Cardamom and Tea

herby tahini yogurt sauce | broiled salmon and greens

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Today, as the third part of my tahini series, I’ve got a delicious recipe for herby tahini yogurt sauce, which might just be the most adaptable one of all. Yogurt sauces in general are a wonderful tool for balancing out a dish that’s a little too heavy and rich. For instance, take my za’atar chickpeas and yellow rice with jajik. The rice is flavored with plenty of lovely spices, and you end up with fluffy distinct grains, which is exactly what you’re looking for in a perfect pot of basmati. And the roast chickpeas have a wonderfully crisp za’atar crust. But, as delicious as they are, these two components are quite dense and dry on their own, so I included a yogurt sauce to balance things out.

That doesn’t mean that distinct grains of rice and crispy roast chickpeas are somehow unappetizing, but at the end of the day, they have less moisture, which is something to think about when deciding what else to add to them. In other words, their dryness isn’t a problem to be fixed—in fact, it’s an asset. Without it, there would be no za’atar crust, and the rice would be a mushy blob. The yogurt sauce simply brings out their best qualities.

Plain old yogurt sauce is wonderful in its own right, but tahini yogurt sauce is perfect for when you want to add creaminess and brightness, but with some of the richness of tahini lemon sauce. It’s delicious anywhere you’d use a buttermilk dressing, but it has a lot more depth of flavor. Ladle it over anything that’s too heavy for tahini lemon sauce, but too light for a plain yogurt sauce. It’s particularly phenomenal on all things grilled, like this broiled salmon with sautéed greens.

herby tahini yogurt sauce

1/4 cup tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons water
Slightly heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons minced herbs (any combination of parsley, mint, dried mint, cilantro, and/or dill)
Optional: 1 clove garlic crushed through a press

Whisk everything together until it smooths out and emulsifies.

salmon with herby tahini yogurt sauce

Season salmon fillets with salt, and then steam, grill, or broil them (they’re pictured here broiled). Top with tahini yogurt sauce, garnish with extra herbs, and serve alongside steamed or sautéed greens and lemon wedges.

more serving inspiration

  • Dark leafy greens, e.g. broccoli, kale, collards, etc.
  • Roast veggies, especially asparagus, brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots, potatoes, and legumes
  • Anywhere you’d use a creamy dressing (like ranch, buttermilk, blue cheese, or mayo-based dressings), e.g. cobb salad or cole slaw
  • While classic tahini sauce adds richness to a dish, herby tahini yogurt sauce is more on the refreshing side. Serve it with dishes that tend toward rich and/or dry (e.g. biryani, chicken breast, and lean fish).
  • It also goes great with the classics, like falafel and shawarma.
salmon with herby tahini yogurt sauce

tahini date dressing | spinach salad

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Tahini lemon sauce has a way of taking over my whole life. Whenever I’m throwing together a last minute weeknight dinner, it finds its way onto the plate. Whenever I’m planning a meal for friends, it finds its way onto the menu. Its balance of earthiness and acidity is always a welcome addition, but it seems to have a mind of its own, and I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up sleep-eating a whole jar of the stuff.

So couple weeks ago, when I was working on a simple little post about this seemingly innocuous sauce, I probably should have predicted that it would snowball out of control. What started out as a simple post about this wonderful sauce’s versatility has become two whole weeks of blog posts. So I hope you like tahini lemon sauce! Because there’s about to be a lot of it. But honestly, even if you don’t, I hope you’ll stick around and allow me to try to convince you that no plate should be without it.

tahini lemon salad dressing

Every few days, I’ll post a new tahini sauce variation, as well as my favorite way to use it and several delicious serving suggestions. For these next few posts, I’m mostly keeping things simple with the kinds of dishes you probably already know how to make. So these recipes are going to read more as lists of prepped ingredients, rather than the usual carefully described steps and measurements. My hope is that this will allow for more improvisation, and less time spent getting dinner on the table.

So to kick things off, I’m starting with tahini date salad dressing. I don’t remember the last time I made a dressing that wasn’t this one, and it’s particularly perfect this time of year, when everyone starts throwing a ton of delicious summer fruit into the salad bowl. The addition of date syrup wonderfully highlights sweet summer produce, while the tahini and lemon keeps it from becoming cloying.

tahini date salad dressing

  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons date syrup (or 1 1/2 tablespoons honey)

Whisk everything together until it smooths out and emulsifies.

spinach salad with tahini date dressing

Toss together baby spinach, pitted halved cherries, halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumbers, whole almonds, and ground pistachios, and drizzle with tahini date salad dressing. This makes a delicious side salad, but throwing in some chickpeas and serving with a crusty loaf of bread brings it well into vegan main territory. You can even add your favorite cheese for some extra richness (big parmesan shavings or a few blue cheese crumbles go really well).

more serving inspiration

  • Dress your favorite summer salad, whenever a little bit of sweetness and earthiness is called for.
  • Dress your favorite fruit salad, especially one with figs, grapes, and/or blackberries.
  • Use it just about anywhere you’d use honey mustard dressing (chicken fingers anyone?).
  • Leave out the water and lemon, cut back on the salt, and spread it on some toast with banana slices.
  • Drizzle a little on roast veggies, especially eggplant. The sweetness brings out the caramelized flavors from roasting.
tahini lemon salad dressing