Tahini Sauce
This Tahini Sauce is a creamy dairy-free sauce packed with plant-based proteins from sesame seeds and delicious on top of a salad, roasted vegetables, or as a tahini salad dressing.
Eating a variety of plants, vegetables, and plant-based protein is very good for your health. It’s not just the 5-a-day quantity that matters, but also the variety.
Tahini is a great way of eating many vegetables and adding protein in one dish.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Tahini is a delicious recipe with a creamy texture and light bitter aftertaste in sauce and dips.
It’s flavorsome, high in protein, and low in carbs, so you can use it in many of my side dish recipes to boost their protein without eating meat.
What Is Tahini Sauce?
Tahini sauce is a simple creamy sauce made from tahini that can be used on summer vegetables and salads to increase your protein intake or just to add a subtle Mediterranean taste.
Tahini is a creamy paste, a Middle-Eastern condiment often used in salad dressing dips like Baba Ganoush, Lemon Herb Tahini, and Hummus, or to bake cookies and cakes.
Tahini is made from toasted ground sesame seeds, that’s all. It’s a very similar ingredient to peanut butter, but it’s nut-free and packed with 17 grams of plant-based protein per 100 grams.
As a result, it’s a great way to add proteins, fibers, and flavors to many vegan and vegetarian recipes.
Plus, tahini is also high in calcium, with 10 mg in a single tablespoon!
How To Make Tahini Sauce
There’s nothing easier than making a tahini sauce. It takes under 15 minutes to make, and you will love all the possibilities it gives.
Ingredients
All you need to make the best tahini sauce are:
- Tahini Paste – You can use unhulled tahini or hulled tahini, but hulled tahini is made from sesame seeds without their shells. As a result, it has a creamier texture and makes a creamier, smoother tahini dip with a less bitter flavor.
- Fresh Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed lemons taste the best.
- Garlic Clove – I like to crush the cloves using a garlic crusher tool. It results in a smooth sauce, rather than using minced garlic that lets pieces of garlic in the sauce. You will enjoy the garlic flavor without bites of fresh garlic.
- Salt
- Pepper
- Iced Water – Prepare an ice bath with ice cubes and tap water before starting the recipe. In fact, iced water turns dips and sauces ultra-creamy. It’s a technique also often used in hummus recipes.
Preparation
First, prepare the iced water. To do so, pour water and ice cubes into a small bowl. Set aside at room temperature.
In another bowl or the bowl of a food processor, add tahini, salt, pepper, garlic, and lemon juice.
Use a small whisk, or the blade attachment, to stir/blend ingredients, until it becomes thick and difficult to stir.
Now, add the iced water gradually. Stop when the texture reaches your desired consistency.
Texture
Tahini sauce is a creamy sauce that can be thick as a dip or runny as a dressing.
- To use as a salad dressing or roasted vegetables dressing, add all of the water.
- For a thicker texture and make a tahini dip, add a bit less water.
My Tips And Tricks
Making this recipe is incredibly easy, but I have a few quick tips that can help you make it even easier and better.
- Pick Hulled Tahini – For the creamiest tahini, try to find hulled tahini. It’s the version without the outer shell of the seeds.
- Add Maple Syrup – I love my tahini sauce a bit sweet, and adding a touch of maple syrup makes it perfect.
Flavors
You can play with flavors and add some extra herbs, spices, and condiments to the sauce to create a range of tahini sauce flavors.
Add some of the following optional ingredients:
- To boost the sweetness: Add a touch of maple syrup or honey.
- To make it spicier – Add ground cumin, cayenne pepper, or sumac to boost it’s Middle-Eastern flavors.
- Dijon Mustard for a tangy taste
- Fresh parsley or mint finely chopped
- And to make it creamier – Add 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil.
Serving
This tahini sauce can be used for many purpose like:
- Salad dressing
- Dip to raw vegetables
- Sauce in bread like my low-carb pita bread recipe or my Moroccan bread.
- Sauce for roasted vegetables
Recipe Pairing
Below are some simple recipes that marry very well with this tahini sauce recipe:
Storage Instructions
Tahini sauce can be stored well in the fridge in a sealed glass mason jar for 3 to 4 days.
You can freeze the tahini sauce as well in ice cube trays and defrost a single serving at room temperature for a few hours before using.
Allergy Swaps
This sauce is naturally:
- Gluten-free
- Egg-free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Nut-free
- Low-carb keto friendly
However, if you are allergic to some of its ingredients or don’t have some of them, I listed below some substitutions you can try:
- Lemon Juice – Replace the lemon juice with the same amount of lime juice, apple cider vinegar, or half water and half white vinegar.
- Low-FODMAP – Skip the garlic.
- Garlic – You can replace the fresh garlic with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder if preferred.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find below my answers to your most common questions about this tahini sauce recipe.
Yes, tahini is a healthy plant-based ingredient high in calcium, proteins, and healthy fats and low in carbs.
It’s a great source of plant-based protein for vegans and vegetarians.
Yes, tahini is low in carbs and sugar, like almond butter. It’s an excellent plant-based fat to add to your plate.
More Healthy Dip Recipes
If you like healthy dips, you’ll love these other recipes:
Have you tried this sauce with tahini? Share a comment below to let me know how you served yours!
Tahini Sauce
Nutrition Snapshot
Want My Kitchen Equipment?
Ingredients
- ½ cup Tahini Paste unhulled
- ¼ cup Lemon Juice
- 3 Garlic Cloves crushed
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- â…› teaspoon Ground Pepper
- 3-6 tablespoons Iced Water
Optional
- 2 teaspoons Maple Syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup of water and ice cubes. This is your iced water for later in the recipe.
- In another mixing bowl, add fresh drippy tahini paste, lemon juice, crushed garlic clove, and salt and pepper.
- Use a small whisk to combine the ingredients together. It's going to turn thick quickly. At this point, start adding iced water as you keep whisking. You can also use a food processor with the S-blade attachment.
- Pour the water gradually as you whisk, and stop as soon as you like the consistency. For salad dressing, add a bit more water and less for a tahini dip.
- Whisk in cumin and maple syrup for extra boost of flavor.
- Serve as a dip or salad dressing.
Storage
- Store the tahini sauce in a sealed glass mason jar in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze it for up to one month. Thaw in the fridge the day before.
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About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
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