How to Make Delicious Homemade Garlic Sauce for Pizza

While Ranch dressing is the most popular pizza dipping sauce, garlic sauce isn’t too far behind. Creamy garlic sauce is pungent with a smooth finish that perfectly suits acidic tomato sauce and melted cheese.

We love garlic sauce and learned to make homemade garlic sauce for pizza in three different ways to satisfy our garlicky obsession. And once we got over the stigma of garlic breath and kissing, we were home free! No shame any more.

Dipping sauces weren’t a part of the pizza equation until fairly recently when pizza chains noticed that many diners were leaving their crusts behind, so a creative and ambitious pizzeria owner started making dipping sauces, and now it’s hard to separate the pizza from the sauce.

We have made all three and want to share with you how to make homemade garlic sauce for pizza so you can have a tasty homemade dipping sauce without having to hit up the local pizzeria or delivery service.

Health Benefits of Garlic

We are big fans of garlic and eat it regularly for the pungent aromatic flavor that it adds to all our foods. So we were pleased to learn that garlic is actually good for you, too! Garlic can reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol and boost the immune system. And if you use it topically, it can treat acne and stinky foot fungus. It’s kind of a miracle food. 

Cultures across the globe have been using garlic to cure everything for centuries. When garlic is crushed, it releases sulfur which is what the strong smell is, and that compound is what makes garlic intense. Raw garlic is the best to eat healthwise, but cooking helps it taste better, but it loses some of its potency.

Fun Facts: Early on, people wore garlic necklaces and put garlic in their masks during the Plague because they thought it cleaned the air. And the vampire connection is due to fear of blood disease.

During the Middle Ages, Europeans thought that blood disease created vampires and decorated their homes with garlic. Modern historians think the connection is due to the blood disorder porphyria, which causes pale skin and gums to shrink, making teeth look bigger.

Sunlight and garlic worsen the symptoms of porphyria, so the logical explanation at the time was they were vampires.

And in China, to this day, our neighbors still hang stocks of garlic outside their doors and windows. They tell us it’s just to cure and always have on hand. But we know the truth – no vampire has ever attacked our neighbors.

How to Make Homemade Garlic Sauce for Pizza

Start with fresh garlic from the farmer’s market or grocery store. There are a lot of different varieties of garlic, but they all fall into one of two categories: hard neck or soft neck. Hardneck garlic bulbs have fewer cloves and a sturdy stem.

They grow best in colder climates. Soft neck garlic has a smaller bulb with many small cloves and grows well in warmer climates. Either one is fine for garlic sauce.

Avoid using elephant garlic which isn’t even garlic. Elephant garlic is actually a giant leek and has a mild flavor and won’t give your garlic sauce the punch that it needs.

Creamy Garlic Sauce (Healthy version)

• ½ cup Greek yogurt plain
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives 
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of black pepper

This is the classic creamy garlic sauce that resembles Ranch in consistency. There are two versions of this, one made with yogurt; the other uses a mix of sour cream and mayonnaise. We prefer the yogurt one because it has a nice tanginess. 

Mix all of the ingredients together and refrigerate for an hour. Fresh lemon juice is key; avoid the bottled stuff as it doesn’t have the same taste.

Creamy Garlic Sauce (Full-fat version)

• ⅔ cup of mayonnaise
• ⅔ cup of sour cream
• 1 Tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch of sugar

Mix everything together and refrigerate for an hour.

Best Pizza Matches: Anything spicy because the creamy sauce balances the spice: spicy pepperoni, sausage, Mexican pizza with jalapeños, Calabrian pizza with nduja.

Garlic Butter Sauce (Copycat pizza chain sauce)

You know the one we’re talking about, right? We don’t want to directly name them here in case they have good lawyers and don’t want any negative copyright claims against their secret sauce.

• ¼ cup of liquid margarine
• 4 garlic cloves grated

Only two ingredients make this version of garlic sauce quick and easy. Grate the garlic with a microplane grater or garlic press for the best consistency and texture. Mix together and refrigerate. 

Best Pizza Matches: This buttery-rich sauce is great with lighter pizzas like vegan, salad, and seafood.

Garlic Aioli

• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tablespoon of Dijon
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• ½ teaspoon of white pepper
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup of olive oil EVOO
• Pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)

Aioli sauce is a staple of Mediterranean cuisine. It is basically a garlicky mayo. This sauce is a little more complicated than the others, and you will need an immersion blender to get it the right consistency, but it’s worth the trouble because it’s so good.

Place all of the ingredients except the oil in a tall, slender container. Many immersion blenders come with one. Blend with the immersion blender. Then use the pulse setting and pulse the mixture while drizzling in the oil to create an emulsion. Use as a dipping sauce for pizza, breadsticks, or vegetables or spread on sandwiches.

Best Pizza Matches: It’s rich with a complex flavor and texture, perfect for meat lovers and vegetarian pizzas alike. 

Tips to Avoid Garlic Breath

We love garlic but garlic breath not so much. Well, we’ve learned to live with it, at least! Here are a few tips and tricks to minimize garlic breath.

• Drink a lot of water to flush out the system.
• Chew fresh mint leaves.
• Sip green tea.
• Rinse mouth with a mix of apple cider vinegar 3(parts) and water (1 part).

What is your favorite homemade garlic sauce for pizza?