Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. A delicious and versatile tahini sauce can be made with tahini by adding lemon juice, garlic, salt, and a little water to it. Serve it with pita, kebabs, salad, falafels, and other Middle Eastern dishes.
Table of Content
If you have eaten Middle Eastern food, whether it's Lebanese, Armenian, Arabic, Egyptian, or even Israeli, you must have seen this bowl of creamy sauce served with savory dishes. Either as an appetizer or over a salad. It is also served alongside popular dishes like kebabs and shawarma or the popular falafel.
Some Middle Eastern countries refer to this as tahini paste while some called it tahina. It is the same and often used similarly too. Blended with chickpeas to make hummus or with eggplants to make a roasted eggplant dip Baba Ganoush or Mutable. As a dip and sauce with falafel, or generously topped over your favorite hummus, kebab, or grilled meat in the Middle East unaccompanied by this sauce.
Why make homemade tahini sauce?
- It takes just three ingredients to create a creamy, light, and delicious homemade tahini sauce.
- Best of all, it takes less than 5 minutes to make this sauce and you don't need anything other than a mason jar. No blender or other special equipment is needed.
- It is dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan which means you can serve it to anyone.
- You can also flavor tahini by blending it with fresh herbs such as cilantro, dill, fresh parsley, or fresh mint when serving it with grilled meat.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Tahini paste - is ground seasame seeds with olive oil. Most supermarkets have tahini paste or tahini sauce in the condiments isles these days. In some grocery stores, you can find it besides peanut butter listed as nut butter under healthy products or in the aisle that sells foreign products. Sometimes the isle that sells, Middle Eastern or Asian foods.
- Garlic - I love to use garlic powder that way there is no taste of any fresh garlic in the mouth. If you do use fresh garlic cloves, mince them to a smooth paste, so it disappears into the sauce. You can do this easily by adding salt to the garlic when chopping it. Press the garlic and salt with the flat of your knife to make a paste.
- Lemon juice - Use fresh lemons to make fresh lemon juice. While I say 3 or 4 tablespoon - it certainly is to taste. When I make my tahini salad dressing, I often use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice.
- Coldwater - Many people say to use warm water. But a chef once told me that if you use cold fridge water - it gives you a brighter color. I find that room temperature water works just fine.
Best tahini sauce recipe
- Sauce - In a mason jar add the tahini paste, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add the water. Close the lid and give it a good shake for 30 seconds.
Pro tip - you can also use a bowl and a whisk to make this sauce. - Taste and adjust – adding more salt, pepper, or lemon juice to taste.
- Check consistency – add more water or more tahini paste if necessary.
For example - make a thinner consistency to pour over salad and a thicker consistency to serve with hummus or grilled meats
Variations
- Classic Tahini sauce on its own with a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of paprika, ground cumin, or zaatar.
- Thick sauce – Served with kebabs and meats. You do not need more water. Keep it thick.
- Salad dressing – Add a few more tablespoons of water so it's pouring consistency. Better yet, add a few tablespoons of yogurt to make a tahini yogurt dressing.
- Mint Tahini – Use a blender or food processor to make the sauce and add a few parsley and mint leaves. Blend to a smooth paste first, then add the sesame paste and other ingredients to make a mint tahini sauce with the desired consistency. Perfect with lamb kebabs or grilled meats.
Tips
- Tahini paste has a long shelf life. I can stay in the pantry for a few months.
- And, tahini sauce can stay in the fridge for her week but ours never last more than a day or two. My husband is middle eastern so he can eat Tahini with pita bread for dinner with a side salad.
- A little tip - store the tahini in a mason jar because it does become thicker over time. Instead of going through the process of mixing it again. Just add a few tablespoons of water to the mason jar and give it a good shake. Voila!! It's back to consistency.
How do you use tahini sauce?
Well? the possibilities are endless!!
