Dressings & Sauces

Creamy Tahini Dressing

This creamy tahini dressing is the plant-based sauce that makes grain bowls sing — nutty tahini loosened with lemon, garlic, and water into a pourable, silky drizzle. It is vegan, dairy-free, and endlessly useful, doubling as a dressing, dip, or sauce for roasted vegetables and falafel. The magic is water: tahini seizes up before it smooths out, so keep whisking and it turns luxuriously creamy in under five minutes.

Creamy Tahini Dressing
5 minPrep time
5 minTotal time
8Servings
110Kcal / serving

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 4–6 tbsp cold water
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine

    Whisk the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and salt in a bowl. It will look thick and seized at first — this is normal.

  2. Loosen with water

    Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly. It will pass through a clumpy stage, then suddenly turn smooth and creamy.

  3. Adjust the texture

    Add more water for a pourable dressing or less for a thick dip.

  4. Store

    Keep in the fridge up to five days; whisk in a little water to loosen if it thickens.

Try this drizzled over our grilled chicken avocado salad or any of our green salads. For more, see our Homemade Salad Dressing Ratios guide and our Green Goddess Dressing.

The MakeSalads secretDo not panic when the tahini seizes and clumps as you add liquid — keep whisking and adding water and it will always come together into a silky sauce.

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