Tahini sauce

Tahini sauce is raw tahini, a paste of ground sesame, whisked with ice water, lemon, garlic and salt until it turns smooth, pale and soft. In Israel and across the Levant the same word, tahini, means both the paste and the sauce, and it is on every table: in pita with falafel, over hummus, next to every salad.

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VeganVegetarianGluten freeDairy freeParve

Updated

Tahini sauceIllustration
Time20 min
Amount6 portions0.9 kg
Per portion471 kcal16.2 g protein · a 150 g portion
Cost of the pot₪16for the pot, about ₪2.6 a bowl

The story of Tahini sauce

The name tahini comes from the Arabic root meaning to grind, as in Hebrew. Sesame is one of the oldest oil crops in the region, and the craft has hardly changed: the seeds are soaked, lightly crushed and put into brine, where the hulls sink and the kernels float. The hulled kernels are gently roasted and ground between millstones into a smooth paste. Nablus and the Galilee have a long tradition of tahini mills.

In Israel tahini is almost the national sauce. It is poured over falafel, shawarma and sabich, goes into hummus, is baked with meatballs and fish, and in recent years has found its way into cakes, cookies and desserts too. Many Israeli tahini makers prefer Ethiopian sesame from the Humera region, considered especially sweet and fragrant.

What makes Tahini sauce itself

Tahini sauce has only five ingredients, so every one of them shows. Good raw tahini is slightly sweet and fragrant, with no bitterness at all. The basic ratio is roughly equal weights of raw tahini and water, with a quarter of that in lemon juice. The magic is the moment the tahini seizes into a dough when the lemon and first water go in, then opens into a smooth sauce as you keep adding water. Once you know that moment, it no longer scares you.

Tahini sauce for any number of people

Change the number of people and the portion size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per portion.

Portion size
Units
0.9kg of food
3Pot to use, litres
₪16Cost of the pot
₪2.6per portion
471kcal per portion
16.2g protein per portion
IngredientAmountCost
The sauce
Raw tahini from hulled sesame, well stirred in the jar400 g₪12
Ice cold water380 g
Fresh lemon juice100 g₪2.0
Garlic cloves, crushed10 g · 3 pcs₪0.4
Salt6 g₪0.0
To serve
Olive oil15 g₪0.8
Chopped parsley10 g₪0.5
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Tahini sauce? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Tahini sauce has 314 calories per 100 g. A 150 g serving made with our recipe has 471 calories: 16.2 g protein, 42.4 g fat and 3 g carbohydrates.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 400 g443 kcal per serving
  • 100 ml4 kcal per serving
  • 3 pcs2 kcal per serving
  • 6 g0 kcal per serving
  • 15 ml20 kcal per serving
  • 10 g1 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Tahini sauce

Values for the amount in the row, from the national food database.

Add-onCaloriesProtein, gFat, g
A tablespoon of oil122013.8
A tablespoon of raw tahini1003.69

How to make Tahini sauce

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. Stir the raw tahini well in its jar until the oil on top and the paste at the bottom are combined. Only then weigh it.
  2. Crush the garlic with the salt, mix with the lemon juice and leave for 10 minutes so the garlic mellows.
  3. Put the tahini in a wide bowl, add the lemon and garlic mixture and whisk. The tahini will immediately seize into a thick, slightly grainy dough. That is exactly what should happen.
  4. Add ice water about 50 ml at a time, whisking well after each addition. After two or three additions the dough opens up, lightens and turns smooth.
  5. Keep adding water until you reach the texture you want: like thick yoghurt for dipping, about 350 ml, or like cream for pita, all 380 ml or even a little more.
  6. For an especially fluffy tahini, blend everything in a food processor for 2 minutes instead of whisking by hand.
  7. Taste and correct the salt and lemon, then let it stand for 10 minutes. It thickens slightly as it stands; loosen with a spoonful of water if needed.
  8. Spoon into a bowl, swirl with the back of a spoon, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.

