Tahini Sauce
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This easy tahini sauce recipe delivers a perfectly creamy texture and bright, nutty flavor, with just the right balance of lemon and garlic.
Tahini sauce is a creamy, nutty Middle Eastern sauce made with tahini, fresh lemon juice, garlic, and water. This tahini sauce recipe is adapted from Israeli chef Michael Solomonov’s Zahav, and it has a wonderfully smooth texture and bright, garlicky flavor. The trick is to let the garlic steep in the lemon juice, then strain it out before adding the tahini—a simple extra step that mellows the raw garlic and makes the sauce silky smooth.
Tahini sauce is incredibly versatile: drizzle it over falafel, chicken kabobs, kofta, grain bowls, or roasted vegetables; serve it as a dip with pita; or spread it on sandwiches and wraps. It keeps well in the refrigerator, so it’s a great sauce to have on hand.
“Just made the tahini sauce…it was simple and brilliant.”
What you’ll need to make Tahini Sauce
- Tahini – A paste made from ground sesame seeds, tahini is a staple in Middle Eastern cooking. Look for one that’s smooth and pourable with a mild, nutty flavor; some brands can be quite thick or bitter. I like Soom, Seed + Mill, and Mighty Sesame. Be sure to stir the tahini well before measuring, as the oil naturally separates.
- Garlic – Adds punch and depth to the sauce. Letting it sit in lemon juice for a few minutes helps mellow its bite.
- Fresh lemon juice – Brightens everything up and balances the richness of the tahini. Don’t use bottled—it just doesn’t have the same zing.
- Salt – Essential for bringing out all the flavors. Without it, the sauce tastes flat.
- Ground cumin – Adds a warm, slightly smoky background note. If you’d like to experiment with other spices, try a pinch of chili powder or smoked paprika.
- Ice water – Used to loosen the sauce to the right consistency. Start with a little and keep adding until it’s smooth and pourable.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mellow the garlic. Combine the garlic and lemon juice and let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes. This brief rest takes some of the sharp edge off the raw garlic while infusing the lemon juice with its flavor.
Step 2: Strain and add the tahini. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing on the garlic with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. This extra step gives the finished tahini sauce plenty of garlic flavor without any harshness or bits of raw garlic. Discard the solids, then add the tahini to the bowl along with the cumin and remaining salt.
Step 3: Whisk in the water. Whisk the tahini mixture until combined; it may thicken dramatically or look like it’s seizing at first, which is completely normal. Gradually whisk in ice-cold water until the sauce becomes smooth, creamy, and pourable. The sauce will lighten in color and gradually smooth out into that creamy, pourable tahini sauce texture you’re going for.
Step 4: Season and serve. Give it a taste and add more salt or cumin if needed. If you’re not using the sauce right away, whisk in a splash of cold water before refrigerating (it thickens quite a bit as it chills).
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between tahini and tahini sauce?
Tahini is a thick paste made from ground sesame seeds and is a staple in Middle Eastern cooking; it’s also a key ingredient in dishes like hummus and baba ganoush. Tahini sauce starts with tahini but adds lemon juice, garlic, water, and seasonings to turn it into a creamy, pourable sauce for dipping and drizzling.
Why is my tahini sauce bitter?
Tahini naturally has a slightly bitter edge, but it shouldn’t taste unpleasantly bitter. The flavor varies quite a bit by brand and freshness, so start with a good-quality tahini that tastes smooth and nutty straight from the jar. Lemon juice and salt also help balance any bitterness.
What if my tahini is very thick or difficult to stir?
Tahini naturally separates as it sits, with the oil rising to the top and the solids settling at the bottom. If yours is too stiff to stir in the jar, scrape the entire contents into a bowl and whisk until smooth (a hand mixer works well too). Once blended, return it to the jar and refrigerate.
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Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 large cloves garlic
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, from 1 to 2 lemons
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup tahini
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- Ice water, as needed
Instructions
- Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a blender or small food processor. Add the lemon juice and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Blend on high until the garlic is coarsely puréed. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes to let the garlic mellow.
- Pour the lemon and garlic mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium mixing bowl, pressing the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. (This step helps to make the tahini sauce silky smooth and keeps it from tasting too strongly of garlic.) Add the tahini to the strained lemon juice in the bowl, along with the cumin and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Whisk the mixture until smooth, adding ice-cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, to thin it out. The sauce will lighten in color as you whisk. When the tahini seizes up or tightens, keep adding the water, bit by bit (about ½ cup/120 ml total), until the sauce is smooth, creamy, and thick.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and cumin, if necessary. If you're not using the sauce immediately, whisk in a few tablespoons of ice cold water to loosen it up before refrigerating (it thickens up quite a bit in the fridge). The tahini sauce can be refrigerated for up to a week, or frozen for up to a month.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Thank you for explaining how it’ll initially seize up but that the addition of water will gradually loosen it. I’d always struggled with that.
Good flavor, needed a lot of water. Liked the method of soaking the garlic so raw flavor as not too strong.
Just made the tahini sauce. Followed directions – it was simple and brilliant. Delicious.
Thank you
Thank you for this recipe. I was looking for a recipe for the tahini sauce you get with fish in Lebanon. It served its purpose. Bookmarked !
Wonderful sauce that I served with your falafel and Israeli salad. had to add a fair amount of water to make it saucy, but that is probably a function of the thick, refrigerated tahini that I used. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this yesterday to go with falafel, hummus and and a middle eastern mez platter for lunch company. It was smooth as silk and delicious. Definitely a keeper.
Thank you, again for your wonderful recipes.
Susan