It's Absurdly Easy To Make Your Own Tahini Sauce

If you're a fan of Middle Eastern food, you're undoubtedly well-acquainted with tahini sauce. Not only is it as ubiquitous on falafel sandwiches as ketchup is on hamburgers, but it also makes a great dip for pita triangles and other appetizers. If you learn to make your own, you'll find DIY tahini sauce to be a great topper for vegan sandwiches and it can even make cabbage more exciting. In case you're thinking that making your own condiments might be a bit of a stretch, we have it on good authority that tahini sauce is incredibly simple and easy to make.

CJ Jacobson, a one-time "Top Chef" contestant turned restaurateur, knows a thing or two about Middle Eastern food. He is part-owner of the two Mediterranean eateries Aba and Ēma, both of which feature tahini-sauced falafel on the menu. Jacobson sums up the sauce in just a single sentence, telling The Takeout: "For a perfect sandwich sauce, mix tahini paste with water, garlic, and lemon juice." If you get the proportions right, he says the mixture should be "smooth and creamy with just the right amount of acidity." If you want a blueprint, check out our lentil rice ball recipe. Not only does it make for a tasty vegetarian appetizer, but it also includes instructions for making a lemony tahini sauce dip.

The tahini sauce that Jacobson described (as well as the one included in our recipe above) is a pretty standard gyro shop staple. Tahini dressing, however, can serve as a base for other dips and dressings. To use it as a salad dressing, all you need to do is thin it out with extra lemon juice and a spoonful or two of oil. With the addition of chopped parsley, it can become a vegan variant of a green goddess dressing. If you stir maple syrup and apple cider vinegar into your tahini sauce, you'll have the perfect autumnal-themed dressing to pour over roasted acorn squash or carrots or a salad topped with dried cranberries, chopped apples, and pepitas.

Pureed roasted beets also make a great addition to tahini sauce since they thicken it up and add some earthy flavor that partners well with hearty chunks of multi-grain bread. Alternatively, you can make an extra-creamy tahini sauce by blending in some yogurt or turn it into pasta sauce by blending it with roasted tomatoes. If you omit the garlic and lemon and thin the tahini with maple syrup, it transforms into a vegan salted caramel dessert sauce suitable for use as a topping for fresh fruit or ice cream (plant-based or otherwise).