This 4-ingredient Roasted Garlic Aioli is a simple restaurant-quality sauce you can make at home. It comes together easily in the food processor and is something you’ll want to have in your fridge at all times for sandwiches, burgers, and french fries.
Aioli is a classic French sauce traditionally made in a mortar and pestle with fresh garlic, olive oil, mustard and salt. Our shortcut version gives the traditional condiment a quick and delicious makeover using roasted garlic and store-bought mayonnaise. This rich, slightly sweet and nutty Roasted Garlic Aioli is so simple to make, yet so elevated in flavor, you’ll be finding any excuse to whip it up.
Thankfully, you need just a few simple ingredients, a preheated oven and a food processor to bring the aioli sauce together. Roasted Garlic Aioli is an easy homemade sauce that can be enjoyed in all types of ways. Use it as a sauce for burgers and sandwiches, or as a dip for potatoes, French fries and even grilled meat.
Few things elevate a dish like a homemade condiment does. Be sure to check out my garlic confit, vibrant chimichurri sauce, or this herby and creamy green goddess sauce.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This sauce is a simple way to add lots of flavor to a dish. Here are a few reasons it’s one of our favorites.
- Quick and Easy Homemade Sauce: This sauce is very easy to whip up. With just a few simple ingredients and the help from a food processor, you’ll have a flavorful sauce made from scratch in no time.
- Packed with Flavor: Roasted garlic gives this aioli an incredibly unique and delicious flavor. It’s rich, slightly sweet, savory and nutty, and when the final product is spread onto to a sandwich, burger or simply used as a dip, it takes everything to the next level. It’s a flavor bomb you won’t be able to get enough of.
- Versatile: Not only is this sauce delicious, but it can be enjoyed many different ways. Use it as a spread on sandwiches or burgers, as a sauce to top vegetables, a condiment for tacos, or my favorite, as a flavor-packed dip for french fries. However you enjoy it, I know you’ll love it.
Ingredients
It’s likely you already have everything on hand for this recipe.
- Garlic: The star ingredient in this sauce is roasted so it becomes slightly sweet, nutty and caramelized. There’s nothing quite like roasted garlic. It’s a very hands-off process—just wrap the head of garlic in foil and throw it in the oven for an hour.
- Olive Oil: Use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil here for the best flavor. You just need a drizzle for roasting the garlic.
- Mayonnaise: The base of an easy aioli recipe. Use whichever brand you like best.
- Rosemary: Slightly woody and piney in flavor, rosemary works beautifully with roasted garlic and adds a nice flavor to this sauce.
- Lemon: A squeeze of fresh lemon juice adds brightness to the aioli and balances out the rich flavors.
How To Make Roasted Garlic Aioli
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) with a rack set in the middle position.
- Trim the top ¼-inch off the garlic head, then place it, cut-side up, on a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Wrap the foil around the garlic and roast until the cloves are deeply golden brown and tender, about 50 to 60 minutes.
- Unwrap the garlic and let it rest until cool enough to handle. Then, squeeze the cloves out into a mini food processor with ⅓ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rosemary and 2 teaspoons lemon juice.
- Blend until mostly smooth and season aioli to taste with salt and pepper.
expert Tips
This aioli is quick, simple and pretty foolproof, but here are a few additional tips to help it really shine.
- Let aioli chill in the refrigerator before serving: Once you’ve made the aioli, let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. This will help the flavors meld.
- Don’t rush the roasting garlic process: It’s tempting to cut the roasting time short, but trust us and the process, let the garlic roast until it’s soft, tender and golden brown. It won’t be the same if you take it out too early.
- Roast extra garlic: Since you’re already roasting a head of garlic for this aioli, why not roast another head or two? Store the softened cloves in an airtight container and stir it into butter for garlic butter, add to sauces and pastas, or simply spread onto some crusty bread with a drizzle of olive oil and flaky sea salt.
