The Ultimate Tahini Salad Dressing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make tahini dressing for Jamie Oliver? ›

Making the tahini-style dressing at home is very easy: I simply blitzed mixed seeds in a food processor with plain yoghurt, garlic, olive oil and a dash of red wine vinegar. The result is a creamy sauce that adds a nutty, zesty taste to any vegetables and salads (but it's also great as a dip served with crackers).

A creamy, rich sauce of tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, and maple syrup! Add garlic or salt for extra flavor. The perfect dressing or sauce for salads, falafel, sandwiches, and more!

Leftover tahini dressing will keep in the fridge for up to 14 days. For best results, store in an airtight container such as a glass mason jar. After refrigeration, the dressing can become much thicker and separate so give it a good store before using again. Freezing this dressing isn't recommended.

The very simplest sauces can be made by whisking tahini with an acid (ex: lemon juice or apple cider vinegar) and a little salt/pepper. I also like to add just a smidgen of maple syrup or agave to balance the bitterness – just a touch.

Bitterness is generally part and parcel of tahini - it's how ground sesame seeds taste. What you will find, however, is that some tahini can taste more bitter than others. This is down to a few things; like how that particular tahini is processed, or the levels of something called oxalic acid in the hulls of the seeds.

The tahini may thicken up/clump when it's combined with lemon juice or the first bit of water. Don't worry, this is normal and will be fixed with more water. Gradually add the water, continuing to whisk until the dressing is smooth and creamy.

Do you need to refrigerate tahini? We recommend storing your tahini in a cool and dry area, away from heat and moisture. Ideally, a pantry a cabinet would be ideal. Like peanut butter, you can also store tahini in the refrigerator if you like it thicker.

Tahini is an excellent source of minerals and heart-healthy fats and additionally, a versatile food that can be featured in every meal of the day, for five very good reasons. Sesame seeds contain sesamin and sesamolin, two powerful antioxidants that protect cells from free-radical damage and may prevent heart disease.

Store-bought tahini can either live in a cool dark place or in the fridge (we prefer the pantry, as the fridge can change the consistency of your tahini, making it less silky smooth). If you've mixed your tahini with other ingredients to make a sauce, always keep it in the fridge and use it within 5 days.

Tahini also has selenium. It acts as an antioxidant and helps lower inflammation in the body. Studies show sesamol, a natural chemical found in sesame seeds and sesame oil, has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging benefits. Other studies suggest it also has strong anti-cancer effects.

Why should you not refrigerate tahini? ›

However, you don't have to relegate tahini to the cold temperatures of the fridge — this spread is actually stable at room temperatures. Much like peanut butter, tahini stored on the shelf tends to have a softer, more malleable texture that makes it easier to pour over food.

How do you know if tahini has gone bad? Signs of spoilage for tahini include a bitter, rancid smell, mold growth, or separation. Separation is not always the case as tahini sitting on the shelf for a prolonged period unused can also cause separation. It will also have a bitter taste.

Tahini paste is just ground sesame seeds. Period. In comparison, tahini sauce is made by thinning the paste to a consistency similar to a thick cream, typically by adding other ingredients. My family's recipe adds lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil to our tahini sauce.

Once you get your jar of tahini home, you want to open it up and give it a stir to make sure it's incorporated. (If the oil has fully separated, such as in the photo above, Food editor Joe Yonan uses an immersion blender to reincorporate it, after which he says it stays emulsified.)

But tahini has a thin consistency, which means that it won't stay put on the moist, slick surface of a fish fillet. To thicken the tahini and give it some holding power, the solution is a bit surprising: We stirred in 2 teaspoons of juice. You'd think that adding a liquid would thin tahini rather than thicken it.

Tips for Making Creamy Tahini:

The velvety smooth texture is achieved by using raw, HULLED white sesame seeds. You can also buy them unhulled, which means the thin outer shell is left on, but you will end up with a grittier end result.