Herb Tahini Dressing (no salt added & oil-free)
Bright flavorful fresh herbs blended with lemon, spices and tahini makes the perfect healthful, savory, no-oil, no-added-salt dressing, sauce and dip!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp tahini ~90 grams
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. water ~120 mL
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. lemon juice ~70 mL
- 3/4 cup chopped curly parsley ~11 grams
- 1/2 cup chopped green onion ~50 grams
- 1/3 cup chopped dill ~6 grams
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint ~2.6 grams
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro ~2.7 grams
- 1-1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 to 2 whole fresh garlic cloves
- 1-1/2 tsp no-salt seasoning
- 1/2 tsp onion powder optional
Instructions
-
Add the tahini, water and lemon juice to your high-speed blender bowl. Add the chopped fresh herbs and spices.
-
Blend on high for about 20 seconds or pulse until the sauce is creamy and combined but still has texture and you can see the bits of the herbs.
-
Give the dressing a taste and adjust seasonings if needed. You may need to add more water at this point especially if you're using a thicker tahini.
Recipe Notes
Yield: Makes 1-1/2 cups
Servings: Six 1/4-cup portions
Storage: It lasts for up to 10 days when stored in a glass Mason jar or food storage container with snaplock lid. Remember to condense down your storage container as you eat through the batch.
Notes on Tahini:
- You want to get a one-ingredient tahini. That means the only ingredient is sesame seeds or roasted sesame seeds. Hulled sesame seeds are less bitter than un-hulled sesame seeds.
- I developed this recipe using a "runny" style tahini. That means that the tahini is not as thick. The brand I use is called Soom and they use an Ethiopian sesame seed variety that makes a very smooth-textured tahini.
- Make sure to mix your tahini thoroughly in its container before measuring it out for this recipe. Tahini is like natural peanut butter where oil separation occurs. At the bottom of the container the tahini will be almost like a paste. This can also mean that it's been on the shelf too long.
- If you store your tahini in the fridge: Allow it to come to room temperature and reincorporate the tahini well to ensure it's more runny.
- If you only have access to thicker tahini: You'll want to add more water to the dressing. Increase the water from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups.
What if I over-blend?
Not a super-big deal! It will still taste amazing but you won't have the added texture of the bits of herbs. The color will be more green and the texture will be less runny and more thick.
What if I only have dried herbs?
While the flavor will not be nearly as good, especially because this recipe has no added salt, you can use a combination of fresh and dried herbs or all dried when in a pinch. Give it a taste as you may need to add salt, nutritional yeast or white miso paste to compensate.
- 2 Tbsp. dried parsley
- 2 Tbsp. dried green onion
- 1 Tbsp. dried dill
- 2 tsp. dried mint
- 2 tsp. dried cilantro