lime juice and then grilled on the barbeque.  Portabella mushrooms brushed with aioli sauce and grilled are better than pizza.  Smother corn on the cob with aioli for a sweet twist.  If you run out of ideas visit your local garlic festival for more.

Aioli is just garlic and olive oil

Aioli sauce is sweeter than crushed garlic, with all of the flavor and none of the bite.  Many of the aioli sauce recipes you’ll find on the internet call for an emulsion of eggs, lemon juice, and oil with just one or two cloves of garlic added. That sounds like mayonnaise to me.  If you like mayonnaise and are looking for some interesting flavor, a recipe like this for garlic mayonnaise is fine.  But garlic mayonnaise is a different condiment than aioli sauce.

Aioli is made with just garlic and olive oil.  Some cooks add salt to taste, but it isn’t essential to the process.  Forget about adding just one or two cloves of garlic.  Aioli IS garlic.  Use two or three HEADS of local garlic.

The olive oil in aioli is very important.  Please use the best quality of extra virgin olive oil that you can.  If the olive oil is flavorless or extra bitter, it won’t have the mellow depth that true aioli has. I get my olive oil direct from the Galilee region of Israel.   Its made from a blend of olive varieties chosen for their sweet, fruity flavor and very little bitterness.

What is aioli supposed to look like?

The texture of aioli is more like butter than mayonnaise.  In France it is referred to as “beurre de Provence (butter of Provence)”. Aioli sauce should hold it’s shape like butter when chilled.  At room temperature it should be stiff, creamy, and not at all runny.  When added to a baked potato, just like butter, it should loosen up, melt, and drizzle over the food.  Once you’ve experienced authentic, freshly-made aioli you will understand the distinction.  Aioli has been with us for over 2000 years.  Mayonnaise is a recent invention of just the past 250 years or so.

The shelf life of freshly made aioli is much longer than mayonnaise as well, since there is no raw egg in the sauce.  Made with just garlic, olive oil, and salt (optional), and kept refrigerated, aioli will last up to 10 days in the fridge.  Make it this weekend and use it all week or just make it as you need it.  It takes longer to wash the stick blender business parts than it takes to make the aioli sauce.  You can make in the time it takes to boil rice or cook the potatoes.

So leave that jar of aioli mayonnaise on the supermarket shelf and treat your family to authentic, herbally amazing aioli sauce.

Fool-proof Garlic Aioli Sauce in 10 minutes or Less

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• Author: Joybilee Farm
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 3/4 cups 1x
• Category: sauce
• Method: emulsion
• Cuisine: Mediterranean

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Description

Fragrant garlic aioli sauce is easy to make with just two ingredients.  Serve it on bread, over pasta or root vegetables.  Drizzle it over steak, roast chicken, or salmon.  Add it to mayonnaise, salad dressing, stir it into a yogourt based dip.  It’s an easy way to add sweet garlic flavor to sauces.

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Ingredients

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• 2 heads of garlic, separated
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt (optional)

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Instructions

Separate the cloves from the heads of the garlic.  Crush the cloves with the flat blade of a knife.  Slip the skins from the garlic cloves.

Using a chef’s knife, finely slice the cloves of garlic to make them easier to work with.  Place the garlic slices into the bottom of a wide mouth mason jar.

Using a stick blender with the blade attachment, mince the garlic in the bottom of the jar until it is well crushed.  This will take about 10 seconds.

With the stick blender turned on low, in the bottom of the jar, drizzle the olive oil one tablespoon at a time beside the stick blender, so that the oil enters the vortex of the stick blender.  Continue to add the olive oil slowly.

The olive oil will lighten in color and become more opaque as the emusion forms.  Once all the olive oil has been added and the mixture is thick and pale in color, add salt, if you are using it and continue blending for 30 seconds.

Unplug  the stick blender and clean the business end with a spatula to move all the garlicky goodness to your jar.

Cap the jar and refrigerate.  Allow the flavors to meld for 30 minutes before using the aioli in your recipe.  Melding the flavors over night is even more tasty.  Some chefs say the flavor on day 3 or 4 is perfect.

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Notes

Aioli can be served chilled or at room temperature.  It has all the health benefits of raw garlic and extra virgin olive oil.  Serve it often.

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Here’s some ways to use this aioli sauce every day

Marinate zucchini slices in aioli and lemon juice. Grill them

Add 2 tablespoons of aioli, the zest and juice of 2 limes, and 2 tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar to a create a vinaigrette dressing.

Marinate portabella mushrooms in aioli and lemon juice.  Grill them.

Make garlic toast by spreading aioli sauce onto slices of crusty French bread using a pastry brush.  Broil till toasted.  Serve warm.

Brush hot corn on the cob with aioli just before serving.

Your Turn:

Garlic is an amazing herbal ally and culinary herb.  Become garlic self sufficient with these tips on growing and preserving garlic.