A Tahini Dressing Recipe For Every Day
We’re here to express our fondness for one of our favorite pantry staples–TAHINI. It imparts a subtle earthiness everywhere it shows up, and this dairy-free tahini dressing is no exception. Balanced with a touch of apple cider vinegar and honey; and a flavor that has been heightened with ginger, garlic, and a kiss of sesame oil, this easy tahini dressing is a solid dressing to add to your homemade dressings wheelhouse.
Ingredients For Homemade Tahini Dressing
Tahini. It has become easier to find tahini at the grocery store, and Joyva brand is pretty widely available. For a smaller brand, we love Soom, which is a small batch brand that was created by sisters.
Extra-virgin olive oil will add a nice bright and citrusy note to your tahini dressing.
Raw apple cider vinegar for a touch of acidity. Lemon juice will also do the job here.
Sesame oil helps amp up the sesame flavor of the tahini, but if you don’t have any on hand, extra-virgin olive oil will work in a pinch.
Garlic, we all know what this is for.
Ginger powder for a little warmth.
Honey! This is important, because tahini in its raw form can lean a little sharp, and the honey helps balance it.
Sea salt, to highlight all of the flavors!
How To Make Tahini Dressing
Any way you slice it, this dressing is so easy to make. You can measure out everything in advance, or to make your life super easy, just measure everything directly to your blender, making this a one step dressing:
Add the water, tahini, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, sesame oil, honey, ginger powder, and garlic to the base of a high powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. If this creamy tahini dressing is too thick, you can thin it by slowly adding water until it reaches the desired consistency.
A little note on tahini dressing: if you’re using it directly from the fridge, give it a moment to come to room temperature. It will be quite thick when it is cold, and loosens nicely when it warms a bit.
How Do You Use Tahini Dressing?
This is a pour-over-everything, scoop-every-last-drop kind of dressing. You could go for the straightforward route and find one of our favorite salads in the 30 Best Salad Recipes roundup, and sub in this tahini dressing. You could also add a little dipping bowl to your next Grand Aioli extravaganza. Your next batch of Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Beets, or Roasted Fennel would also be great with a nice douse of tahini dressing. We’re fans of tahini dressing on grain bowls, and you could build your own with our Farro Recipe, or substitute it in our Buddha Bowl recipe.
What Does Tahini Dressing Taste Like?
Tahini is made from toasted ground hulled sesame seeds. It has a similar texture to many nut butters which are made in a similar fashion, and just like almond butter and peanut butter show up in anything from sauce to brownies, tahini is equally as versatile. It’s also the base for many dips, like hummus. Our dressing with tahini is a great way to use this tasty ingredient, and the warming ginger balances out the earthy flavors of the sesame oil, garlic, and tahini. We add a hint of acid by adding a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. A teaspoon of honey helps tame the bitterness of the tahini, and if you’re looking to make a vegan tahini dressing, you could easily substitute maple syrup where we call for honey.
Tools You’ll Need
Your Homemade Pantry Journey Starts Here!
We love to help you build your repertoire of easy homemade sauces and dressings as you explore the world beyond store-bought! Here’s a few more great recipes to keep you going:
Our Tahini Sauce is just a little thicker, and a teeny bit more straightforward in its tahini-ness.
Everything Bagel Seasoning that you’ll sprinkle on…everything.
Italian Dressing is a hands-down classic.
Chimichurri Sauce with all the parsley and fresh herbs!
The Best Tahini Dressing Starts Here!
Did you make this creamy tahini dressing? We want to see your bountiful bowls! Snap a photo of your tahini dressing in action and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you feed it to. Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!