The science of Tahini sauce

Kitchen science

Why tahini sauce seizes and then loosens with water

Raw tahini is tiny particles of sesame protein, fibre and carbohydrate suspended in sesame oil. A little water wets the particles and forms liquid bridges between them, so they stick together into a stiff paste, like chocolate that a few drops of water have touched. As you add more water, water becomes the continuous phase and the oil disperses into it as small droplets, and the more water there is the thinner the sauce. It is an oil in water emulsion, like mayonnaise.

Kitchen science

What lemon does to tahini sauce

Sesame proteins carry an electric charge that keeps them apart. Lemon acid lowers the pH and reduces that charge, so the proteins cling to each other faster, which is why tahini thickens even more the moment the lemon goes in. Those same proteins wrap the oil droplets and stabilise the sauce, so tahini with lemon separates less than tahini with water alone.

Kitchen science

Why ice water makes white tahini

At a low temperature the sauce is more viscous while you whisk, and it traps more small air bubbles. Small bubbles and oil droplets scatter light, and the eye sees a white, pale sauce. With warm water the sauce is runnier, the air escapes, and the colour stays a darker beige.

Kitchen science

Raw tahini: hulls, roasting and millstones

Sesame hulls are rich in fibre and oxalates, which is why whole sesame tahini is darker and more bitter. Roasting triggers the Maillard reaction that gives the nutty aroma, and roasting too hard brings bitterness. Grinding between stones breaks the cells until the oil is released, and the paste is smoother the smaller the particles.

Kitchen science

Why tahini separates in the jar

The particles are heavier than the oil and slowly sink, while the oil rises. Over time the bottom layer packs into a hard paste. That is not spoilage, just gravity. Real spoilage is oxidation of the oil, which smells like old paint, so keep the jar closed in a cool, dark place.

Tahini sauce in every kitchen

Classic Israeli

Raw tahini, ice water, lemon, garlic and salt. Thick like yoghurt for dipping, or thin like cream for pita with falafel or sabich.

Green tahini

The sauce is blended with a big handful of parsley and coriander, sometimes with a hot green chilli too. Pale green and fresh tasting.

Lebanese tarator

In Lebanon tahini sauce is called tarator, with plenty of garlic and lemon. It is served with fried fish, falafel and shawarma.

Baked tahini

A thin tahini sauce poured over meatballs or fish and baked until it thickens and turns golden. Meat and fish are made as separate dishes; the tahini itself is parve.

Whole sesame

Raw tahini from unhulled sesame: darker, thicker and slightly bitter. It needs more lemon and a little more water to balance it.

Tahini with silan

Undiluted raw tahini with date syrup on top. Not a sauce but a sweet spread for bread, ice cream or fruit.

Common Tahini sauce problems and how to fix them

My tahini went thick like dough when I added lemon

That is completely normal: a little liquid glues the sesame particles together. Keep adding ice water gradually and whisking, and after two or three more additions the tahini opens into a smooth sauce.

My tahini sauce is bitter

The bitterness comes from the raw tahini: old, over roasted or from unhulled sesame. More lemon and salt and less garlic can soften it, but rancid tahini cannot be fixed. Next time taste before you start.

My tahini sauce is too runny

Too much water went in. Wait 10 minutes, because it thickens as it stands, and if needed add raw tahini a spoonful at a time, whisking well after each.

Raw tahini has gone hard at the bottom of the jar

The particles have sunk and the oil has risen. Stir with a long knife right to the bottom, or tip the whole jar into a food processor for a minute. From then on, turn the closed jar over now and then.

My tahini came out grey, not white

The water was lukewarm, or the raw tahini was made from whole sesame. Use ice water, whisk hard or use a food processor, and choose tahini from hulled sesame.

