Tahini Sauce Recipe – 3 Ingredients!

At a glance

What stands out: This tahini sauce recipe is smooth and tangy, and so straightforward to mix. All it takes is 3 ingredients and your food processor. Pair it with your favorite Middle Eastern dishes, grilled meats, salads, and more.

How long it takes: 5 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: a blender or food processor, that’s it!
Servings: ½ cup

A standby From-scratch Tahini Sauce Recipe

This smooth and tangy tahini sauce adds the creamiest, zestiest flavor to just about everything it touches. Whether you’re drizzling this sauce over meats, veggies, pita bread, or falafel, you’ll never regret bringing it into the mix.

Tahini sauce is rich, velvety, and filled with the subtle flavors of garlic and lemon, wrapped up inside the smokiness of toasted sesame. This recipe walks you through how to make ultra-creamy tahini sauce with just three ingredients. Ready to get started? Good, ’cause we can’t wait for you to try it.

What stands out

Straightforward! From-scratch tahini sauce is straightforward, convenient, fresh, and economical, with no added preservatives or flavor enhancers. It’s a straightforward way to jazz up the pure tahini paste you buy at the store.

Simple ingredients. Make ultra-creamy, flavorful tahini sauce with only three ingredients (or four, if we’re counting water!) Combine them in a food processor, and go.

Versatile. We love tahini sauce on everything, and you will, too. Use it as a dip or as a dressing for meats, veggies, salads, and more. Keep reading for some of our favorite uses for tahini sauce.

What Is Tahini Sauce?

If you’re a fan of Middle Eastern and Lebanese food, you already know what tahini sauce is! Tahini sauce is a Middle Eastern condiment, used on many dishes. It’s not to be confused with actual tahini, which is one of the three ingredients needed to make tahini sauce.

Tahini is made by grinding up toasted sesame seeds into a smooth paste.

Tahini sauce combines tahini paste with lemon juice and garlic to make a smooth, creamy sauce.

What Does Tahini Sauce Taste Like?

The flavors of tahini sauce are obviously heavily influenced by tahini. Tahini has a savory and nutty flavor from toasted sesame seeds, and the texture is smooth and creamy (thinner than peanut butter, but just as rich). Combining tahini with lemon and garlic creates a rich, zesty sauce that pairs deliciously with spiced dishes, meats, and veggies.

What goes in

Reliable tahini sauce uses simple ingredients, so make them count! Quality is key, and we've shared a few notes below. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full amounts you’ll need, along with the recipe instructions.

• Tahini – This is a smooth and creamy paste made from crushed sesame seeds. You’ll find tahini in the international food aisle of your local grocery store, or online.
• Lemon Juice – Make sure it’s freshly squeezed!
• Garlic – One fresh garlic clove, peeled and chopped.
• Water and Salt

How it comes together

Making tahini sauce at home is as straightforward as combining tahini, lemon juice, and garlic with water and salt in a food processor. Blend the ingredients until they’re silky smooth, then store or serve!

Once your tahini sauce is ready, it’s rich drizzled over grilled zucchini, peppers, and more, or served in a bowl for dipping veggies and pita chips. Keep reading for more tasty serving suggestions.

How it comes together

If you have an extra 10 minutes, soak the garlic in lemon juice before you blend your tahini sauce. The acidity of the lemon juice helps to mellow out the garlic flavors. Afterward, drain the garlic and use fresh lemon juice in the recipe. See the next section for more recipe tips.

Recipe Tips and Variations

Here are some additional tips, along with ways that you can make this tahini sauce recipe your own:

• Use good-quality tahini. The only ingredient in tahini paste should be sesame seeds! High-quality tahini paste will give this tahini sauce a standby texture and flavor.
• Adjust the consistency. Add more water to thin out your tahini sauce as needed. Keep it creamy to use as a dip, or thin it out slightly if you’re using this tahini sauce as a dressing.
• Adapt the flavor to taste. Adjust the flavor and tanginess by adding more salt and lemon juice to taste. Every batch of tahini sauce is different, so you can play with the ingredient amounts to get it exactly to your liking!
• More seasoning. Add a little ground cumin to enhance the flavor, or try other seasonings like paprika or cayenne pepper.
• Add herbs. Freshly chopped parsley is a great way to brighten up the flavors of your tahini sauce even more. Other good options are fresh cilantro, mint, dill, or basil. You can blend the herbs right into the sauce or stir them in afterward.
• Double the recipe. If you’re making tahini sauce for a crowd, or if you’d like to have extra sauce on hand, double the ingredients to make a larger batch.

Can we Swap Out the Tahini In This Recipe?

Tahini gives tahini sauce its distinct sesame flavor but if you can’t find tahini paste, there are other options. Your next best bet would be to use another seed or nut butter, like sunflower seed butter or almond butter. In a pinch, mixing Greek yogurt with sesame oil can also be a substitute for tahini in this recipe. Technically it won’t be tahini sauce, and will drastically change the flavor but it will still be tasty.

Ways to Use Tahini Sauce

Garlicky tahini sauce is reliable with grilled meats like chicken shawarma drumsticks, and Lebanese-style dishes like shish tawook, beef kafta, or chicken kofta. We also love from-scratch falafel and pita bread, served as an appetizer with zesty tahini sauce and hummus for dipping. Include a garnish of bright pink pickled turnips.

Tahini sauce is great as a dip or dressing with vegetables like grilled zucchini, bell peppers, onions, and roasted potatoes. Or, drizzle it over fattoush salad, couscous salad, tabbouleh,.

How to Store

• Fridge. Store this from-scratch tahini sauce in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
• Freezer. Yes, you can freeze tahini sauce, too! Make sure to store it in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Keep it frozen for up to 3 months and defrost it in the fridge before serving.

• Yield: 8 servings
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Total: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• ¼ cup tahini paste
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 6 tablespoons water

Method

1. In a small food processor or blender, blend all ingredients together until smooth.
2. Store leftover sauce in fridge for up to 1 week in a jar or tightly covered container.

Notes

Makes about ½ cup.

Store this from-scratch tahini sauce in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months and defrost it in the fridge before serving.