I use this homemade tahini sauce on everything! Once you taste this creamy garlic tahini sauce, you’ll find yourself making it on repeat.
Since sharing our easy tahini recipe, we’ve been experimenting with more ways to use tahini. I’ve used it to make homemade hummus and am now obsessed with this easy dairy-free tahini sauce. I keep a jar in my fridge at all times! For more of a salad dressing, see our easy tahini dressing!
I love serving this creamy tahini sauce over salad, grain bowls, grilled meats, and roasted veggies. And always serve it next to our homemade falafel and pita bread. I can’t wait for you to make it!
Key Ingredients
- Tahini: This sesame seed paste is the base of our sauce. Before measuring it, give it a good stir to make it runny and smooth. You can buy tahini or make your own. Here’s my recipe for homemade tahini (it’s super simple, I promise).
- Fresh garlic: For the garlic to melt into the sauce, grate it with a microplane or mince it into a paste. I’ve shared some tips in the recipe below.
- Fresh lemon juice: This thins the sauce and keeps it fresh and bright.
- Olive oil: This makes the tahini sauce smooth and luxurious.
- Cumin, cayenne, fresh parsley, and salt: These are optional, but I love them in this recipe.
- Warm water: This is the secret ingredient for making the smoothest, creamiest homemade tahini sauce. Watch our video to see how water quickly transforms the tahini into an unbelievably creamy sauce.
How to Make Tahini Sauce
Tahini sauce is much more than the sum of its parts. The tahini, lemon, and water combine to make the dreamiest, most delicious sauce. It is also dairy-free and vegan, not to mention easy to make.
We’ll start by stirring tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt in a bowl. It starts creamy and then might seize up on you (see the photo below). Don’t worry if it looks lumpy. We will fix that when we add the water.
The tahini sauce becomes super creamy as you whisk in the warm water. You can add as much or as little water as you like. It all depends on what you plan to use it for. For spreads, add less. Add more if you want to use the sauce as a dressing or for drizzling.
To finish your homemade tahini sauce, add extra flavor with spices and fresh parsley. I love a slight smokiness from ground cumin, some spice from cayenne, and a fresh pop of color and flavor from parsley.
Ways to Use Tahini Sauce
Once you make this creamy lemon garlic tahini sauce, you’ll always want a batch in your fridge. Use this sauce whenever you want to add a creamy (non-dairy) drizzle to your dishes. It works for salads, grain bowls, rice bowls, and wraps.
I love it in this tahini kale bean salad and use it to drizzle over roasted veggies. Examples are my honey roasted carrots with tahini sauce and this garlic asparagus, which I love to dip into tahini sauce. I also love this tahini sauce for homemade falafel, grilled chicken, and seafood, like baked salmon or garlic herb shrimp.
Perfect Tahini Sauce Recipe
- PREP
- TOTAL
Use this Middle Eastern-inspired lemon garlic tahini sauce on anything. Try it as a dip or salad dressing, drizzle it over vegetables and meats, or serve with pita and wraps.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1/3 cup (80ml) well-stirred tahini, try homemade tahini
1 garlic clove, finely grated or made into a paste, see tips
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch fine sea salt
2 to 6 tablespoons lukewarm water
Pinch cumin, optional
Pinch cayenne, optional
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, optional
Directions
1Whisk tahini, garlic paste, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt in a bowl until combined. The mixture may thicken and look lumpy.
2Whisk in the water, a tablespoon at a time, until you have your desired consistency. If making a spread, look for the consistency of peanut butter. For a sauce, add enough water to resemble the consistency of runny yogurt.
3Stir in the optional cumin, cayenne pepper, and parsley.
4Taste for seasoning and adjust with additional salt or lemon juice.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep homemade tahini sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Still, we’d be shocked if you didn’t find ways to enjoy it by then!
- How to make garlic paste: Use a fine microplane and grate the garlic (easiest method) or make a paste with your knife. To make the paste with your knife, peel and finely mince the garlic clove. Sprinkle the garlic with a pinch of coarse salt, then use the flat side of a knife to drag it over the garlic, scraping it across the cutting board’s surface. Pile up the garlic again, then repeat a few more times until the garlic is a smooth paste.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Delicious, easy and fast. great dip for roast chicken and veggies.
I’m very new to cooking, please be kind. What is tahini?
Hi Jennifer, Tahini is a sesame seed paste. Here’s our detailed explanation of tahini and how to make it.
I make a really good tahini dressing. Just my own creation, no recipe. However, I do enjoy looking up recipes for things I already make to see what others do or come up with. That’s how I landed on this recipe. My tahini dressing is very good, but this one absolutely blew me and my husband away. Going forward, this is the tahini dressing that I will continue to make.
My family loved the lemony tahini sauce! It was perfect with your falafel recipe. A welcome change from the traditional tzatziki and hummus. Flavourful, fast and fresh. Can’t wait to make it again.
Thank you for this easy recipe. I have just made it and it has turned out great! I am going to try your falafel recipe next!
Tahini is one of those ingredients we always have in the cupboard but I never quite know how to use it. This dressing was so simple and delicious. I poured it over baked pumpkin, feta and spinach. I will be making the dressing again and again, thank you!
Thank you for making the tahini sauce so simple. I have spent 2 days trying to figure out how to make it. You could of saved me so. much money. Every sight had more or different ingredients. I am a loyal fan from now on. Thanks for sharing.Pamela
Great taste
The sauce came out bitter… 🙁 any tips on how to fix that?
Hi there, Certain brands of tahini can be more bitter than others so changing the brand of tahini or making your own might be best. You can also try adding a little more olive oil to balance it out a bit.