maple tahini dressing
This Maple Tahini Dressing. Ohmygoshitissogood. You will die. Not literally. I promise! But you may actually believe you have died and gone to heaven when you try it. It is vegan, gluten-free and paleo.
I wasn’t even going to share this maple tahini dressing until Friday, but I couldn’t wait, because it is THAT good. I’m not exaggerating. (Who, me? I never do that.) Seriously, Salad month is throwing me into a bit of a tizzy, my friends. “What is Salad Month?” you say. If you’re new around these parts, first of all, welcome. Second, then you may not know that this is the fourth year that I am blogging all about salads for the entire month of May. Four Mays worth of salads—that’s a lot of salads!
But I’m telling you, I am just getting warmed up. When I was planning out my month, I kept wishing for more days. More time! More salad! You’d think all this salad excitement would be old hat for me by now. But nooooo. I am just as excited as ever, and I’ve added in a bunch of extra Wednesday posts so I can get to all the salad goodness that needs to happen in your kitchen, my kitchen, every kitchen. This vegan tahini dressing. It needs to be everywhere! Okay that may be a bit much.
What is Tahini?
Tahini is slowly becoming more and more popular in the US, so you may have heard about it even if you’ve never used it. Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds that’s extremely popular in Middle Eastern dishes. (Essentially, it’s peanut butter that’s been made with a different type of seed). If you’re from the US, you’ve likely tried one tahini-laden dish already without realizing it—hummus! Hummus is made with lots of tahini and chickpeas (the tahini is what gives hummus that special umami flavor).
With that said, tahini can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. It’s great in desserts like halva and nougat, mixed into dressings like the one I’m sharing with you today, incorporated into stir-fries and marinades, or eaten on its own as a dip.
Ways to Serve This Maple Tahini Dressing
So now you may be thinking, okay, so this is salad dressing. Not an actual salad. So I have some serving ideas for you. And I will be back next week with an amazing Vegan Power Salad that it can be poured on!
Some ways you could enjoy this vegan salad dressing are to serve it with mizuna, cucumbers, napa, daikon and toasted sesame seeds. Or you could swap it in for the sesame dressing in this Shrimp and Edamame Power Salad in a jar. You can also toss it with quinoa and chopped sautéed veggies to keep things super simple.
How to Store Maple Tahini Dressing
This vegan tahini dressing keeps in the fridge for up to a week in a tightly sealed container. Some separation may occur, but that’s totally normal! If your tahini dressing separates a bit, just give it a good shake before pouring it onto your salad. Also, this dressing will pour more easily if you let it rest on the counter for a few minutes before using it (the oil may seize up in the fridge and sometimes needs time to thaw so it’s easier to serve).
More Easy Salad Dressing Recipes:
If you love this salad dressing, you’ll definitely want to check out my salad dressing collection.
Egg-Free Caesar Salad Dressing
Greek Yogurt Horseradish Ranch Dressing
If you want to look back through the archives, here are the Salad Month Posts I’ve shared over the years.
maple tahini dressing
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Description
This Maple Tahini Dressing is vegan, gluten-free and paleo. It’s ready in just 10 minutes and tastes wonderful atop salads or as a dip for veggies!
Ingredients
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and grated
- ½ cup avocado oil or organic canola oil
- ¼ cup tahini (sesame paste)
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper or white pepper
Instructions
- Puree garlic, oil, tahini, vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper in a mini prep or in a jar with an immersion blender or whisk together by hand in a medium bowl.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon
- Calories: 74
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 58 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 2 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
This looks so creamy, I can’t believe it’s dairy free! Wow!
Yes! The tahini really makes the texture so lovely and silky!
I love that you’re just as excited about salads NOW—after four years of blogging about them for the ENTIRE month of MAY—as you were in the beginning. I have a jar of tahini sitting in my pantry that is just crying out to be in this dressing. It looks fantastically creamy and delicious!
I find it surprising too in a way, ha ha. Hope you like the recipe Michelle.
oooh, i love tahini salad dressings. i love the nuttiness they can bring to a salad. this recipe sounds excellent!
Thank you so much Michelle. I do too, though until 6 months or so ago I had only had it in Goddess style dressing. Now I am obsessed with it!
