Lemon Tahini Sauce Ingredients
This easy tahini sauce recipe requires only five simple ingredients. Below, you’ll discover everything you need to make the creamiest, most vibrant condiment in your cookbook.
Tahini (aka sesame seed paste): High-quality tahini is essential when making this delicious sauce recipe. You should be able to find premade tahini paste in the Middle Eastern section of your local grocery store, or you can purchase it online (my favorite store-bought tahini is from Soom Foods!). Before using, stir or shake your tahini to avoid unwanted settling, and then store the rest in the refrigerator for up to one week. Lemon juice: I always use fresh lemon juice in this recipe due to its rich, bright taste. However, you can also use store-bought lemon juice, depending on what you have on hand. Garlic: I recommend using finely minced or pressed garlic to ensure its flavors distribute evenly throughout the mixture. Salt Water: Cold water is the key to adjusting this sauce’s consistency.
Lemon herb tahini sauce: To create a more herbaceous blend, add ½ cups of fresh herbs, such as cilantro or parsley, to your tahini sauce. This variation has an extra-bright flavor and makes an incomparable addition to my vegan Mediterranean Nachos. Seasonings: To make a flavored tahini sauce, add a pinch of other spices. For instance, you can make a turmeric tahini sauce by adding ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder or play around with different flavors by adding ingredients like cumin, paprika, dill, or black pepper. Sweet tahini cream sauce: Although it’s not a traditional ingredient, you can give this sauce a sweeter finish by adding a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup to the mix. Dijon mustard: Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard for a nice zing that complements the zesty flavors of this tahini garlic sauce. Olive oil: Tahini paste provides a creamy consistency, but a teaspoon of olive oil can be added to mellow its robust flavor.
Tahini Sauce Uses
When deciding what to make with tahini sauce, the options are endless. Below, I’ve listed my favorite uses, from light vegetable sides to hearty main dishes.
Dipping sauce: This tahini dip recipe is a must when serving mezze platters and veggie trays. Try serving it alongside a plate of fresh vegetables—like cucumber, carrots, and tomatoes—and you’ll never have to stress over party appetizers again. Shawarma: Since they’re both packed with rich Middle Eastern taste, I love using tahini sauce for shawarma recipes, such as my spiced Chicken Shawarma and succulent Beef Shawarma. You can even use this classic Mediterranean tahini sauce for gyros—the Greek version of shawarma—or transform it into a tahini spread for a flavor-packed wrap or pita pocket. Grilled meat and fish: This easy recipe pairs beautifully with grilled meat and fish dishes. Try using this tahini sauce for roasted or grilled chicken, lamb, salmon, or your favorite white fish, and prepare for an explosion of earthy, zesty flavors. Drizzle over roasted veggies: Roasted veggies taste out of this world with a drizzle of this lemon tahini recipe. In particular, this sauce makes a delectable addition to savory-sweet dishes like my Baked Butternut Squash Cubes, Roasted Eggplant, Roasted Cauliflower, and Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potatoes. Salads and grain bowls: Another great way to use this creamy sauce is in fresh salads and grain bowls. This sauce works exceptionally well when bringing out the zingy, garden-fresh taste of my Butternut Squash Tahini Salad and Sweet Potato Quinoa Bowl. Falafel: Using sesame tahini sauce for falafel balls is a fantastic option to complement the dish’s herby, nutty taste.
Other Sauce Recipes You Might Also Like:
Yogurt Dill Sauce for Fish Horseradish Yogurt Sauce Garlic Butter Sauce for Bread
If you make your own Lemon Tahini Sauce following our recipe, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a minute to rate it and leave a comment below. It is a great way to support this website and help those planning to make it. Also, if you took pictures, I’d love to see them. Share your creations on Instagram using #foolproofeats so I can share them with the Foolproof Living community.
Stir tahini before using: Like other natural seed and nut butters, tahini tends to separate during storage, with its oils rising to the top and its solids sinking to the bottom. Therefore, just like you would do with peanut butter, it’s necessary to stir your tahini before adding it to your recipe. Adjust the sauce’s consistency: One of the best ways to make this lemon garlic tahini sauce as versatile as possible is to adjust its consistency. Add more water to your mixture if you want a thinner tahini drizzle—similar to other creamy salad dressings—or use less liquid for a thicker, creamy tahini sauce. Food processor: If you are making a large batch of this sauce, we recommend using a food processor (or a blender) to achieve the ultimate creamy consistency. Resting time: If you have time, I suggest letting the sauce rest for a few minutes before serving. This way, all the ingredients will have time to mix, develop, and infuse the mixture. Experiment with seasoning and add-ins: With so many uses for this easy lemon tahini sauce, I highly recommend playing around with its flavor and consistency to complement your main dish.
