This creamy tahini salad dressing recipe features fresh lemon juice, and gets its vibrant green color from a bundle of fresh parsley leaves. Ready in minutes with a blender! Vegan.
This quick salad dressing is one of our favorite meal prep sauces. It's rich and creamy, with strong notes of sesame thanks to a bit of tahini paste.
Fresh lemon juice and parsley give it some bright, punchy flavor and a stunning green color. Make it ahead of time and use it on salads, grain bowls, seafood, and more all week long!
Ingredients
Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities.
- Tahini is a smooth paste made from ground sesame seeds. It has a rich, nutty flavor, and is commonly used in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes (like baba ganoush and hummus). Buy a jar of tahini paste at the store or try your hand at homemade tahini!
- Fresh lemon juice adds a bright punch of acidity. We prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice in this recipe, but you can use bottled juice in a pinch.
- Fresh parsley give this dressing its gorgeous green color and adds some depth of flavor.
Variations and Substitutions
- Swap the parsley for fresh mint, cilantro, or chives, or use a blend of your favorite fresh herbs.
- Omit the parsley entirely for a simple, creamy lemon tahini dressing. If you omit the herbs, you can whisk or stir this dressing together by hand (no need to blend).
- Add garlic. A clove of raw garlic will add a bit of spice to this dressing; roasted garlic will lend a mellower flavor.
- For a hint of sweetness, add a Tablespoon of honey or maple syrup.
- Add a dash of sesame oil for more concentrated sesame flavor.
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a small blender (we like to use a bullet-style blender: it makes an incredibly smooth dressing).
Blend until smooth, then check the consistency: If the salad dressing is too thick, add a splash of cold water or additional olive oil, and blend again to thin it out.
Pro Tip: Taste the dressing once it's blended. Add kosher salt or lemon juice as needed to balance the flavors to suit your tastes!
Storage
Store dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. It may separate a bit as it sits in the fridge: Just shake or whisk the dressing back to a smooth consistency when you're ready to serve.
Serving suggestions
This dressing is so versatile - it's a great building block recipe! Some of our favorite ways to use it:
- Use on your favorite salads and grain bowls (I especially love this dressing with our quinoa sweet potato salad, cilantro chicken chopped salad, or some peppery arugula or spinach salads).
- Drizzle it over grilled or roasted vegetables (it's especially good with cumin roasted carrots, roasted sweet potatoes, lemon roasted broccoli, or roasted cauliflower).
- Serve it as a dip with homemade falafel or sliced veggies.
- Drizzle over cooked protein (it's great on grilled chicken, roasted salmon, steak, and more).
FAQs
Tahini is a creamy, smooth paste made from ground sesame seeds. It has a rich, nutty flavor, and is commonly used in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes (like baba ganoush and hummus).
In this simple recipe, we recommend using tahini paste, which has a smooth consistency. We've tested this recipe with Soom Tahini and Wegmans Organic Tahini paste.
When you're shopping, look for tahini paste that lists sesame seeds as the ONLY ingredient (as opposed to pre-made tahini sauces and dressings, which contain multiple ingredients). You can also make homemade tahini if you prefer!
Learn more: The Best Store-Bought Tahini
It's really up to you! As written, this recipe makes a relatively thick sauce (although that will vary depending on the brand of tahini you use) that's easy to spoon over your favorite dishes.
For a thinner, more drizzle-able consistency, you can blend in a splash of water (or extra virgin olive oil, or extra lemon juice).
For salads and grain bowls, we tend to prefer a thinner dressing; if we're using it as a dip for falafel or a spread on a sandwich, we'll leave this dressing on the thicker side.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it turned out!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Tahini Dressing with Parsley
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ¼ cups 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: Mediterranean Inspired
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy, creamy lemon tahini dressing gets its vibrant color from fresh parsley. Easy to prep ahead of time, and perfect on salads, grain bowls, and more!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup tahini paste
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (1-2 large lemons)
- 1 packed cup fresh parsley
- kosher salt, to taste
- 3 Tablespoons cold water (optional, to thin out the dressing)
Instructions
- Add tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley to a blender with a pinch of kosher salt. Blend until you have a smooth sauce.
- If the dressing is too thick, add cold water a Tablespoon at a time, blending well between each addition, until the dressing reaches your desired consistency.
- Store dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Equipment. We like to use a bullet-style blender here, as it creates an exceptionally smooth dressing. This recipe also works with a regular blender or immersion blender.
Substitutions. Use fresh mint, chives, cilantro, or oregano in place of some or all of the parsley here. Use fresh lime juice in place of the lemon. Add a clove of raw or roasted garlic if you like. This recipe is very forgiving: Adjust the amount of any ingredient to suit your taste!
We tested this recipe with Soom Tahini and Wegmans Organic Tahini. For best results, look for Tahini Paste that lists "sesame seeds" as the sole ingredient.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
- Calories: 86
- Sugar: 0.2 g
- Sodium: 60.4 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.7 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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