This smooth sauce is so wonderfully fragrant with lemon and garlic flavor, it's hard to believe it's AIP. It tastes positively amazing on EVERYTHING. It's especially lovely with a few pinches of fresh herbs and can be used as a:
- salad dressing
- marinade for any protein or vegetables
- finishing sauce for pasta or seafood
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This is my new favorite thing! And so easy. I’ve added it to pasta with some capers and olives with rosemary, thyme and crushed fennel seeds. So good. And used it as a salad dressing. Very versatile.
-Natalie
When I make this sauce, I almost always double the recipe so I have it on hand. It can store for at least a week in the refrigerator. If it separates, you can just run it back through the blender and it will emulsify again without issue. You can even freeze it.
One of the questions I've received often with this recipe is whether this is a sauce for cooking. I HAVE cooked with this sauce, but one thing to be aware of is what can happen to lemons as they cook (they can become bitter). If you are going to heat this sauce, I recommend heating only to warm it briefly; you can even whisk in a teaspoon of tapioca starch to thicken it.
🥘 Ingredients
💭 Top tip
Another question I receive frequently is about the oil. I originally made this recipe with olive oil but noticed after some time that the flavor would be incredibly bitter sometimes. Apparently, when you blend olive oil, you aerate it and it becomes super bitter.
Therefore, I only recommend that you blend this recipe with avocado oil, which will remain neutral in taste even after blending.
📖 Variations
If you only have olive oil, it totally works to mix it by hand with a whisk in a bowl. My tip for hand mixing is to turn the garlic into a mince and then use the side of your knife to turn it into a paste. That way, your garlic gets worked into the mixture as best as possible (see video tutorial below).
🎥 Video (Watch 1min50sec How-To Make Garlic Paste)
📋 Recipe
My original Essential Lemon Garlic Sauce contains red chile flakes but I've modified it to be nightshade free for AIP. I've honestly made this sauce on AIP hundreds of times and experimented with every fresh herb with wild success. It's SO GOOD!
Lemon Garlic Sauce {AIP, Dairy Free}
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice from 1 ½ large lemons or 4 small, depending on the juiciness
- 2 large cloves garlic smashed into a paste or roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓ cup avocado oil (olive oil can become bitter when blended, use avocado oil if you want to avoid bitterness)
- ¼ teaspoon fresh herbs (optional) oregano, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, or parsley
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Pulse on high for up to 1 minute until no garlic chunks remain and the dressing is very smooth and pale yellow. Use at room temperature or store in the fridge for up to 1 week.Note: If you do not want to blend, you can whisk but you will have to smash the garlic into a paste for the very best texture.
Video
Nutrition
🥗 Side dishes
I highly recommend combining the flavors of this sauce with broccoli rice or a chiffonade salad made of collard greens or lacinato kale. Another side I love is air fried sweet potato fries or a burger served in a lettuce bun with roasted mushrooms. On my to-do list is sharing a recipe for slow cooker chicken thighs finished with this sauce, capers, and cooked kale.
If you happen to have some AIP English Muffins in the freezer, an amazing breakfast or snack is toasted English muffin, avocado sliced thinly, and a drizzle of this sauce on top.
sara says
I'm always looking for AIP sauces. I make this one often, and I love how the raw garlic adds spiciness to foods. I really miss spicy flavors on AIP.