My friend Erin requested a tahini dressing recipe, and here it is! This tahini dressing is luxuriously creamy yet plant-based (no mayo!). It’s a fun alternative to your standard vinaigrette.
This tahini dressing is versatile and goes with a wide variety of salad ingredients. I listed a bunch of those ingredients below to help you craft your own salad. The tahini dressing will bring it all together.
I shared my go-to tahini sauce recipe a couple of months ago (have you tried it yet?). This salad dressing is similar but designed specifically for drizzling on salads, rather than using as a dipping sauce or on sandwiches.
For this salad dressing, I omitted the garlic and made up for the lost flavor by adding Dijon mustard. I also incorporated some olive oil in this dressing to make it extra luxurious. It’s easy to whisk together at a moment’s notice, and keeps well for about a week. I think you’re going to love it!
Tahini Dressing Tips & Notes
Buy good tahini! They vary a lot in flavor and consistency. The best tahini comes from Ethiopia, and my favorite brands of Ethiopian tahini are Soom Foods (affiliate link) and Trader Joe’s organic tahini.
Ice-cold water is key. Fill a glass with water and ice before you make this dressing so your water is very cold. The cold water ensures that the mixture emulsifies instead of getting all gloppy and weird. It also turns an already-creamy mixture into a remarkably creamy dressing! You’d almost think there’s mayonnaise in this dressing, but there’s not.
Balance tahini’s bitterness and tang with a little sweetener and some extra salt. A little bit of maple syrup or honey go a long way in making this salad taste well-balanced, complex, and totally delicious. This dressing also calls for a little more salt than most of my other dressings. Salt helps balance bitterness and brings out tahini’s best.
Tahini Dressing Salad Suggestions
This tahini dressing would be great on a salad with any of the following ingredients:
- Greens: kale, arugula, romaine, spring greens
- Tomatoes
- Bell pepper
- Radish
- Fennel
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Cabbage
- Summer squash
- Red onion or green onion
- Fresh herbs: basil, cilantro, chives, dill, parsley
- Beans: chickpeas, lentils
- Whole grains: quinoa, farro, wheat berries
- Nuts and seeds: almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds
- Cheese: goat cheese, feta
Please tell me how you like this dressing in the comments! I’m so eager to hear how your salads turn out!
Looking for more homemade dressings to liven up your salads? Don’t miss my mint dressing, basic vinaigrette with variations, healthy honey mustard dressing, or carrot ginger dressing.
Creamy Tahini Dressing
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: ¾ cup 1x
- Category: Salad dressing
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
You’re going to love this delicious creamy tahini dressing recipe! It’s simple to make, full of nutritious ingredients and goes with everything. Recipe yields about ¾ cup.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup tahini
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons ice-cold water, more as needed
Instructions
- In a liquid measuring cup or jar, combine the olive oil, tahini, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, mustard, maple syrup, salt, and several twists of black pepper. Whisk until thoroughly blended.
- Add the cold water, and whisk again. The dressing should become remarkably creamy. Taste, and add more lemon juice (for zing) and pepper, if desired. If your dressing is too thick to drizzle, whisk in more cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Serve!
- This dressing will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for about 1 week. It may thicken with time; simply thin it with a little more cool water as needed.
Notes
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.
Change it up: You can stir in a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped fresh herbs (dill, basil, mint, cilantro or parsley) for an herbed tahini dressing. For full-blown green goddess flavor, see the herbs and amounts suggested here.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Kai
I cannot even begin to describe the amazing deliciousness of this sauce/dressing!! I didn’t make any moderations whatsoever and it was absolutely perfect. Definitely our go-to sauce from now on. By the way, we made vegan Buddha Bowls and drizzled that on top, with some seeds and nuts = DELIGHTFUL! Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe.
★★★★★
Kate
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Kai. Sounds delicious with a Buddha bowl.
Claire
I add paprika and sometimes pressed garlic and go a little light on the dijon. SO GOOD! Definitely the creamiest tahini dressing I have made.
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Claire! Thank you for your review.
Christine
This was delicious! I’m so thankful for the tip to add iced cold water to make it creamy, too. It’s nice to not have “chunks”. Love it!!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for your review, Christine.
Chaya
This dressing is delicious! I googled a tehini dressing and this came up….made a huge jar…and kids approved!! Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Chaya.
Liz
I always find the best dressings here! Usually the recipes on c&k call for more sweetness than I prefer, so I halved the maple syrup here and it tasted right to me. Having this over a lentil salad tonight.
★★★★★
Vivian Fields
Deliciousness! looking forward to trying it with herbs next making your Fresh Greek Nachos. Been following you on FB. Get lots of compliments on your recipes
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Vivian! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Shawdi
I just made this and it’s really good! The tahini makes the dressing taste really savory. I’ve been adding it to a bowl of crispy romaine lettuce and quinoa. I add tofu or beans for some protein and the tahini dressing goes so well with it. For sure creamy and it stays that way and doesn’t separate. Thanks for the great recipe :)
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Shawdi! I appreciate your review.
Julia
Hi, I just wanted to thank you for this recipe, I’ve been using it over and over since I found it only a couple of weeks ago, it’s perfect! <3
Kate
Hooray! I love it. Thank you for commenting, Julia.
mary wentz
We live on this tahini dressing! Thank you so much! The cold ice water is the key to a creamy dressing! Love your blog!
Kate
Thank you, Mary!
Kate Delaney
This dressing is so good I have to keep myself from eating it with a spoon. I love it! The ice water trick is great!
★★★★★
Maheshwari
Mindblown! I had a jar of unused tahini and this dressing was so easy to make, I couldn’t pass it up. It’s delicious and creamy and filled with tons of healthy fats. This will be my go to dressing for salads and perhaps dips too.
★★★★★
Kate
Hooray! I love this will now be a go-to dressing for you. I appreciate your review.
Claudia
Amazing tahini dressing love it
JO
Wonderful recipe! I had no fine salt so used soy. Love the mustard kick!
★★★★★
Jen
Delicious, thank you! Just what I was looking for. I used only 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp of stone ground mustard which is all I had in the fridge.
★★★★★
Claire C Lematta
I was invited to a vegan picnic and was a bit panicked about finding a recipe that would be flavorful and interesting, and that I could make with ingredients I have on hand. I thought of tahini dressing and stumbled, virtually, upon yours. The flavor profile is just right! I used it on a garbanzo bean/veggie salad. It will be a go to recipe now for my household, which is not vegan but hey, we can all use recipes that make veggies and fish delicious. thank you!
★★★★★
Justine
This stuff is to die for. I honestly struggle to not just drink it all when transferring to a container for storage. I go a little heavy on the lemon juice but otherwise don’t make any changes at all. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Justine!
Catherine McLean
How long does it keep in fridge?
Kate
I think it keeps well! You may just need to remix if it looks like it has settled some. Enjoy!
Shelley Poulsen
Many positive comments such as, “What is this delicious salad dressing you used?!” at yesterday’s party. Even from the men! It was easy to make and I used a lot more lemon juice as suggested because that’s my preference.
★★★★★