- Try it just on its own as a dip! I serve a bowl of raw vegetable sticks for my kids' pajama party. Kids love to dip their carrot and cucumber sticks in tahini sauce.
- In addition, I use it as a salad dressing. If you love creamy dressings tahini sauce works as a treat.
- It also makes a healthy sandwich spread instead of mayo or cream cheese.
- Do you steam veggies and then add lots of melted cheese over it to get your kids to eat veggies? Well, I drizzle good old tahini sauce.
- And if you make my homemade falafel (a popular recipe on this blog) recipe - I serve a side of tahini. Because tahini just makes falafel taste better.
- Also, if you make my shawarma chicken recipe, I always serve it with tahini.
- Tahini sauce works best with any meat or fish dishes. If you love kababs? This is a must-have with kebabs. Try my Moroccan Chicken skewers or Chicken Kebabs?
More Middle Eastern recipes
A tahini sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to a week. The sauce gets thicker over time so you may need to dilute it with a few tablespoons of water.
Tahini sauce is made using tahini paste. There are two types of tahini paste. A light-colored paste is made from only the kernels while a creamier pale paste has the kernel and bran both ground to smooth paste. I prefer to use the second because it's got the kernels too. It's just like choosing processed white flour vs whole wheat flour. Tahini paste has other uses aside from making tahini sauce. 
Tahini sauce as you can see is made with tahini paste. Often yogurt may be used to dilute the sauce, especially when making a salad dressing. Tzatziki on the other hand is a yogurt dip made with drained grated cucumber with salt, lemon juice, and salt.
You certainly can but there is no need. As you can see in the video you can make perfectly creamy tahini by simply combining the ingredients in a bowl.
Printable Recipe
Tahini Sauce Recipe
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Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) Tahini paste
- ¾ cup (180 ml) Cold water
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder (or 1 large garlic clove minced)
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper
- 2 - 4 tablespoon Lemon juice (or lime juice )
Instructions
- Sauce - In a mason jar add the tahini paste, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add the water. Close the lid and give it a good shake for 30 seconds.Pro tip - you can also use a bowl and a whisk to make this sauce.
- Taste and adjust – adding more salt, pepper, or lemon juice to taste.
- Check consistency – add more water or more tahini paste if necessary. For example - make a thinner consistency to pour over salad and a thicker consistency to serve with hummus or grilled meats
Recipe Notes
- Tahini paste has a long shelf life. I can stay in the pantry for a few months.
- And, tahini sauce can stay in the fridge for her week but ours never last more than a day or two. My husband is middle eastern so he can eat Tahini with pita bread for dinner with a side salad.
A little tip - store the tahini in a mason jar because it does become thicker over time. Instead of going through the process of mixing it again. Just add a few tablespoons of water to the mason jar and give it a good shake. Voila!! It's back to consistency. - Tahini Sauce – served with kebabs and meats – you do not need more water. Keep it thick
- Salad dressing – add a few more tablespoons of water so it’s pouring consistency. Better yet, add a few tablespoons of yogurt to make a tahini yogurt dressing
- Mint Tahini – use a blender or food processor to make the sauce and add a few mint leaves (¼ cup) – Perfect with lamb kebabs.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Mary Glasse
Hi Veena,
I am doing the Daniel Fast with a church group & needed a Tahini Sauce without yogurt. (no dairy). I had made Falafels and wanted something other than Hummus to dip them in.
Your recipe is perfect! Thank you ?
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Mary. So happy you enjoyed this recipe. The original tahini is not with yogurt. We only add yogurt when you want to use it over salads as a dressing. Thanks for coming back to write this feedback. Loving know how my recipes are used. Have a great day.
Angela
What a fantastic idea! I didn't even think about making homemade Tahini sauce. I love to cook mediterranean and all definitely be trying this out. Thanks for sharing!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Angela.
Adrianne
Yes, what a great idea making your own tahini sauce! I love using it in energy balls. So I will give your recipe a try instead of buying it from the shops, thanks!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Adrianne.