This maple tahini salad dressing needs to be in my life!! Now off to look for one of your salad’s to top off with this deliciousness! Oh, and way to go on 4 years of Salad Month!
Thanks so much lady. I have a recipe coming next week that this dressing is so good with. I couldn’t believe it had been that long, and I had to go back through the archives to verify it! Ha!
Having a good go to sauce for salads and food bowls is so vital! I love tahini. I love the addition of maple syrup here. Have you ever tried this with coconut blossom syrup? Amazing!
Oh, never heard of that! That sounds heady. I’ll have to look for it.
Ok you’ve convinced me to try this haha it looks amazing!
Well that’s good news! Thanks so much Emily.
I can think of so many salads that neeeeeed this luxe dressing ~ and thanks for giving me another reason to use tahini, that stuff is too good to keep just for hummus!
I love your use of the word luxe Susan, and that is a fitting descriptor for the texture of this dressing. Thank you for coming by today.
Maple and tahini are one of my most favorite combinations! I could put this dressing on just about everything!
I am so with you. I just can’t get enough of it. Thanks so much Tessa!
I’ve been looking for a good tahini dressing recipe for a while now, will definitely have to try this!!! Thanks for sharing – CK
Oh, well that’s fortuitous! So glad you stopped by in that case. Have a great day Christiann.
You had me at Tahini. Probably my most favorite salad ingredient. Sounds like the perfectly balanced dressing to me! Love this idea of salad month. x
That’s great to hear and thank you Jodi. Glad you stopped by.
This would go well on so many things! I cannot wait to make some!
Thank you Bella! Have a great day!
Ah, this sounds incredible, Katie! Is it acceptable to just eat this with a spoon? 😉
Oh…and by the way, we went through an entire bottle of your Little Hill maple! It’s delicious! I’ve been using it as a sweetener for everything. I made two batches of strawberry jam with it…so good.
Thank you my friend! I say go right ahead! Ha ha.
And glad you like our maple syrup. It is so fun knowing about all of the places it has traveled to, and the kitchens it is in. Strawberry jam sounds so good. Never tried it with maple. I’ll have to change that!
Good answer back in return of this query with real arguments and explaining all regarding that.
This is a delicious recipe but both times I have made this it came out too thick. I used an immersion blender and next time I will just try my whisk.
Hi R.A., I am so glad you like the taste of the salad dressing. I am thinking that the texture issue may have to do with your brand of tahini. i have noticed over the years that there is a variety of thickness in different jars or cans. If your tahini is thick (more like the texture of peanut butter) that may be the reason your dressing was thick. Mine (pictured in some of the shots at the top of the post- with the orange label) is rather runny. There is likely more sesame oil to sesame solids in the ratio. If the trick with the whisk doesn’t work for you, try using 3 tablespoons tahini plus 1 tablespoon avocado oil in place of the 1/4 cup tahini. I hope that helps, and please come back to let us know! Happy cooking!
I made in the cusinart that I have and never use and found myself dipping almonds in the blade and licking the spoon!
Ha ha! That is so great to hear! I am working on a new dressing recipe and I found myself licking the spoon. That’s always a good sign! Thanks for coming back to let us know how you liked it. I really appreciate it.
I often go to the internet for healthy food ideas, but until just now have never left a comment. I made a no oil maple-tahini dressing for my quinoa bowl and it was so sweet and unappetizing that it was about to be tossed down the drain. Then I came accross your recipe.Although I did not use oil I added the vinegar and the pepper…it made a huge difference. I will certainly make this again and look forward to your other receipes.
Thank you so much for leaving a comment Penny. I really appreciate it that you did. I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
This looks insanely delicious!!! I hope to try this very soon!! Thanks for sharing!!
This dressing is seriously delicious. I was too lazy to whip out an immersion blender of whisk, so I lightly shook the ingredients together in a jar and was happy with the consistency. I especially enjoyed it over a simple salad of romaine, tomato, onion, carrot and avocado. The creaminess really accentuated the crispy romaine.
★★★★★
Love these simple dressings that have sooooo much flavor! Perfect addition to an amazing salad.
★★★★★
So glad you love this one too Jennifer. This recipe is one of my all time favorites. I make it regularly. Glad you’ve discovered it.