This Miso Tahini Dressing is incredibly flavorful, silky smooth and perfectly versatile. You'll love how easily it comes together and how well it goes with everything from fresh cut vegetables, a simple kale salad and even grilled vegetables.
We love a good dressing and sauce that can be used in all sorts of applications. This dressing is certainly one that gets used in so many different recipes! It's slightly tangy and sweet yet packed with big umami flavors. And it's also easy to make simple adjustments based on how you'll use it. Want to drizzle it on grilled chicken? Try adding some freshly grated garlic and a big pinch of Aleppo pepper. Looking for more of a salad dressing? Add some more acid, like lime or lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or rice vinegar.
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Ingredients that Matter
There are a handful of ingredients that go into this tasty tahini sauce. Here's what you'll need:
- Tahini. This staple of many Middle Eastern cuisines, tahini is a sesame butter or sesame paste. It's simply ground sesame seeds, but there are variations with some sesame seeds hulled, others left whole, and even some pastes made with toasted sesame seeds. It gives hummus its distinctive flavor. For this dressing, use any tahini you can find. No need to fuss!
- Miso. Another staple ingredient, this time from Japanese cuisine, miso is made from fermented soybeans, salt and koji fungus. If you are shopping for miso in the United States, you'll generally find it labeled by color: white, yellow or red. The color has to do with fermentation. For this recipe, we recommend using white miso as it's sweet and fairly mild compared to yellow or red.
- Maple Syrup. A little maple syrup rounds out the natural sweetness in the miso and curbs any bitterness from the tahini.
- Lime. We use the zest of one lime for its floral flavors and the juice for its acid, balancing the richness of the tahini.
- Ginger. A little ground fresh ginger goes a long way. Here we are only using one teaspoon as we want the miso and tahini to really shine, but that little bit of ginger adds interest to the dressing.
- Warm Water. The tahini is quite thick and the dressing needs to be thinned out to be pourable. Use warm tap water to loosen the mixture and add more water as needed to achieve a pourable consistency.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Making this miso tahini dressing is super easy. It's just like making a vinaigrette. Here's how it comes together:
Add the tahini, maple, miso, ginger, lime zest and lime juice to a mixing bowl. The tahini is quite sticky, so start whisking slowly and continue until the mixture is well combined.
Continue whisking while slowly adding in warm water, about one tablespoon at a time. Whisk vigorously and the dressing while become silky, light and fluffy. Adjust the consistency with more water as needed.
Hint: If you want a super light and fluffy dressing, whisk the mixture using an electric hand mixer. It'll almost have the consistency of a whipped cream!
Substitutions
While the ingredients for this recipe should be available in most grocery stores, we recognize not everyone can find them at their local markets. Or perhaps you have another reason why you need some substitutions. We have you covered:
- Miso - instead of using miso swap in coconut amino, tamari or soy sauce. It won't have the same flavor, but will provide a similar salty umami flavor like miso.
- Tahini - there isn't anything quite like tahini, but you'll get similar enough results using a nut butter like peanut butter or almond butter. Best yet, though, is swapping in cashew butter for the tahini.
- Lime - the lime is really a personal preference (based on or professional experience, of course), but you may also use lemon zest and juice, or a vinegar like rice, apple or white wine.
Variations
This dressing is super versatile and ready for your personal tastes! Here's some ways to change it up:
- Spicy - add a big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, Aleppo pepper, cayenne pepper or another ground pepper.
- Salad Dressing - add more acid (like lime juice or vinegar) along with more water to make this dressing more of a salad dressing. It's more of a creamy dressing as is, but adding more acid and water will thin it out and make it tangy enough to dress delicate lettuces.
- Garlicky - add freshly grated garlic (one or two cloves) to the dressing if you want pungent garlic flavor.
Looking for more tangy and bold sauces? Try our Creamy Chipotle Lime Sauce.
Equipment
You only need a couple tools to make this recipe. A good balloon whisk (which, as the name implies, has a big balloon shape) works wonders. We love this OXO Good Grips 11-inch Balloon Whisk.
And if you want, you could use an electric hand mixer to make your life a little easier. We use this KitchenAid 6 Speed Hand Mixer with Flex Edge Beaters.
Storage
We like to store the dressing in a mason jar with a tight lid. Be sure to give it a label with a date. It will taste good for up to one week if stored properly in the refrigerator.
Top tip
Be sure to use warm (not cold) water when making this dress. That's because cold water could cause the tahini to seize, making it incredibly difficult to whisk. The water doesn't have to be hot, just warm right out of the tap.
FAQ
Tahini dressing is delicious on chopped kale salads, grain bowls, grilled vegetables or meats, in pita pockets or as the dressing for coleslaw.
Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds. The sesame seeds are typically toasted and may also be hulled. Some tahini uses roasted sesame seeds.
Miso is a common condiment or ingredient used in Japanese cuisine. It's made from fermented soybeans, salt and koji fungus (a mold used to ferment rice and other grains). Some miso contains rice or barley.
Related
Looking for other sauce and dressing recipes like this? Try these:
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Recipe
Miso Tahini Dressing
- Total Time: 5 min.
- Yield: 1 ¼ cup 1x
Description
This Miso Tahini Dressing is incredibly flavorful, silky smooth and perfectly versatile. You'll love how easily it comes together and how well it goes with everything from fresh cut vegetables, a simple kale salad and even grilled vegetables.
Ingredients
- ½ cup tahini
- 2 Tbsp. white miso paste
- zest and juice from 1 lime
- 2 tsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
- 6-8 Tbsp. warm tap water
Instructions
- Add tahini, miso, zest and juice of lime, maple syrup and ginger to a medium mixing bowl. Slowly whisk together by hand or with a handheld electric mixer. Slowly drizzle in warm water 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing to whisk vigorously. Add enough water to achieve a thick yet pourable consistency. Continue to whisk vigorously until the dressing is silky smooth and light and airy. Store in a mason jar or airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
- If you don't have or don't want to use tahini try cashew butter or another nut butter like peanut or almond.
- No miso? Swap in coconut amino, tamari or soy sauce.
- Try adding one or two cloves or grated garlic.
- To make the dressing spicy, add a big pinch of Aleppo pepper, cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes.
- To make the sauce more a light dressing, add more warm tap water and more acid (lime juice or a light vinegar like white wine or rice).
- Prep Time: 5 min.
- Cook Time: 0 min.
- Category: Dressing
- Method: Whisking
- Cuisine: American/Middle Eastern
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