10 Recipe Ideas With Tahini (More Than Just Hummus!)

Tahini is probably best known for its use in hummus. However, that is by no means its only use, and we will show you that this sesame seed paste rightly deserves a place in your cupboard among you regular staples.

Crudites

This is a much better and healthier option than ranch dressing. So, next time you have a craving for ranch-dipped veggies, swap out the dressing for some tahini. To add a bit of extra flavor, blend in some lemon juice, salt, pepper or hot sauce.

Salad dressing

A tahini-based salad dressing is an excellent alternative to the run of the mill balsamic salad dressing. You can make a super easy mix by combining ¼ cup tahini, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 1 tsp grated ginger. Blend all of these ingredients in a food processor, and dress your salad with it for an exciting new take on that old classic.

Baba Ghanoush

Baba ganoush is a traditional eggplant dip with garlic and tahini. A great idea for a deconstructed baba ghanoush is to first roast some eggplant in the oven, then make a slit in the side of eggplant and spread in a mix of tahini, crushed garlic, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Serve with fresh, toasted pita breads.

Brownies

Because of its high fat content, tahini adds more fudginess to your average brownie recipe. It also adds a delicious flavor to the already rich, dark chocolate brownie base. Add some more tahini on top as a swirl. Because tahini is high in mono- and poly unsaturated fat, the result is a somewhat healthy twist on an decadent classic.

White Sauces

Use tahini to make a white tarator sauce. Tarator is a type of sauce. It has a variety of uses, one of it being a dipping for grilled chicken pieces or steamed vegetables. Using your food processor, thoroughly blend ½ cup tahini, ½ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup parsley, and 4 cloves garlic to make a appetizing tarator sauce.

Serve with falafels

Falafels are deep-fried balls made from ground chickpeas—it’s quite popular in Middle Eastern cooking. The taste goes really well with tahini. For super easy and delicious meal, warm up some store-bough frozen falafel first. Then, mix a few tablespoons of hot water and lemon juice with your tahini, and use this dressing as a drizzle over the falafel.

Burgers

Whether you realize it or not, the sesame seeds on a burger really add a lot of flavor to it. So, since we are all so accustomed to it and enjoy is so much, why not enhance the rest of the burger with the same great taste? Tahini works great on a variety of meats. You can spread it on as is, or combine it with lemon juice and smoked paprika for a smoky and zesty flavor.

Spread

In the same way we use peanut butter as a quick spread on our toast, you can also use tahini. Tahini is great as is, so for a quick snack or as part of a healthy breakfast, spread some of it on whole wheat bread and enjoy. To add just a little bit of sweetness¸ drizzle some honey or agave syrup over the top.

Pasta

This is an extremely simple way to give your pasta classics a face lift. Combine the tahini with some lemon and garlic to add a delicious nutty flavor to the pasta. It also adds a somewhat creamy texture to the pasta. Round off with some olive oil and fresh garlic.

Ice cream

Finally, who would have thought that you can add tahini to a dessert? Well, seeing as how well nuts go with ice cream, why not use tahini, since it also imparts a nutty flavor? Combine the tahini with cacao and frozen bananas for a tasty instant ice cream. This ice cream is also healthier than normal ice cream because of the high healthy fat content.