Miso Tahini Dressing is the perfect flavour-packed sauce to toss in a healthy vegan kale salad.
The versatile fusion recipe features the unique flavours of Japanese miso and Middle Eastern tahini.
This versatile Miso Tahini recipe can be used as a salad dressing, vegetable dip and sauce for tofu or noodles and your favourite stir fry.
You’ll love the creamy and flavourful vegan dressing featuring tahini, miso paste, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and maple syrup.
We also share directions on how to make a simple salad with the dressing, tossed together with kale, cabbage, carrots, scallions and roasted cashews.
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What Is Tahini?
Tahini is a Middle Eastern condiment made from toasted ground sesame seeds. It is served by itself or as a major ingredient in hummus, mutabbal, and halva. Tahini is used in the cuisines of the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean, the South Caucasus, as well as parts of North Africa.
Tahini-based sauces, dips and dressings are common in Lebanese restaurants as a side dish or as a garnish, usually including lemon juice, salt, and garlic, and thinned with water. Tahini sauce is also a popular topping for meat and vegetables in Middle Eastern cuisine.
Tahini is a popular ingredient in vegetarian and vegan kitchens as it offers a smooth texture and buttery flavour, a delicious substitute for cream-based sauces or mayo-based dressings.
Our easy Miso Tahini Dressing recipe gets it’s thick and creamy texture thanks to the addition of nutty and buttery sesame paste.
What Is Miso?
Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji and sometimes rice, barley, or seaweed.
The result is a thick paste used to make sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables, fish, or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup, a Japanese culinary staple. High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso played an important nutritional role in feudal Japan.
Typically, miso is salty, but its flavour and aroma depend on the ingredients and fermentation process. Different varieties of miso have been described as salty, sweet, earthy, fruity, and savoury.
You’ll see three miso styles in well-stocked grocery stores: white, or shiro, miso is the mildest and is also called sweet or mellow miso. Red miso, fermented longest, is the most pungent. Yellow, or shinshu, miso falls in the middle and is, to some, the most versatile.
This homemade Miso Tahini Dressing recipe gets it’s unique funky umami-forward flavour from the addition of this popular Japanese condiment.
Homemade Miso Tahini Dressing
Is there anything more divine than the perfect marriage of two ingredients from vastly different cuisines?
Our Miso Tahini Dressing celebrates unique flavours from East Asia and the Middle East, a versatile dip or sauce to dunk, slather or toss on your favourite grilled vegetables, sandwiches, wraps, tofu, noodles, sushi and salad.
We developed this vegan salad dressing recipe with a mouth-watering tahini miso flavour after publishing our popular Vegan Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing.
Both creamy sauces are vegan and vegetarian friendly, offering a creamy velvety texture to enhance salads, grilled dishes or enjoyed as a dip with crudités.
You can easily make homemade Miso Tahini Dressing at home in under 15 minutes. Add all of the dressing ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until the sauce is creamy, or quickly whip it together in a food processor or blender.
Health Benefits
Our homemade Tahini Miso Dressing recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!
Low in calories and high in vitamins K, C, A and the B vitamin folate, kale supports your eyesight, bones, and circulation.
An excellent source of vitamins K and C, cabbage helps keep your bones, blood, and immune system healthy.
An excellent source of vitamin A and the phytochemical beta-carotene, carrots help keep your eyes and bones healthy, and may help protect against several types of cancer.
Scallions are a humble vegetable packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Regular consumption of onions can help boost digestive health and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
Ginger contains at least 14 phytochemicals, many of which have impressive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also has a good source of copper, which supports your bones, blood and nervous system.
It is only recently that scientists have begun to identify the components responsible for garlic’s myriad health benefits. Rich in phytochemicals and potassium, garlic helps boost your immune system, fight cancer and protect your heart.
A useful source of copper, calcium, manganese, and phosphorus, sesame seeds help support circulatory, digestive and skeletal health.
Miso provides protein, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin E, vitamin K, choline, linoleic acid, lecithin, and dietary fiber.
Cashews are low in sugar and rich in fibre, heart-healthy fats, and plant protein. They’re also a good source of copper, magnesium, and manganese — nutrients important for energy production, brain health, immunity, and bone health.
My Family Loves Vegan Miso Tahini Dressing
My family loves the flavours of miso and tahini so I knew they’d enjoy this healthy kale salad.
I knew my parents would enjoy this vegan dressing because they love healthy salads, creamy tahini and flavourful miso paste.
