What does tahini taste like?
Tahini tastes nutty, toasty and creamy, like a looser, earthier peanut butter made from sesame, with a light bitter edge and no sweetness of its own.
Tahini
nutty, creamy, a bit bitter
Tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds, usually lightly toasted. Straight from the jar it's thick, rich and a little bitter, like the skin on a roasted nut. Restaurants rarely serve it plain: they whisk it with lemon, garlic and water, and it turns pale, silky and tangy, which is the tahini sauce you meet on falafel. Good tahini is smooth and mellow; old or cheap jars lean harsh and bitter. It's also the backbone of hummus and baba ganoush.
Where you’ll see it
As a lemony tahini sauce on falafel, shawarma, roasted cauliflower and grain bowls, blended into hummus, and more and more in desserts: tahini cookies, brownies and halva.
Order it if you like nutty, creamy sauces with a squeeze of lemon.
Quick questions
- Is tahini the same as sesame paste?
- Nearly. Tahini is usually made from hulled, lightly toasted seeds. Chinese sesame paste uses darker roasted seeds, so it tastes deeper and more toasty.
- Why does tahini taste bitter?
- A little bitterness is normal from the seeds. Strong bitterness usually means the tahini is old, made with unhulled seeds or roasted too dark.