Maple Tahini Dressing
This creamy Maple Tahini Dressing is made with just a handful of ingredients, including avocado oil, maple syrup, tahini (sesame paste), garlic and vinegar. Use it as a delicious dip for crudités, sauce for grilled fish or as a salad dressing.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Maple Tahini Dressing
This dressing is similar to my original Tahini Dressing recipe except with maple syrup instead of honey and avocado oil instead of olive oil. It’s one of my go-to salad dressings and my kids love it when I serve it with roasted broccoli.
Recipe Highlights
- Only takes 5 minutes to make
- Vegan, gluten-free and paleo
- It’s versatile. Use it as a dip, dressing or sauce.
Key Ingredients For This Maple Tahini Vinaigrette
- Garlic
- Avocado Oil: I like avocado oil here for its neutral flavor. Alternatively you can use another neutral tasting oil like canola.
- Tahini: Made from ground sesame seeds, tahini is commonly used in Middle Eastern dishes. Find it in well stocked supermarkets.
- White Vinegar: You can swap in white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead.
- Maple Syrup: Use pure maple syrup . Opt for dark syrup for a bolder more mapley flavor.
- Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
How to Make This Tahini Maple Dressing
Puree the garlic, oil, tahini, vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper in a mini prep food processor or in a jar with an immersion blender, or whisk the ingredients together by hand in a medium bowl.
Cook’s Tip:
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).
FAQs and Expert Tips
Keep this vegan tahini dressing in the fridge for up to a week in a tightly sealed container.
Tahini is great in desserts like halva, mixed into dressings like the one I’m sharing with you today, incorporated into stir-fries and marinades, or of course blended into hummus. I love this recipe for Beets with Tahini and my Maple Tahini Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry.
Ways to Serve This Dressing
- Pour it over this delicious Vegan Power Salad with roasted cauliflower and tempeh.
- Drizzle it over quinoa and chopped sautéed veggies to keep things simple.
- Toss it with a salad made with napa cabbage, cucumbers, daikon and toasted sesame seeds.
- Use to dress a chickpea salad with cucumbers, peppers and parsley like this one.
- Drizzle over grilled salmon. Make it a meal with whole-grain couscous and grilled asparagus.
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Maple Tahini Dressing
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon 1x
Description
This creamy Maple Tahini Dressing is made with just a handful of ingredients, including avocado oil, maple syrup, tahini (sesame paste), garlic and vinegar. Use it as a delicious dip for crudités, sauce for grilled fish or as a salad dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and grated
- 1/2 cup avocado oil or organic canola oil
- 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 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.
Notes
Cooking Tip: 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).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
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
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.
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!
Good answer back in return of this query with real arguments and explaining all regarding that.
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!
This would go well on so many things! I cannot wait to make some!
Thank you Bella! Have a great day!
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.
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.
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 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.
Ok you’ve convinced me to try this haha it looks amazing!
Well that’s good news! Thanks so much Emily.
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.
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!
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!
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.
This looks so creamy, I can’t believe it’s dairy free! Wow!
Yes! The tahini really makes the texture so lovely and silky!