This week I reached out to our community about a large jar of tahini that has been looking at me every time I open the fridge! As I’m the only person who eats it – and I eat it infrequently – I was worried it might end up as food waste.
All I’ve ever done with it is make humus, but I assumed it works as a neutral taste so might work in sweet dishes as well as savoury.
As ever, our members came up with some fantastic suggestions, which are too good to keep to myself. When I originally published this post, there were 15 ideas on the page, but they just kept coming, so I’m keeping on adding!
Eat on bread
Alice said “In Turkey we mix it with molasses and eat on bread. We actually have alot of biscuits and deserts that use it. Maybe you can search “Turkish recipes using tahini””
Avis agrees and shares “Spread out on your toast, add sugar or honey… Its delicious”
Tiffany concurs “Drizzle it on bread with some maple syrup or molasses… tastes divine”
Use in salad dressing
Patricia said “ I use it as part of salad dressing (I put mayonnaise, olive oil, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, chopped up garlic or garlic powder, and tahini, and shake)”
Tracy says you can substitute tahini for other ingredients: “Homemade salad dressing…any time you need an oil or nut butter swap this in.”
Elizabeth agrees by writing “I LOVE making a simple tahini dressing with lemon, maple syrup, water, salt. We put it on salads but also on “bowls” with grains, veggies, and tofu or TVP.”
Emma shares “best dressing- tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast, add water to make pourable. adjust all to taste”
Make biscuits
Lindsay recommends Melissa Hemsleys tahini biscuit recipe.
Use in place of nut butter
Lyn, who had bought a jar of almond butter on the day I asked the question suggested “I wonder if you could substitute tahini for any nut butter in a recipe?”
Judith confirmed you can. She wrote “I’ve subbed tahini for the almond butter in this recipe and it works really well. https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB/dark-chocolate-vegan-cookies-recipe
Michelle does this too: “We use it instead of peanut butter in bliss balls/energy balls.”
Add to home made veggie burgers
Camilla recommended these beetroot burgers where tahini is used as a binding agent
Make baba ganoush
Noémie uses it in vinaigrettes, baba ganush and other dips and shared this recipe: https://cookieandkate.com/epic-baba-ganoush-recipe/
She also recommended this roast butternut squash and tahini dish
https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/roast-butternut-squash-and-red-onion-with-tahini-and-za-atar
Make your own chocolates
Kim shares their idea for chocolate: “I make yummy home made ‘chocolate’ using tahini. its a bit of a guesswork recipe.. I melt equal-ish amounts of coconut oil, tahini, smooth nut butter, cocoa and maple syrup in a pan and make sort of smooth paste..it requires testing, tweaking and tasting, you might add a little more of one or other of the ingredients. Then pour in to an ice cube tray or little moulds (maybe tray from box of chocolates) and put in fridge to set (or freezer if in a hurry!) suggest doing dessert spoonfuls as a starter measurement and work upwards!”
Banana toffee ice cream
Pam takes us right to foodie heaven with banana toffee ice cream. You’re welcome
Tahini and halva brownies
These brownies that Sarah shared a link to will soon knock a dent in my tahini stash https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/tahini-and-halva-brownies
Add to pasta
Kali keeps it simple. They shared “I mostly like it on pasta with a tomato sauce. Mix it in at the end and it’s nice and creamy.”
Sweet and savoury video tips
Back to Turkey as Bengt shared in this video. Bengt wrote “On her channel, Refika has a few other tips in this video. They start at 5:25.
Tahini yogurt dressing
Antonia said “I love the dressing of this recipe. It uses tahini. You can use regular yogurt with it.”
Add to porridge
Laura suggested adding to porridge.
Add to cottage pie
Joanne said “Tahini dressing on any salad or roasted vegetable dish is amazing and on its own it’s great used in vegan cottage pie in the base as an extra umami flavour layer.”
Use it everywhere!
Another advocate, Kristyn said “I use it for everything! On salads. Roasted or steamed veggies (especially sweet potato). Mix with Greek yoghurt & lemon juice for a make a dipping sauce.”
Stir fry sauce
Viki suggested “Works well with peanut butter for a satay sauce. There’s a Tom Kerridge recipe I’ve tweaked to make vegan and it’s great for stir fries and with tofu.”
Vegan mock tuna
Bonnie shared this recipe for a vegan chickpea no tuna salad sandwich!
Make healthy energy snacks
Vina makes her own snacks. She shares “Wash some berries and put in a spoonful of tahini and toasted sunflower seeds. It’s a sweet balanced snack that doesn’t spike my blood sugar.”
Add to smoothies
Paula makes smoothies with hers. She wrote “I ause in cacao smoothies… hazelnut milk, scoop raw cacao, banana, maple and a big spoon of Tahini… yum”
Add to savoury dishes
Nichole recommends “Tahini is an awesome addition to soups and pastas to make the dish creamy, without actually adding cream or dairy! I make a Mediterranean style vegetable soup, and will add some tahini to make it hearty and creamy.”
Brownies
Julia shared a recipe for paleo, gluten free and grain free brownies which uses a cup of tahini https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/grain-free-tahini-brownies-the-best-brownies-ive-ever-eaten
Nut-free Nutella!
Stephanie said “tahini with honey (or agave nectar or golden syrup etc if vegan) and cocoa makes an indulgent chocolate spread.”