This simple salad is the perfect side dish to serve at a dinner party alongside other Asian-inspired dishes like soups, stir fry, and grilled vegetables with marinated tofu.
The recipe is very versatile so while we suggest tossing the torn kale leaves with cabbage and grated carrot you can also add other popular salad ingredients like celery, cucumber, radish, fresh herbs like cilantro and mint as well as crispy fried shallots.
After making a big salad with the dressing for dinner, if we have leftovers the following day we typically use it as a sandwich spread, vegetable dip or sauce tossed in a stir fry or noodles.
Miso Tahini Dressing Salad Recipe Tips
This yummy Miso Tahini Dressing is quick and easy to make at home. Here are some tips to get you started:
- The most simple way to prepare the dressing is by whisking the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. You can save time by using a food processor or blender.
- We’ve used red miso paste in this recipe because we love its strong flavour but you can use white or yellow miso if you prefer.
- While we recommend using tahini in this recipe you can substitute it with a nut butter made with peanuts, cashews, or almonds if you have a sesame allergy.
- We like to use maple syrup to sweeten the dressing but you can substitute with agave or honey.
- We like to use finely chopped curly kale in this salad but you can use Tuscan kale if you prefer. Or toss the dressing in a leafy green salad using romaine, spinach or arugula.
- We typically use green or napa cabbage in this recipe but you can substitute with red cabbage to give the dish a colourful pop.
What To Serve with Creamy Miso Tahini Dressing
We love serving this homemade Miso Tahini Dressing in a freshly tossed salad. You can prepare a simple salad or add additional ingredients like chopped cucumber, radish, celery or fresh herbs.
Here are some other unique ways to enjoy this Miso Tahini recipe at home:
- Sandwich Spread: instead of using mayo or mustard, slather bread slices with creamy miso tahini. Works in a healthy wrap too!
- Sushi Dip: next time you’re making homemade sushi serve the rolls with small bowls filled with soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger and our tahini miso sauce.
- Veggie Crudités Dip: next time you’re serving a veggie platter at a party forget the Ranch and serve Miso Tahini as a vegan dip.
- Grilled Vegetables: drizzle the sauce on vegetables at your next barbecue.
- Tofu Topping: give your tofu a burst of flavour by adding this creamy sauce as a topping.
- Noodles: we love tossing this creamy sauce into cold soba or hot udon noodles.
- Stir Fry: add a few tablespoons of tahini miso sauce into your next stir fry.
Storage Instructions
Store Miso Tahini Dressing in a sealed airtight mason jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
The dressing thickens in the fridge so don’t be alarmed. To thin it out, add a bit of water, close lid and shake to combine.
You May Also Enjoy These Salad Recipes…
- Vegan Asian Cucumber Carrot Salad
- Summer Grilled Peach and Burrata Salad
- Chinese Shredded Potato Salad
- Vegan Citrus Saffron Peanut Salad
- Gavurdagi Salatasi Vegan Turkish Tomato Walnut Salad
- Pipirrana Spanish Summer Tuna Salad
- Asinan Sayur Indonesian Coleslaw Cabbage Salad
- Balila Healthy Vegan Lebanese Chickpea Salad
- Pancar Salatasi Turkish Beet Yogurt Salad
- Ensalada de Gambas Spanish Grapefruit Fennel Shrimp Salad
- Erdapfelsalat Viennese Warm Austrian Potato Salad
- Mexican Vegan Cucumber Radish Salad with Chipotle Peanuts
- Sangchu Geotjeori Sweet and Sour Korean Lettuce Salad
How To Make Easy Miso Tahini Dressing Salad
Miso Tahini Dressing Kale Salad
Equipment
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- whisk
- Large Mixing Bowl
- French knife
Ingredients
Miso Tahini Dressing
- 1/3 cup Tahini
- 1 tbsp Fresh Ginger minced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tsp Miso Paste
- 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 2 tsp Maple Syrup
- 3 tbsp Water
- Pinch Kosher Salt
Salad
- 4 cups Chopped Kale
- 1 cup Grated Carrot
- 1/4 cup Scallions thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Cabbage thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Cashews
Instructions
- To a mixing bowl add tahini, fresh ginger, garlic, miso paste, soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and maple syrup and whisk to combine.
- Add water and whisk until creamy. Store dressing in the refrigerator up to 5-7 days.
- To prepare the salad toss Miso Tahini Dressing in a large bowl with kale, carrot, scallions and cabbage. Sprinkle with cashews and serve.
Nutrition
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