I’ve always had a thing about dressings, and by ‘a thing’ I mean ‘an insecurity’. We all have our less-comfortable areas of cooking – for most people I’ve seen, it’s fish – and I’ve always been confounded about how to actually make a nice salad dressing. I know it seems simple, but just stay with me here.
My life and career has progressed to the point where I can’t actually avoid preparing most things (except for mushrooms, which I hate and won’t ever prepare, sorry). Dressings are included in that, so I’ve forced myself to bust out different ingredients (and a few helpful infographics) and actually learn how to do it right.
One of my most favorite ingredients is tahini, and whoa, does it ever make a delicious dressing! Happily, this tahini orange dressing recipe is not only simple, but it’s also customizable in that you can marry flavors with tahini and come up with different versions of the same ‘mother’ dressing. This tahini-orange dressing, which popped into my mind on the way back from the store the other day (the creative process is bizarre, trust me), is one of those versions. Orange and tahini play really nice together! The dressing’s hearty texture stands up perfectly to grain bowls, and thinned a bit more is perfect with salads and even straight on avocado.
Plain old oil and vinegar doesn't hold a candle to this delicious, easy dressing!
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup water + more if needed
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1.5 tablespoon orange marmalade
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic minced
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Combine all the ingredients and blend until well-mixed.
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Thin as desired with more water.
The dressing will thicken on standing, to thin just add water.
