Homemade tahini
The base of hummus, baba ganoush, falafel sauce and halva. Homemade tahini takes just two ingredients — sesame and a little oil — but its quality rests on two decisions. The sesame must be hulled, not unhulled, since the hull brings bitterness. And it must be toasted only to straw colour, not brown: lightly toasted gives a pale, mild paste, deeply toasted a dark one with a strongly roasted, slightly bitter taste, closer to Chinese sesame paste than to Levantine tahini.
Your own work in that: 12 min.
- Toasting the sesame 12 min
- Cooling 10 min
- Grinding 12 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSpread the sesame thinly
Spread the sesame in one thin layer over a large tray. A thick layer toasts unevenly — the bottom burns while the top stays raw, and both spoil the paste.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Toast to straw colour
Toast in an oven preheated to 160 °C for 8–12 minutes, stirring every 3, until faintly golden and smelling nutty. Stop earlier than you think — the sesame keeps toasting on the hot tray.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Straw, not brown — it keeps toasting on the tray.Cool completely
Tip the sesame into a bowl and cool 10 minutes. Hot sesame in a processor overheats from the friction and the paste takes on a bitter, scorched note.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Grind until damp crumbs form
Grind the sesame in a processor for 2–3 minutes. First it becomes powder, then damp crumbs stuck to the sides. A normal stage — the sesame is starting to release its oil.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Damp crumbs on the sides — a normal stage.Scrape down and keep grinding
Stop the processor, scrape down the sides with a spatula and grind on, repeating every minute. After 5–6 minutes the crumbs become a thick, dense paste. Rest the machine if it heats up.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Add oil a spoon at a time
With the processor running add the oil a spoon at a time, until the paste turns smooth and pourable, like thick honey. The oil helps the sesame loosen — without it home processors rarely reach smoothness.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Oil by the spoonful — it should run like thick honey.Check the texture and season
Finished tahini should fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon. If grainy, grind longer. If too thick, add another spoon of oil. Salt is optional — you will add it to hummus anyway.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Store in a jar
Spoon into a clean jar and store somewhere cool and dark. Oil will separate on top — that is natural. Always stir thoroughly from the bottom before use.
Ingredients: 300 g hulled sesame seeds · 4 tbsp neutral oil · 1 pinch salt
Before you start
Hulled sesame is key
The sesame hull (rich in oxalates, among other things) makes a distinctly bitter, darker paste. Classic Middle Eastern tahini is made from hulled sesame. Black sesame gives an entirely different paste — dark and stronger in flavour, used mainly in desserts.
Tahini sauce for falafel
Loosen 3 spoons of tahini with lemon juice, crushed garlic and cold water added a spoon at a time. First it thickens and seizes, then suddenly turns smooth and pale. That is normal behaviour for a sesame emulsion.
A month in the pantry
Tahini keeps a month at room temperature and three months in the fridge. It thickens when chilled — take it out half an hour before use. Rancid tahini smells of paint and must be thrown away.