Try this easy tahini salad dressing for a lemony, savory option for your salads. You can also enjoy it with bowls, and grilled vegetables, or dip raw vegetables into it for a snack or an appetizer. Fresh salads with homemade salad dressing are a great way to eat more veggies!
For this salad, I used romaine with radicchio. chopped roasted almonds, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots ad cucumber, and cooked green lentils. There are tons of possibilities!
I have been making this dressing lately as a fresh and nutritious addition to my salads. I started buying tahini (sesame seed paste) in order to make my own hummus, which I enjoy with whole-grain crackers, baby carrots, and peppers.
I also use it in wraps, like my Favorite Grilled Veggie Hummus Wrap, and for Butternut Squash Walnut Flatbread. It’s fresh and delicious, you decide what flavors go into it, it saves money, AND you cut back on the amount of single-use plastics you’re using: win-win!Â
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Previously, I had bought cans of sesame paste and found the consistency was too grainy. I found a jar instead at an Asian supermarket. Not only does it taste better, but it is easier to store and also lasts longer if you only use it occasionally. By the way, I love Michael Solomonov’s recipes for tahini sauce and hummus in his cookbook Zahav.
This dressing is a nice alternative to bottled dressing. These premade salad dressings are often too high in added sugars, sodium, plus preservatives. This tahini-lemon flavored dressing goes well with leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, spring mix, and romaine salads.
Sodium in Tahini Salad Dressing
Many popular bottled salad dressing brands have 200 – 500 milligrams of sodium per 2 tablespoon serving. And I know I usually have more than 2 tablespoons of salad dressing on a large salad. Adults should have less than 1,500 – 2,300 mg. of sodium per day, according to the American Heart Association.
As you can see, salad dressing can be a significant source of sodium in the diet. Watch out for other salty items in salads like olives, croutons, salted nuts, and real or artificial bacon bits.
Ingredient Tips
If you use fresh garlic, try soaking the chopped garlic in water for ten minutes so the taste is not too strong in the salad dressing.
For this recipe, the reduced-sodium soy sauce adds only 37 milligrams per serving (55 milligrams total sodium per serving – the brand I used has 440 milligrams per tablespoon) and the other ingredients are low in sodium. So you get lots of flavor without much sodium at all!
Reduced-sodium tamari is an even better alternative to the reduced-sodium soy sauce with more flavor.
Apple cider vinegar – You can use rice wine vinegar also.
Olive oil – or try another oil you like. I think avocado oil is good for this dressing.
For fresh ginger, I like to slice off the peel with a paring knife, and then grate it using a grating plate. If you don’t use fresh ginger too often, wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and freeze it so it stays fresh for months instead of a couple of weeks.
How to Make This Dressing
- Combine water, tahini, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic powder, and powdered ginger with a small whisk in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the olive oil into the mixture and whisk the ingredients together well.
This is a small batch: click on 2x or 3x from the options in the recipe below to make more. You can store it in a covered container in the refrigerator for several days. Just give it a good shake before using it.
Easy Tahini Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Method
- Combine water, tahini, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic powder, and powdered ginger with a small whisk in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the olive oil into the mixture and whisk together until combined and smooth.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!If you have a chance, check out the Zahav cookbook to learn more about authentic Israeli cooking. This link will take you to my Bookshop.com page, which has some of my favorite cookbooks and other books. Bookshop.com supports local independent bookstores.
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How did you like this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating in the comments below:
Updated 7/5/2025. Originally published: 6/17/2018.
Love tahini – it makes such a good salad dressing or dipping sauce, doesn’t it? Eb 🙂
Thank you, Eb. I have never really used it by itself. The flavor is pretty strong: maybe I would try it with lemon juice.
Tahini is such a fabulous ingredient. I use it in sauces a lot. I’m intrigued by your addition of ginger and will have to try it.
Love a salad dressing, & this one looks amazing! Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare 🙂
I’m very partial to tahini and your salad dressing sounds well worth trying. Thanks for sharing the recipe.