One of the aspects of classic American potato salad that we enjoy the most is its creamy, mayonnaise-based dressing. While yogurt, sour cream, and cashew cream are typical mayonnaise substitutions for vegan and egg-free diets, tahini is less likely to be on the list. However, once you swap it for mayo in a potato salad, it'll open up a whole new world of flavorful possibilities.
A widespread staple in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, tahini is simply sesame seeds ground into a fine paste with the addition of oil (and some recipes add a combination of salt, lemon, and garlic too). Like nut and seed butter, tahini is ultra thick and has a high content of oil that separates and pools at the top. It is a much richer and denser alternative to mayonnaise, with a concentrated savory nuttiness that stands out no matter what you pair it with. You've undoubtedly eaten it in hummus, but tahini is also a creamy ingredient in countless salad dressings, sauces, and even avant-garde cookie recipes.
Tahini pairs well with tangy condiments like dijon, pickle relish, and lemon juice, fragrant mix-ins like shallots, red onions, and herbs, and sweet ingredients like honey and dried fruit.At the top of the list of perfect tahini pairings is the potato. Whether you're a mayo lover or not, tahini sauce will coat potatoes and other crunchy additives in a velvety dressing while also allowing for creative new takes on this classic side dish.
There are countless tahini sauce and dressing recipes out there, giving you endless ideas for potato salad ingredients, dressings, and meal pairings. Even if you want to mimic a classic mayo-based potato salad, tahini will taste great mixed with vinegar, mustard, chives, and paprika. For a southern take, sweet or sour pickle relish would also make a great addition to a tahini potato salad.
Another idea is to create a green tahini sauce full of fresh herbs like basil, mint, parsley, and cilantro, along with tons of lemon juice and olive oil to coat boiled new potatoes for an earthy springtime side dish. You can also draw inspiration from Mediterranean cuisine by mixing tahini with lemon juice, sour yogurt, garlic, dill, and capers and filling out the dish with fresh herbs, diced chilies, pine nuts, and pickled red onions as mix-ins.
For a completely unique potato salad, try blending tahini with miso, honey, and lime juice for a trifecta of sweet, tangy, and umami to drizzle over boiled sweet and new potatoes, roasted tomatoes, and diced shallots. Tahini potato salads would work well as a side dish for other American classics like burgers and barbecue but would also pair well with grilled fish, gyros, grilled halloumi, or skewered tofu.
Tahini is a sesame seed paste that you're likely more familiar with seeing in hummus, but here it provides creamy texture and rich savory flavor to the potato salad without the need for mayonnaise. That means this recipe is naturally egg-free and vegan-friendly.
If you're allergic to eggs, just don't like mayonnaise, or tired of the same old recipes, pasta and potato salads may seem firmly off the menu, but substituting tahini for mayo will give you a creamy, extremely flavorful salad, no mayo needed.
Although both are creamy and commonly used as condiments, the two have very different flavors and textures. Tahini is rich, nutty, and can be slightly bitter tasting. Mayonnaise is very smooth, light, and creamy. If you're interested in a mayonnaise recipe, try my healthy mayo recipe.
This dressing is the closest to mayonnaise, with just about the exact same texture, and is made with the same ingredients, but adds sugar or high fructose corn syrup, water, and extra spices like garlic, paprika, and mustard.
Tahini is a paste made with ground sesame seeds (which you get after blending them). It's not low in calories, but as the taste is strong, you won't use a lot of it. However, while it's not low in calories, it's definitely healthier than mayonnaise. It's delicious, nutty, slightly bitter, and creamy.
Peanut butter is often recommended as a substitute for tahini, but cashew butter may yield better results. It is a more neutral nut butter and is often used as a base for plant-based dips, sauces, and salad dressings much like tahini. For those with sesame allergies, cashew butter is a seed-free alternative.
Rouxs are a cooking essential when making soups, gravies, and sauces. Stop making a roux with unhealthy ingredients and add the power of tahini! Replace equal volume measurements of butter with tahini, then use your dairy-free roux to make a creamy, dairy-free sauce or velouté.
It's exactly the same process as turning peanuts into peanut butter. The result is a very rich paste, delicious by itself in very small quantities – try a smear on your avocado toast – but usually appearing as an ingredient in other dishes and preparations. You'll see tahini labelled as hulled or unhulled.
Bitterness is generally part and parcel of tahini - it's how ground sesame seeds taste. What you will find, however, is that some tahini can taste more bitter than others. This is down to a few things; like how that particular tahini is processed, or the levels of something called oxalic acid in the hulls of the seeds.
Which one is healthier? Although Miracle Whip is lower in fat and calories, mayonnaise is less highly refined and may be the healthier choice. However, you should seek out mayo that's made with healthy oils, such as olive or avocado oil, instead of inflammatory seed oils like soybean, canola, or corn oil.
Go for full-fat Greek yogurt, rather than fat-free or low-fat. It has a smoother, less chalky texture and more subtle flavor. You can also use plain regular yogurt (non-Greek) in place of mayonnaise, but it will have a thinner texture, which can make the filling a bit looser.
I've used homemade versions of these “bacons” as well as store-bought. I've made BLTs with several brands of store-bought mayo. On occasion, I've taken gone rogue and replaced mayo with avocado, hummus, or homemade cashew cheese. This is my favorite version so far.
Other things you can substitute with are sour cream, yogurt, crema, mustard, etc. Do not use low-fat Mayo as it has extra calories, sugar, and sodium to make up the fat loss. Vegan Mayo also has more calories. You can also make your own mayo with egg whites and oil.
Did you accidentally use all your eggs at breakfast and now you're craving cookies? No problem! For every egg, use 2 tablespoons of tahini mixed with 4 tablespoons of water.
When looking for a healthy version of mayo, you want to find one that has a cold-pressed or expeller-pressed oil, such as expeller-pressed safflower oil or cold-pressed avocado oil. Cold-pressed or expeller-pressed oils were made with the least amount of processing, meaning the oil was pressed out of the plant.
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