Tahini Sauce
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This creamy tahini sauce comes together with just a few pantry staples and transforms anything it touches—from grilled meats to grain bowls to roasted veggies.
This tahini sauce recipe is adapted from Israeli chef Michael Solomonov’s cookbook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking. It’s great drizzled over lamb kofta, chicken kabobs, falafel, or roasted vegetables—and it also works beautifully as a dip or sandwich spread. It’s one of those sauces that ties everything on the plate together. This version is incredibly easy to make and works beautifully as a dip, drizzle, or spread. It keeps for a week in the fridge and can be frozen for up to a month.
What you’ll need to make Tahini Sauce
- 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.
- Tahini – This creamy sesame paste gives the sauce its earthy, nutty base. Be sure to stir it well before using (like natural peanut butter, it separates in the jar). If your tahini is difficult to stir in the jar, scrape the contents of the jar into a bowl, then use a whisk or hand-held electric mixer to blend. Refrigerate it after opening, or freeze in cubes for longer storage.
- Ground cumin – Adds a warm, slightly smoky background note. It’s subtle but makes a difference. 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: Blend the garlic and lemon. Toss the unpeeled garlic cloves into a blender or small food processor, then add the lemon juice and salt. Blend on high until the garlic is coarsely puréed.
Step 2: Strain and add the tahini. Let the garlic-lemon mixture sit for 10 minutes to mellow the garlic. Then pour it through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as you can—this step helps the tahini sauce turn out silky smooth and keeps the garlic flavor from overpowering it. Discard the solids, then add the tahini to the bowl along with the cumin and remaining salt.
Step 3: Whisk and loosen it up. Whisk everything together—the mixture will look really thick at first, almost like it’s seized up. That’s totally normal. Start adding ice-cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, whisking as you go. The sauce will lighten in color and gradually smooth out into that creamy, pourable tahini texture you’re going for.
As the tahini tightens up, just keep whisking in cold water a little at a time until it’s smooth, creamy, and thick—but still pourable. 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).
More Israeli & Middle Eastern Dishes You May Like
Tahini Sauce
Bright, lemony, and garlicky, this tahini sauce is a staple in Middle Eastern cooking—just the thing to keep on hand for dressing, dipping, or drizzling.
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 together 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 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
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- Per serving (12 servings)
- Serving size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 93
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Sugar: 0 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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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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
I followed this recipe and used a jar of “Greek tahina” from a Fred Meyer. I don’t know what went wrong but it was very clumpy and never went smooth. Also the oil (from the tahina) kept separating from it. It tastes okay but I really wish I knew what went wrong. Love love love all your recipes (and book!) though.
Hi Luanne, sorry to hear you had a problem with this! I wasn’t familiar with tahina and needed to look it up. I’m wondering if the fact that you used tahina which is slightly different than tahini may have caused a problem.
I misspelled it. It was tahini. Perhaps it had something to do with Greek tahini? Thicker like the Greek yogurt maybe?
Hi Luanne, Oftentimes, when you open a jar of tahini, you’ll see that the solids are settled in the bottom of the jar. Did you give the tahini a good stir before using it?
I did, trying my best to get a good ratio blend. I will get tahini from a middle eastern store next time instead of a regular grocery store. Thank you again!
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