Cilantro-Lime Tahini Dressing

This tahini dressing recipe could not be any easier to make – just place the ingredients in a blender and puree!

The one thing I never, ever buy at the grocery store is bottled dressing. Most dressings on store shelves are made with poor quality oils, tons of unnecessary sweeteners, emulsifiers, preservatives, and artificial ingredients – not to mention that most of them taste… well, not good. If you’re housing any store-bought dressing in your fridge right now, walk on over there, pick up the bottle, read the ingredients, and if you don’t recognize the words, take the bottle and throw it in the trash – you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. #selfcare

Mixing up a batch of homemade dressing has been an easy and essential part of my meal prep routine for years. Whether I’m making salads or grain or soba noodle bowls throughout the week, having a dressing prepped in advance really streamlines the dinner-making process.

This cilantro-lime tahini dressing recipe is my new summertime go-to. The fresh herbs lend a refreshing, herbaceous quality to the dressing, while the lime juice adds tang and balances the richness and nuttiness of the tahini. And it’s green, which immediately helps any meal appear healthier.

Let’s talk about tahini for a second: tahini is a sesame seed paste that’s widely used in middle-eastern cooking and was, almost singlehandedly, popularized stateside by king Ottolenghi’s encyclopedia-like cookbooks. Tahini can be found in most supermarkets today, either alongside the nut butters or in the international foods aisle.

Be sure to read the ingredient list when purchasing your jar since the only ingredient should be sesame seeds. Tahini is a great source of heart-healthy fats as well as plant-based protein, calcium, iron, and other minerals. Some brands are more bitter than others so you may have to try a few before settling on a favorite; I like Krinos and Joyva brands.

Most of us buy our first jar of tahini to make hummus or baba ganoush and then stare at the still-almost-full jar in the fridge, scratching our heads wondering how to use it up. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with leftover tahini, there are dozens of ways to utilize the creamy paste. Aside from this tahini dressing recipe, you can use it in smoothies (instead of nut butter), make tahini granola, or slather it on toast, as seen at NYC’s Dimes, with raspberries, mint, and honey.

Back to this tahini dressing recipe. It’s nutritious, lasts up to a week in the fridge, and you can use it…

• to dress your favorite greens
• on grain bowls and roasted vegetables
• alongside falafel and veggie burgers
• as a dip for crudités, chips, and crackers

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