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I use this homemade tahini sauce recipe for everything! Once you taste this creamy lemon garlic sauce, you’ll find yourself making it on repeat.
Since sharing our easy tahini recipe, we’ve been experimenting with more ways to it. I’ve used it to make homemade hummus and am now obsessed with this easy lemon garlic tahini sauce. I keep a jar in my fridge at all times! For more of a salad dressing, see our easy tahini dressing!
I love serving this creamy sauce over salad, grain bowls, grilled meats, and roasted veggies. And always serve it next to our homemade falafel and pita bread. I can’t wait for you to make it!
Key Ingredients
- Tahini: This sesame seed paste is the base of our sauce. Before measuring it, give it a good stir to make it runny and smooth. You can buy tahini or make your own. Here’s how to make tahini (it’s super simple, I promise).
- Fresh garlic: For the garlic to melt into the sauce, grate it with a microplane or mince it into a paste. I’ve shared some tips in the recipe below.
- Fresh lemon juice: This thins the sauce and keeps it fresh and bright.
- Olive oil: This makes the sauce smooth and luxurious.
- Cumin, cayenne, fresh parsley, and salt: These are optional, but I love them in this recipe.
- Warm water: This is the secret ingredient for making the smoothest, creamiest homemade tahini sauce. Watch our video to see how water quickly transforms the tahini into an unbelievably creamy sauce.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Tahini Sauce
Tip 1: Whisk the ingredients. We’ll start by stirring tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt in a bowl. It starts creamy and then might seize up on you (see the photo below). Don’t worry if it looks lumpy. We will fix that when we add the water.
Tip 2: Make creamy with water. The tahini sauce becomes super creamy as you whisk in warm water. You can add as much or as little water as you like. It all depends on what you plan to use it for.
For spreads, add less water. Add more if you want to use the sauce as a dressing or for drizzling.
Tip 3: Finish with extra flavor. Add more flavor with spices and fresh parsley. I love a slight smokiness from ground cumin, some spice from cayenne, and a fresh pop of color and flavor from fresh parsley.
Ways to Use This Sauce
Once you make this creamy lemon garlic tahini sauce, you’ll always want a batch in your fridge. Use this sauce whenever you want to add a creamy (non-dairy) drizzle to your dishes. It works for salads, grain bowls, rice bowls, and wraps.
I love it in this tahini kale bean salad and use it to drizzle over roasted veggies. Examples are my honey roasted carrots with tahini sauce and this garlic asparagus, which I love to dip into tahini sauce. I also love this tahini sauce for homemade falafel, grilled chicken, and seafood, like baked salmon or garlic herb shrimp.
More Mediterranean Recipes
Perfect Tahini Sauce
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Use this Middle Eastern-inspired lemon garlic tahini sauce on anything. Try it as a dip or salad dressing, drizzle it over vegetables and meats, or serve with pita and wraps.
Makes approximately 1/2 cup
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
⅓ cup well-stirred tahini, try homemade tahini (80ml)
1 garlic clove, finely grated or made into a paste, see tips
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch fine sea salt
2 to 6 tablespoons lukewarm water
Pinch cumin, optional
Pinch cayenne, optional
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, optional
Directions
1Whisk tahini, garlic paste, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt in a bowl until combined. The mixture may thicken and look lumpy.
2Whisk in the water, a tablespoon at a time, until you have your desired consistency. If making a spread, look for the consistency of peanut butter. For a sauce, add enough water to resemble the consistency of runny yogurt.
3Stir in the optional cumin, cayenne pepper, and parsley. Taste for seasoning and adjust with additional salt or lemon juice.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Storing: Keep this sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Still, we’d be shocked if you didn’t find ways to enjoy it by then!
- How to make garlic paste: Use a fine microplane and grate the garlic (easiest method) or make a paste with your knife. To make the paste with your knife, peel and finely mince the garlic clove. Sprinkle the garlic with a pinch of coarse salt, then use the flat side of a knife to drag it over the garlic, scraping it across the cutting board’s surface. Pile up the garlic again, then repeat a few more times until the garlic is a smooth paste.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 tablespoon
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Calories
78
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Total Fat
7 g
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Saturated Fat
1 g
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Cholesterol
0 mg
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Carbohydrate
3 g
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Dietary Fiber
1 g
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Total Sugars
0 g
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Protein
2 g
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