Labneh With Mashed Garlic Paste

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Garlic labneh, or labneh with freshly mashed garlic paste, is an easy way to dress up your labneh into something special. Use store-bought labneh, or make your own labneh from milk, then add some freshly mashed garlic and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top.

dipping a pita chip into some fresh garlic labneh dip

It's an excellent dip for your za'atar pita chips or sea salt pita chips. Or, smear this labneh on a bagel, sourdough toast, or a slice of fresh pita bread.

This labneh with mashed garlic is an awesome substitute for regular labneh in this labneh pita sandwich!

What I Love About This Recipe

I love how simple this recipe is, which makes me even contemplate if this should be called a recipe! It takes just a couple of minutes to mash some garlic and it completely changes the taste of labneh. This recipe is perfect as a snack or appetizer, and it stores well in the fridge.

Ingredient Notes

ingredients to make labneh with mashed garlic paste

Labneh: Any type of labneh is suitable. Use store-bought labneh or make your own labneh. Labneh is essentially strained cow's yogurt, so it's easy to make labneh using store-bought yogurt. If you are really up for it, you can make traditional Lebanese labneh from scratch (starting from milk).
Crushed fresh garlic: Fresh garlic is a critical ingredient for this recipe. You don't need a lot of garlic, just 1 garlic clove for every ½ cup of labneh. The key to this ingredient is making sure it's crushed into a paste so it can disperse evenly into the labneh and not taste too over-powering.
Olive oil (optional): Use a drizzle of high-quality olive oil on top of the garlic labneh dip.

See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.

How To Make Garlic Labneh

Peel the garlic and chop off the end. Add the garlic to a bowl (or mortar). Sprinkle some salt.

Mash the garlic using a pestle until it forms a paste. Alternatively, crush the garlic using a garlic press.

The most important thing is that the fresh garlic forms a paste, so it can disperse evenly throughout the labneh.

Add the freshly mashed garlic paste to some labneh.

mixing the garlic paste into the labneh so it's evenly dispersed

Mix the garlic paste and labneh well together.

labneh dip and pita chips on the counter

Drizzle some olive oil on top of the labneh. Eat it with some sea salt pita chips, za'atar pita chips, or some fresh pita bread.

Tips and Tricks

Mash the garlic. Preferably use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic into a paste. Alternatively, you can use a garlic press, however, not all garlic presses are created equal. You don't want any chunks, you want the garlic pulverized so it can easily disperse into the labneh dip.
Add olive oil prior to serving. Olive oil will solidify in the fridge, so drizzle some olive oil only on the amount you expect to eat.
Salt to taste. Add a little bit of salt to the garlic as you mash. You can also add a little more salt to taste.

Variations and Substitutions

Use any type of labneh: store-bought labneh or homemade labneh.
Omit the olive oil if desired.
Add some dried chili flakes to make the mashed garlic labneh spicy.

crushed fresh garlic labneh in a bowl with pita chips and a cotton napkin

Equipment

A mortar and pestle to mash the garlic to a pulp.
Measuring cups to measure out the labneh
a bowl to mix the garlic paste and labneh

Storage

Store the labneh without olive oil in the fridge for up to a week. I don't recommend freezing the labneh.

FAQs

How is labneh different from yogurt?

Labneh is strained cow's yogurt. It has a thicker consistency than yogurt, close to Greek yogurt.

What is the taste of labneh?

Depending on how the labneh is prepared, it can taste differently. If labneh is made from milk, it has a slightly sour taste. If labneh is prepared from store-bought yogurt, it is not sour. Labneh is generally creamy and tastes like a mix between cream cheese and Greek yogurt.

How do I eat garlic labneh?

Garlic labneh can be eaten as a dip, smeared onto pita bread, a bagel, or toast. There are many ways to eat this delicious labneh dip!

Labneh

Pita Chip Recipes

Join The Tribe

Subscribe to The Matbakh Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest pages. We also have a saucy newsletter.

📋 Recipe