5-Minute Tahini Yogurt Sauce

Yep. You read that right. This Tahini yogurt sauce takes just 5 minutes and screams summer in every way imaginable. If you love middle eastern food, you must love Tahini as well. Tahini is not just great in terms of taste but is also a nutrient dense condiment. Store bought Tahini comes together with other magical ingredients like cumin to make for a nutty and tangy sauce in this recipe.

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Ingredients

When I am short of time but want to rock that dinner party or that potluck lunch, I turn to this sauce. This has been my trusted ally for years now. I discovered Tahini about a decade back in a small nondescript gourmet store in Baroda. 

What is Tahini?

For the uninitiated, this is just ground sesame seeds. Yep. Just that. Authentic Tahini has just this one ingredient. Contrary to what many think, there is no oil added to it. The oil that floats on the top of a bottle of tahini is something that happens naturally. 

Sesame seeds tend to release oil just like peanuts and other nuts. This oil separates from the ground paste after some time. That is about it. Tahini, also called Tahina in some places, can be made with both black and white sesame seeds. 

Black sesame seeds are nuttier and have a slightly more pronounced bitter taste when compared to the white sesame seeds. If you are a Tahini noob, I suggest that you start with white sesame based tahini.

For this recipe, I have used store-bought tahini that has been made with white sesame seeds. You should be able to find tahini in Asian stores or in middle eastern grocery stores. Places like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods also carry this.

Yogurt

We need silky smooth yogurt for this sauce. Thick whole milk yogurt works best. You can also use Greek yogurt instead.

Garlic

Once a garlic fan, always a garlic fan. All in agreement, say aye. This sauce is incomplete without garlic. I have used garlic powder. When I used fresh garlic cloves, I found that they overpower the tahini flavor. However, garlic powder blends in beautifully with just the right amount of garlicky flavor.

Cumin

The reason why I love Mexican food and middle eastern food is because both are so similar to Indian food. Cumin is a commonly used spice in all the three cuisines and rightly so. 

In this particular recipe, cumin imparts an earthy flavor that is refreshing with that slightly bitter tahini and tangy yogurt.

Red paprika

This one needs no introduction, does it? I wanted the dip to be a bit spicy and opted to add red paprika at the last minute. Little did I know that I would be blown away by the end result. If you want a mildly spicy sauce, I recommend using sweet paprika instead of regular red paprika.

Lemon juice

Lemon juice does some kind of magic to this sauce. The zesty citrus flavor balances the bitterness.

Parsley

Can a middle eastern dish exist without parsley? It is what is cilantro to Mexican food. I added a very small amount of finely chopped parsley for this sauce. It is optional but highly recommended.

Different ways to use this sauce

1. This nutty sauce makes for a fantastic dressing in salads. Try it with bulgur based salads or roasted veggies salads. Either ways, it is just one thing- YUMM.
2. You can serve this as a part of a Mezze platter along with other dips and sauces. An ideal combination will be this sauce, Baba Ganoush and Muhammara.
3. In wraps– drizzle them over on the filling, roll it up and dig in.
4. Between burgers– yep. That good. This sauce is especially good with plant based meat burgers. 
5. This sauce pairs well with kebabs and Tikkis apart from falafels.

Recipe notes

1. Tahini is a thick paste. This takes a while to blend well with other ingredients. For this reason, I recommend using a high speed blender. I made this sauce in my Ninja blender and it was done in less than a minute.
2. The yogurt should not be too sour. Freshly set thick yogurt works best. Or you can also use Greek yogurt. I love Chobani’s plain Greek yogurt. Recently, I made this sauce with the low fat Greek yogurt from Chobani and it was not disappointing at all.
3. Do not add the parsley while blending the other ingredients. If the parsley is added while blending, the sauce will have a dominant parsley taste. Instead, add it at the end after the sauce has been blended.
4. Keep this sauce chilled in the fridge until ready to serve. When left out in room temperature, it tends to water down and become sour since we add yogurt.

Make ahead, Shelf life and storage

Planning to serve this at a party? You can make this sauce 2 days ahead of time. Just make sure to store it in an air tight container in the fridge. Always use a clean dry spoon to serve this sauce. This sauce keeps well in the fridge for 4 days.

I will not recommend freezing this sauce since the texture becomes completely different after thawing it.

Vegan Tahini Yogurt Sauce

The only ingredient that makes this non vegan is the yogurt. This can easily be made to suit vegans by swapping the regular yogurt with coconut yogurt or cashew yogurt. 

When choosing vegan yogurt for this recipe, pick an unsweetened vegan yogurt that has no flavors added.

Method

Since this is a very straightforward recipe which just involves blending stuff, I have not included step by step pictures. 

To a blender jar, add 1/2 the yogurt, tahini ,garlic powder, ground cumin, red paprika, salt and lemon juice. Blend till it is smooth. Now, add the remaining yogurt and blend once again till the mixture is smooth and creamy.

When done, transfer to a bowl. Stir in the finely chopped parsley and keep chilled until ready to serve.

More Dips and Sauces

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

5 minute tahini yogurt sauce

This sauce is just what you need for summer and for pretty much every get together. 5 minutes is all you need to whip up this creamy, nutty and tangy sauce that makes for a fantastic salad dressing as well.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Course: Accompaniment, Dip

Cuisine: Middle eastern

Servings: 2.5 cups

Equipment

• 1 set of measuring cups and spoons
• 1 high speed blender

Ingredients

• 2 cups Whole milk yogurt Please refer the blog post for more details.
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 2 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 tbsp Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp Red paprika
• 1/2 tsp Sea salt or to taste
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions

• To a blender jar, add 1/2 the yogurt, tahini ,garlic powder, ground cumin, red paprika, salt and lemon juice.
• Blend till it is smooth.
• Now, add the remaining yogurt and blend once again till the mixture is smooth and creamy.
• When done, transfer to a bowl.
• Stir in the finely chopped parsley and keep chilled until ready to serve.

Notes

1. Tahini is a thick paste. This takes a while to blend well with other ingredients. For this reason, I recommend using a high speed blender. I made this sauce in my Ninja blender and it was done in less than a minute.
2. The yogurt should not be too sour. Freshly set thick yogurt works best. Or you can also use Greek yogurt. I love Chobani’s plain Greek yogurt. Recently, I made this sauce with the low fat Greek yogurt from Chobani and it was not disappointing at all.
3. Do not add the parsley while blending the other ingredients. If the parsley is added while blending, the sauce will have a dominant parsley taste. Instead, add it at the end after the sauce has been blended.
4. Keep this sauce chilled in the fridge until ready to serve. When left out in room temperature, it tends to water down and become sour since we add yogurt.

For Instant Pot & Air Fryer Recipes

Instant Pot timings may vary based on your geographic location. Air fryer settings and timings may vary based on the capacity and the model of the Air fryer.

Disclaimer

Nutrition values are provided here as a courtesy and are only a rough guide. Please consult a health care provider if you have any concerns.

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