How to Cook With Tahini: Homemade Tahini Recipe

Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds that is used in Middle Eastern, North African, and Mediterranean cuisine. Tahini can be mixed with other ingredients like garlic and olive oil to make savory sauces, or added to sweet dishes to balance flavor and add nutrients.

Tahini is made from toasted hulled sesame seeds, which are grounded to make tahini paste. The paste is then mixed with a neutral-flavored oil to create a creamier texture. “Raw” tahini is made from untoasted sesame seeds.

The only ingredients in tahini are sesame seeds and oil, which means it’s incredibly easy to make your own tahini from scratch.

There are many ways to incorporate tahini into your cooking:

• Hummus: Tahini is an ingredient found in most hummus recipes. Puréed chickpeas with high-quality olive oil and zingy lemon may be creamy on its own, but the addition of tahini gives hummus a textural boost and a subtle earthy flavor from the toasted sesame seeds.
• Baba ganoush: Baba ganoush is a Lebanese roasted eggplant dip served as an appetizer, or meze, in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants all over the world. For baba ganoush, cooked eggplant is combined with tahini, olive oil, and other seasonings like garlic, za’atar, and sumac.
• Salad dressings: Tahini brings a savory depth to vinaigrettes. Combine tahini with extra-virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and lemon for salad dressing.
• Smoothies: A spoonful of tahini will bring a creamy, rich texture to smoothies.
• Dipping sauce: A pita stuffed with veggies and falafel isn’t complete without a drizzle of tahini, and a gyro just isn’t the same without a dollop of tahini sauce. Pair tahini with Greek yogurt, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and lemon juice to make tahini sauce—a tart addition to gyros.
• Desserts: The silky consistency and creaminess of tahini on the palate makes it a great addition to desserts. It’s the main ingredient in certain types of halva, and in some countries, tahini is mixed with date syrup or pekmez (a sweet syrup typically made from grape must) and eaten with bread. Recently, tahini has been used to add a new dimension to cookies, cakes, and pastries like millionaire shortbread.

Choosing the best tahini substitute depends on what you’re using it for. For baking or dessert applications, a nut or seed butter, like peanut butter or almond butter, works as a substitute for tahini. Combine toasted sesame oil with thick Greek-style yogurt to create a tahini substitute for hummus and dressings.