What To Serve With Roasted Garlic Aioli
This roasted garlic aioli is truly delicious—there are many ways to enjoy it. Serve it with a few of our favorite dishes here to take them to a whole new level.
- Polenta Fries: Crispy and crunchy, dip these straight into this flavorful sauce and enjoy.
- Steak Frites: This aioli is the perfect dip for golden french fries, and the roasted garlic pairs nicely with tender bites of juicy steak, too.
- Steak Bites: this recipe was originally developed to be paired with smoky steak bites. A perfect pairing.
- Salmon Burgers: Spread this sauce onto these burgers as a creamy, flavorful condiment.
- Salmon Croquettes: If you’re looking for a dip for these, look no further. This aioli is the ideal dipping sauce.
- Smash Burger: Every burger gets a little better with a tasty sauce or spread—slather this aioli on here like you would with smash sauce.
- Salmon BLT: Mayonnaise shines on a classic BLT, but sub it out for this creamy roasted garlic aioli and you’ll never go back.
- Green Beans and Smashed Potatoes: A little drizzle of this sauce immediately elevates these veggies—a little goes a long way here.
Storage
If you have leftovers of this aioli, lucky you. Here’s how to store it so it’s as fresh and flavorful the next day.
- Fridge: Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Simply remove and enjoy as desired whenever you’re ready.
- Roasted Garlic: If you roast extra heads of garlic, or have some leftover unused, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use it, remove and add the softened cloves to butter, oil, pastas, sauces, or simply give it a stir and slather it onto some crusty bread with a sprinkle of salt. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s typically made with roasted garlic cloves, mayonnaise and salt. Often times other ingredients like lemon or herbs are added for extra flavor.
Essentially, yes. Aioli is traditionally a sauce made in a mortar and pestle emulsifying fresh garlic, olive oil, egg yolks, mustard and salt. It is technically a garlic flavored sauce, and a classic aioli is similar to a homemade mayonnaise.
Garlic aioli, which is redundant because all aiolis are made with garlic, is extremely flavorful and delicious. This roasted garlic version has a slightly sweet, nutty and savory flavor profile from the roasted garlic. Regular aioli, made with fresh garlic, has a sharp bite thanks to the uncooked garlic. It’s creamy, packed with flavor, and extremely versatile.
There is actually no difference at all. Aioli is a classic French sauce made with garlic. So saying “garlic aioli” is redundant. For this recipe we clarify the garlic because it’s roasted.
More Simple Condiment Recipes
Roasted Garlic Aioli
Description
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1 lemon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF (177ºC) with a rack set in middle position.
- Trim top ¼-inch off of garlic head.
- Place garlic, cut-side up, on a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Wrap foil around garlic and roast until cloves are deeply golden brown and tender, 50–60 minutes.
- Unwrap garlic and let rest until cool enough to handle. Squeeze cloves out into a mini food processor with ⅓ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rosemary, and 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Blend until mostly smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Equipment
Video
Notes
- Fridge: Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to 3 days for maximum freshness and flavor. Simply remove and enjoy as desired whenever you’re ready.
- Roasted Garlic: If you roast extra heads of garlic, or have some leftover unused, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use it, remove and add the softened cloves to butter, oil, pastas, sauces, or simply give it a stir and slather it onto some crusty bread with a sprinkle of salt.
- Let aioli chill in refrigerator before serving: Once you’ve made the aioli, let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. This will help the flavors meld.
- Don’t rush the roasting garlic process: It’s tempting to cut the roasting time short, but trust us and the process, let the garlic roast until it’s soft, tender and golden brown. It won’t be the same if you take it out too early.
- Roast extra garlic: Since you’re already roasting a head of garlic for this aioli, why not roast another head or two? Store the softened cloves in an airtight container and use whenever you’re ready to enjoy—stir into butter for garlic butter, add to sauces and pastas, or simply spread onto some crusty bread.
