We pair pasta with a creamy tahini sauce for an easy, filling, and delicious dinner that's ready in just 15 minutes. Not only is this tahini pasta recipe super simple to follow, but it can also be made in one pot. You can customize by adding vegetables or proteins, but we love it as is!
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🍝 Why We Love This Recipe
- So. Easy.: There's no complicated prep, chopping, or multiple pots to clean with this tahini pasta. Just make the sauce, boil the pasta and toss it all together!
- Filling and addictive: Whenever we make this recipe, we can't help but get seconds, and thirds... It's also filling, and becomes a complete meal if you add some veggies or other toppings. I could eat this multiple times per week!
- Versatile: This is a great recipe to use as a starting point and then add in your favorite veggies.
- Healthier mac and cheese? Look, I love mac and cheese, but sometimes you just want something a bit lighter. This tahini pasta fulfills my mac & cheese cravings – it has the same rich creaminess and it goes well with anything!
- One pot potential: Let's be honest; we hate dishes. This recipe can be made with just one pot and one mixing bowl, which makes cleanup a breeze.
- Vegan: we use nondairy sour cream to keep this recipe 100% vegan, but you can easily adapt to fit your diet.
🍲 Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this tahini pasta:
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Choice of pasta: We used casarecce which has a fun shape that holds the sauce well. Really any of your favorite pastas will work here, including noodles like fettuccine, spaghetti, pappardelle, tagliatelle or smaller pastas like macaroni, penne, or farfalle.
- Sour cream: We used a vegan sour cream alternative in this recipe. Tahini can be a bit thick and heavy, so we found that a small amount of sour cream lightened it up and added much needed tanginess. You can also use plain nondairy yogurt! And of course, If you're OK with dairy, feel free to use the regular stuff.
- Tahini: You should be able to find tahini in your grocery store near other nut butters. Note that it's made of ground sesame seeds, so it should be avoided by those with a sesame allergy.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
(1) Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions. Typically, pasta will be al dente in about 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water that you add to the pot.
(2) Once the pasta is done, reserve one cup of the pasta water (to use in the sauce) and drain the rest.
(3) Whisk together tahini, water, sour cream, lemon juice, ¾ teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper until sauce is creamy and smooth.
(4) Toss cooked pasta with sauce and stir well.
Enjoy! It's so delicious as is for an easy side dish, or you can dress it up with some toppings.
I love topping this tahini pasta with a handful of crispy chickpeas for textural contrast.
It's also great with some sautéed vegetables like broccoli. Sauté florets in 1 tablespoon of oil and a large pinch of salt until tender, then stir into the finished pasta.
🎥 Recipe Video
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Don't forget to reserve a cup of the pasta water after the pasta is done cooking. The pasta water will help bind the sauce to the pasta and will add an extra richness to the sauce.
- Make it a full meal:
- Add a vegetable, like sautéed broccoli, eggplant, carrots, kale, spinach, or anything else your heart desires.
- Add a protein: this tahini pasta would pair well with chickpeas, seared tofu, or if you're not vegan, leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken.
- Storage: this pasta is best enjoyed fresh while the sauce is warm and loose. However, you can store leftovers for 3-4 days in an airtight container and reheat in microwave or stovetop before eating. If the sauce thickens up too much, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it reaches desired consistency.
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Tahini Pasta
- Total Time: 15 Minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
We pair pasta with a creamy tahini sauce for an easy, filling, and delicious dinner that's ready in just 15 minutes. Not only is this tahini pasta recipe super simple to follow, but it can also be made in one pot. You can customize by adding vegetables or proteins, but we love it as is!
Ingredients
- 12 oz. pasta of choice, reserve some water from pasta for sauce
- ⅓ cup tahini
- ¾ cup water reserved from cooked pasta
- ¼ cup sour cream (vegan or regular)
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp fine grain kosher salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper, plus more for topping
- Optional for topping: crispy chickpeas, sautéed broccoli
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions. Typically, pasta will be al dente in about 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water that you add to the pan.
- Once the pasta is done, drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- Whisk together tahini, water, sour cream, lemon juice, ¾ teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper until sauce is creamy and smooth.
- Toss cooked pasta with sauce and stir well. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
If the pasta has cooled down too much before serving, return to the pot for a minute or two to warm it up and loosen up the sauce.
Don't forget to reserve a cup of the pasta water after the pasta is done cooking. The pasta water will help bind the sauce to the pasta and will add an extra richness to the sauce.
Storage: this pasta is best enjoyed fresh while the sauce is warm and loose. However, you can store leftovers for 3-4 days in an airtight container and reheat in microwave or stovetop before eating. If the sauce thickens up too much, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it reaches desired consistency.
Make it a full meal: add a protein like chickpeas, tofu, or chicken. You can also add sautéed vegetables - we love this with broccoli.
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10 Minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Bowl
- Calories: 312
- Sugar: 1.8 g
- Sodium: 405.4 mg
- Fat: 9.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.1 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 10.6 g
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