Storing, freezing and reheating

4 to 5 days for prepared tahini in a closed box

In the fridge

2 months, in small portions

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

Tahini is never heated. Take it out of the fridge 15 minutes ahead, stir in a spoonful of cold water and taste for lemon. Keep raw tahini out of the fridge, closed, in a cool, dark place.

Nutrition of Tahini sauce

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 150 g portion47116.242.43.07.5
Our recipe, 100 g31410.828.22.05.0
Typical Tahini sauce, 100 g27710.024.52.34.6

What the ingredients of Tahini sauce cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Raw tahini from hulled sesame, well stirred in the jar₪30 per kg₪12Supermarket
Fresh lemon juice₪20 per litre₪2Supermarket
Olive oil₪53 per litre₪0.8Supermarket
Chopped parsley₪4.9 each₪0.5Greengrocer
Garlic cloves, crushed₪34 per kg₪0.3Greengrocer
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

Tahini sauce and its culture

An Israeli home almost always has a jar of raw tahini in the pantry, and a bowl of prepared tahini is the first thing to reach the Shabbat table. In the Arab and Druze villages of the Galilee and in Nablus, tahini mills have worked with millstones for generations, and families buy tahini there by the bucket for the whole year.

In the last decade tahini has travelled from the Israeli and Lebanese kitchen to the world: it turns up in cafés in London and New York, in cakes and cookies, and in Jewish communities it is the sauce that suits every meal, because it is parve. At an event with shawarma or kebab, an office lunch or a kiddush, the bowl of tahini on every table is the part that runs out first.

Make Tahini sauce a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Tahini sauce

Serve in a bowl with olive oil and parsley next to pita, hummus and salads, or thinned over falafel, sabich, shawarma, roasted cauliflower and charred aubergine.

The cuisine behind Tahini sauce

Lebanese

Lebanese cuisine

The name tahini comes from the Arabic root meaning to grind, as in Hebrew. Sesame is one of the oldest oil crops in the region, and the…

Lebanese cuisine

Tahini sauce in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 150 g portion. For trays, catering and community kitchens.

Guestskg of food3 kg traysCost of ingredients
253.82₪65
507.53₪130
100155₪259
2003010₪518
5007525₪1,295

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Tahini sauce

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Tahini sauce

Order Tahini sauce for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

How do I make tahini sauce from raw tahini?

Mix raw tahini with crushed garlic, salt and lemon juice, then whisk in ice water gradually. The ratio: equal weights of tahini and water, with a quarter of that in lemon. 400 g of raw tahini makes about 900 g of sauce.

What is the difference between raw tahini and tahini sauce?

Raw tahini is the pure sesame paste from the jar. Tahini sauce, also called tahini salad in Israel, is the sauce made from it with water, lemon, garlic and salt.

How long does tahini sauce keep in the fridge?

Prepared tahini keeps 4 to 5 days in a closed box. Raw tahini in a closed jar keeps for months out of the fridge, in a cool, dark place.

Whole or hulled tahini, what is the difference?

Whole tahini is made from sesame with its hulls, so it is darker, thicker and more bitter. Hulled tahini is pale, sweet and mild, and is the usual choice for sauce.

How do I make green tahini?

Make regular tahini sauce, then blend it in a food processor with a big handful of parsley and coriander, about 40 g of leaves per 400 g of raw tahini. Serve the same day, because the colour fades.

Is tahini parve?

Yes. Sesame, water, lemon and garlic are all parve, so tahini suits both meat and dairy meals.

How much tahini sauce do I need for an event?

As one of several salads, 60 to 80 g of prepared tahini per guest. With falafel or shawarma, about 100 g. A kilo of raw tahini makes about 2.2 kg of sauce, enough for about 30 people.

How many calories are in Tahini sauce?

A 150 g portion of Tahini sauce made with our recipe has about 471 calories and 16.2 g of protein. Per 100 g: 314 calories.

How much does it cost to make Tahini sauce at home?

A tray or pot of 6 portions costs about ₪16 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪2.6 a portion. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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