3-Ingredient Garlic White Sauce. Easy to Make, Goes On Everything!

Dietary: Gluten Free,*Vegan, Vegetarian

White Sauce Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise of choice 

  • I look for mayonnaise that has olive oil in it - I like Hellman’s Olive Oil Mayo  

  • *Make it vegan: Use a vegan mayo like grapeseed oil Vegenaise (grapeseed oil is so good for you and honestly I like this Vegenaise better than regular mayo, but it's quite expensive)

• 3-5 large cloves of fresh garlic minced (garlic press or finely chopped)

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Cold water, as needed

Directions

Thoroughly whip all ingredients together with a fork or whisk in a jar until it’s smooth. This delicious sauce can be made thick like a dip or thin for a dressing. Adjust the amount of water you add to reach your desired consistency.

Tip: Double the recipe and keep this white sauce in the fridge for quick use throughout the week. I usually add a splash of cold water between uses because it thickens as it sits. 

Variations

• Zesty Tartar: Mix together 1 part white sauce, 1 part plain Greek yogurt and some freshly chopped or dried dill

• Green Sauce: Blend the white sauce with cilantro, avocado, and jalapenos (or any combination of the three)

• Chipotle Sauce: Blend in chipotle peppers

• Buffalo Dressing: Add Franks Red Sauce or other hot sauce

• Tzatziki: Mix together 1 part white sauce, 1 part plain Greek yogurt, shredded cucumber and some finely chopped mint (optional: feta crumbles!)

• Honey Mustard: Stir in dijon mustard and honey or maple syrup into the white sauce

The Story

It’s a dreamy, creamy, garlicky, (can be made vegan), goes-on-everything sauce!

This white sauce recipe has been a part of my extended family for a long time. As the story goes, some 20 years ago, my mom was in charge of bringing a salad to a family event. She realized she was out of dressing with no time to run to the store, so she concocted a dressing from mayo, garlic, and lemon juice.

Soon this dressing became known as "white sauce" in our fam and showed up at every event as a topper for salads, tacos, fish, with chips, over stir-fry. It's so versatile, I have transformed it into almost every dressing and dip I can think of.

I keep a jar of this in the fridge for easy use throughout the week.  I never buy salad dressings. Genuinely, I cannot remember the last time I bought a salad dressing. This recipe saves me money on the endless overpriced dressings out there, plus it keeps me in control of what goes in!

When it starts to get low I make more on top of the leftovers - it grows and becomes more flavorful with time, which is probably kinda gross but I love that it’s part of the culture of our home.

This whites sauce is a household staple and appears in many of my recipes, so bookmark this recipe…it will pop up all the time in this blog!