Tahini Salad (Levantine Salata with Cucumber and Tomato)

Bowl of tahini chopped salad with sumac garnish.

5 from 5 votes

Tahini Salad (Levantine Salata with Cucumber and Tomato)

This tahini salad recipe is so incredibly easy to make it comes together in under 15 minutes. Pair it with a hearty main dish or grilled and fried seafood. It’s also very adaptable and you can modify it to suit your tastes.

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Levantine, Middle Eastern

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: people

Author: Luay Ghafari

Cost: $8

Ingredients

Lemon Tahini Dressing Ingredients

¼ cup Tahini
2 tbsp Lemon juice
1 Garlic clove - Finely minced (use more garlic if you like)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Salad Ingredients

3 Medium Tomatoes - trimmed and chopped into small ½ inch cubes
3 Persian cucumbers - trimmed and chopped into small ½ inch cubes
1 Red bell pepper - trimmed and chopped into small ½ inch cubes
½ Red onion - Finely chopped
¼ cup Flat leaf parsley - Finely chopped
Sumac or chili flakes for garnish

Instructions

Make the tahini salad dressing. To a large bowl, add the lemon juice, tahini and garlic. Mix well. The dressing will likely turn into a paste. That's ok!
Thin the dressing. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of cold water and whisk. The dressing should loosen up. Don’t add too much water. The dressing should feel similar to ranch or Caesar dressing.
Add Vegetables. To the same bowl, add the chopped vegetables and parsley.
Mix and Serve. Stir everything well and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with extra parsley and some optional sumac if you like.

Notes

Refer to the blog post above for step-by-step recipe photos.

A few important ingredient notes:

Cucumbers: Persian cucumbers are my go-to for this or any salad recipe. You can also use English cucumbers but you might want to consider scooping out the seeds first.
Tomatoes: I like to use heirloom slicer tomatoes and ripe tomatoes on the vine. They are easy to chop into small cubes.
Onions: For this recipe, I am using red onions. The bite and spiciness from it balance well with the tahini sauce, but do feel free to use white onion or green onions (scallions)
Fresh Herbs: Fresh parsley is a must. You don’t need much.
Acid: Fresh lemon juice is the traditional acid used in Levantine salads.
Tahini: The star of the show. Make sure to shake up or stir the tahini in the bottle especially if it has been sitting for a while. Tahini tends to split like natural peanut butter does.
Fresh garlic: You can totally omit the garlic here or use garlic powder instead.

Other additions to the salad: Chili powder, Aleppo chili flakes, and sumac.

Serve this salad with fish-based recipes like sayadieh. It also works well with hearty mains like pulled lamb, chicken shish tawook, beef kebab, chicken kebab and Meat-Stuffed Pita (Arayes).

Nutrition