How to make tahini at home, easy and cheaper than a store bought

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Tahini is a paste made of toasted and ground sesame seeds and oil. It originates from the Middle East similar to the popular dishes in which tahini is mostly used: hummus, baba ganoush, or tahini sauce for falafel. Homemade tahini is much better and cheaper than store bought, and you don’t have a single reason not to make it. Here is the easiest tahini recipe you will find.

Tahini nutrition facts

Tahini is rich in calcium, magnesium, vitamin B and E, iron, potassium, phosphorus, lecithin. It has essential fatty acids (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats). Tahini is also a good source of protein, it has more protein than nuts and milk products.

Tahini benefits

With so many minerals and vitamins, it is no surprise that tahini is very good for your health. Here are some of the tahini health benefits:

• Energy boosting
• Improves brain function
• Helps with iron absorption
• Strengthens bones and muscles
• Support cardiovascular health
• Better skin
• Balanced hormones
• Lower cholesterol levels
• Decreases blood pressure

Tahini ingredients

Tahini is made of sesame seeds that are slightly roasted and then blended. Olive oil or sesame oil is necessary to make tahini, because you need a wet ingredient to make a homogenous paste.  Some tahini recipes advise to add salt, but there is not need, really. You only need two ingredients to make tahini at home:

Sesame seeds 200gr

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Tahini recipe (easy, cheap, gluten free, vegan)

You can roast sesame seeds in the oven, on a baking sheet or toast it on the stovetop. I prefer toasting sesame seeds on the stovetop because you can control how much they will be roasted and you can prevent unwanted outcome. If your sesame seeds get burned, tahini won’t taste good. When you roast sesame seeds in a thicker, non-stick pan you can stir the seeds every minute so they turn out golden but not burned.

Roasting sesame seeds at medium heat takes about 7 minutes, or maximum 10. Sesame seeds are done when most of the seeds are golden.

For the next step, you will need a food processor or blender. When you put roasted sesame seeds in blender, you can turn on the pulse mode and try to blend them for a few minutes. It will be hard to blend dry ingredients, so you need to start adding olive oil. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and continue to blend. After a minute or so you will need to stir the mixture, add another tablespoon of olive oil and continue to blend.

Use wooden spatula for roasting and blending sesame seeds! You may wonder why would you need a spatula for blender. The thing is, you need to stir the sesame seeds nicely so the one that have become paste go up and the whole seeds go down, closer to the blade.

Basically that’s it, you need two ingredients and two steps- roasting seeds and blending the seeds to become tahini.

Tahini recipe – quick instruction guide

1. Roast sesame seeds in a thick, deep pan, at medium heat (on the stovetop). Stir the seeds with a wooden spatula every minute or so. The sesame seeds need to be golden but not burnt. 
2. In a blender or food processor, add sesame seeds, pulse for a few moments, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and repeat the process. Stir the tahini paste, add one more tablespoon of olive oil and blend again. You need to blend the seeds until they become paste, in 5 minutes or so. 
3. Put tahini in a glass container and press it with the spoon. 

Tahini uses

Tahini is perfect for everyone, because is vegan and gluten free. You need tahini for making homemade hummus or tahini sauce for falafel. Tahini dressing is perfect for salads and meat dishes. You can combine tahini with lemon or garlic to make a dressing or sauce. If you like veggies, tahini goes well with kale and cauliflower, and of course, you need tahini to make baba ganoush.