I have been in love with sheet pan tofu lately. I love the texture of ripped and roasted tofu and you can toss just about any vegetable onto the pan to round out the meal. I made this miso tahini sauce to serve with my sheet pan tofu, but that is just one of many ways to use it.
What are some other ways to use this miso tahini sauce? Use it as a dip for fries, drizzle onto falafel, add it to a grain bowl or buddha bowl, toss it with a salad, try it on sheet pan tofu. The uses go on and on.
Traditional tahini sauce is basically the same as this recipe, except this recipe also includes red miso. The miso adds depth of flavor and umami to the sauce making it a little more interesting in my opinion. Any type of miso can be used but I prefer the bolder flavor of red miso to sweeter white miso.
Ingredients used in Miso Tahini Sauce:
Tahini – provides a creamy body
Miso – provides salt and umami
Lemon juice – acid helps to balance the flavor profile and brighten it
Garlic – to add savory flavor
Maple syrup – just a touch of sweetener brings out the salty miso flavor
Water – to thin to your desired consistency
Variations to the Miso Tahini Sauce recipe:
- If you don’t have an immersion blender a small one cup blender or ninja will also do. You can also simply minced the garlic and stir it in for a less-smooth version. Finally, you could use 1 tsp garlic powder in place of fresh garlic.
- If you don’t have a fresh lemon try rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar in its place.
- Maple syrup can be swapped for any other liquid sweetener, such as honey or agave. You can also omit it but the flavor of the miso will be less pronounced.
- A note on tahini: Some tahini can be bitter so use a tahini you know and like. If you don’t like tahini, try another nut or seed butter, like sunflower seed butter or peanut butter, or simply use less tahini, such as 3 TBS without the water (which will reduce the number of servings).
- For the pictures I used this method for the sheet pan tofu, using both broccoli and green beans for my veggies, served over brown rice!
- 2 TBS red miso
- 6 TBS water (plus more if necessary)
- 6 TBS tahini
- 2 TBS lemon juice, about 1 small lemon
- 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 2 tsp maple syrup (or to taste)
- Combine all ingredients in a cup and process with an immersion blender until smooth. Add more water to reach your desired consistency. How much you use will depend on how thick your tahini is to start, and the application you want to use it in (thinner for salad dressings, thicker for dips).
Recipe adapted from Running on Real Food.
