Roasted Garlic Sauce

This thick and creamy vegan roasted garlic sauce is perfect for salads, casseroles, roasted vegetables, pasta, burgers, and more. Use it instead of mayonnaise or even your favorite vinaigrette. Healthy, flavorful, refreshing!

This roasted garlic sauce recipe is quite versatile and packed with flavor. You can use it on your salads, in your casseroles, or atop your favorite sandwiches, protein and even tacos.

The unique, bold flavor is due to the roasted garlic (if you’ve never roasted garlic before, you’re in for a real treat!) that gives it a sweet richness instead of the normal pungent flavor most associate with garlic.

It’s also a much healthier vegan alternative to mayonnaise, so you can also use it in dishes to which you’d normally add mayo (although if you’re looking for more of a classic dressing, try my cashew-based vegan mayo). And if we are talking delicious and nutrient-dense dressings, one of my absolute favorites is creamy buddha bowl dressing.

Why Use Roasted Garlic

While the pungent flavor of raw garlic is quite delicious, there are times it can over power a dish and a more subtle taste is needed. 

Or maybe you want a garlicky, date night dinner without the bad breath that comes with it.

Enter: roasted garlic.

Plus, all the health benefits of raw garlic are preserved when you roast it.

With more garlic on your plate (in the form of roasted garlic sauce or any other), you receive more of those health benefits… without burying the flavor of your other ingredients.

Most of garlic’s health benefits include potential anti-cancer, immune-strengthening, metabolism-boosting and heart disease-preventing effects. The more garlic you consume, the more effects it’ll have on your health.

I encourage you to try roasting your garlic if you haven’t done it yet. Honestly, it was a discovery to me. Now I’m obsessed with its robust, nutty, mellow and caramelized flavor!

How To Roast Garlic

The best part: It’s very easy to make! 

To roast the garlic, cut the tips off the head, exposing the ends of the cloves, so that it’s easier for you to peel them later.

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and black pepper and wrap each head in a piece of aluminum foil. Roast for 35-40 minutes until tender and aromatic.

That’s it!

How To Store Roasted Garlic

It makes sense to roast more than just one head at once. I roasted three heads in one batch and used two of them for the sauce and saved the rest for later use. 

You can simply roast your garlic in advance, peel it and and store it in olive oil for up to 10 days.

When you are ready to make a roasted garlic sauce from it, just take it out, and follow the recipe. This way, too, you’ll have it on hand for other roasted garlic recipes you may enjoy as well.

Ingredients

Here is what you need for this sauce (check for the substitutions below):

For the roasted garlic:

• garlic heads
• olive oil
• salt and black pepper

For the sauce:

• roasted garlic heads
• cashews
• lime juice
• sesame oil
• olive oil
• mustard
• capers
• brown sugar
• white wine vinegar
• vegetable broth
• salt and black pepper

How To Make And Store Roasted Garlic Sauce

This is a very simple recipe… Just blend everything together until smooth and you are ready to go. 

You can use a blender or an immersion blender for mixing.

Just make sure it’s creamy and ready.

You can make it up ahead of time and store it in a glass jar or bottle in your fridge for up to a week and enjoy it on sandwiches or spread on toasts or crackers all week long.

Serving Options

• This roasted garlic sauce pairs nicely with salads, casseroles, roasted vegetables, pasta, burgers, and more.
• Use it in dishes to which you’d normally add mayo.
• Try adding it to your casseroles like this savory sweet potato casserole with black beans, kale and quinoa or soups for added flavor.
• Use it on sandwiches, toasts and crackers.
• Dip your favorite fresh veggies into it: bell peppers, carrots, celery, you name it. It pairs lovely with any vegetables.
• This garlic dressing is perfect for any grain or bean salads.
• Drizzle the sauce over your vegan Buddha bowl or vegan rice bowl with smoky tempeh, too.

Cook’s Tips

• Use this garlic sauce in dishes to which you’d normally add mayo. This sauce is perfect for salads, casseroles, roasted and fresh vegetables, pasta, burgers, soups, bowls, sandwiches, toasts, crackers and more. See all the serving options above for more information.
• To roast the garlic, cut the tips off the head, exposing the ends of the cloves, so that it’s easier for you to peel them later.
• Store the roasted garlic cloves in olive oil in the fridge for up to 10 days.
• The sauce can be stored in a glass jar or bottle in your fridge for up to a week.
• Capers give a salty touch, so you’ll need very few or no salt in the end.
• Depending on how thick you want your sauce to be, you will need different amount of vegetable broth to adjust the consistency. Start with 1 cup and keep adding water until you like the consistency.

Recipe Variations

• Use other nuts instead of cashews. I tried to make this dressing with walnuts and it tasted great, too. Though the color was not as bright as with the cashews.
• You can use any other sweetener of your choice instead of brown sugar: agave juice, maple syrup or molasses.
• You can use lemon juice in place of lime juice for this sauce.
• Olive oil can be substituted for sesame oil.
• Skip the capers if you don’t have them. You’ll need more salt though.