Beauty-Boosting Tahini Turmeric Salad Dressing is as clean as it gets and packed with anti-aging minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins. It has a light, creamy flavor with a savory and sweet kick. Use it on your favorite salad or even as an alternative to dairy-based dips!
Raw, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Oil-Free, No Added Salt, Vegan
When it comes to healthy salad dressings, I think we can all agree that the options at the store are slim pickings! While many dressings these days are made without oil, dairy or sugar, they still usually have a host of preservatives like gums and emulsifiers or high amounts of sodium that are just as unhealthy for us as other processed options. These additives may not only contribute to digestive issues and poor artery health, but they’re also nothing close to natural.
Luckily, making your own healthy salad dressing at home is super simple!
This salad dressing recipe that I’m sharing today is quite a unique one that is my absolute new favorite. I designed it to be a beauty-boosting dressing but also wanted it to have both sweet, savory, and zesty components. It does just that and more!
With no sugar, dairy, oil, gluten, soy, nuts, added salt or animal products, this dressing is suitable for most everyone since it features raw, organic tahini.
In case you aren’t familiar with tahini, it is basically sesame seed butter. Tahini has a wonderful savory flavor with a light taste that’s not too heavy in the body. It’s a prized ingredient in Indian and Ayurvedic recipes and has a creamy texture that’s much finer than almond or peanut butter. This makes it perfect for dressings!
There are many tahini options on the market, but most all use roasted sesame seeds. The process of roasting destroys most of the nutrients found in nuts and seeds, and since sesame seeds are packed with nutritional benefits, I prefer to use raw tahini. My favorite brand without additives—such as oil or sugar—is Artisana which makes the highest quality, raw organic nut and seed butters that are also certified vegan. Artisana is the only brand of nut and seed butters that I will use and I have been a fan for over 5 years now. They’re simply the best!
The only ingredients in Artisana’s raw tahini is raw, organic sesame seeds. Perfecto!
Tahini is filled with:
- Iron for energy, healthy blood flow to the skin and muscles, healthy red blood cell function
- All essential amino acids, so it’s a complete protein offering 8 grams per 2 tablespoons
- B vitamins for a healthy metabolism, mood, and digestive functions
- Omega 3, 6, and 9 fats which are all beneficial for the heart, skin, mood, and metabolism when they are sourced from plants
- Magnesium which is a mineral crucial for a healthy mood, digestive and muscle function, heart health, sleep health, and hundreds of enzymatic reactions within the body
- Zinc which contributes to healthy blood sugar levels, clear skin, and a healthy immune system
- Vitamin E which is an antioxidant and enhances the look of the skin and hair while also nourishing the immune system
- Savory and nutty flavors that pair wonderfully in salads and entrées!
Today’s recipe also uses an ancient spice that has been incredibly popular the last year here in the United States, but one that has also been used for hundreds of years in India due to its healing and beautifying properties: turmeric!
Turmeric is a spicy root like ginger that’s used in a variety of condiments and spices including prepared mustard (which gives it that yellow color), various curry blends, and a host of Indian condiments and sauces. My favorite brand of turmeric is Flavor of the Earth USDA Certified Organic Turmeric which is ultra-pure and freshly ground from the root in very small batches. It’s grown on a small farm in India by people who care about natural farming. I just love that!
Get this: after waiting a full 9 months for it to mature, Flavor of the Earth hand harvests the turmeric in the morning, right after the dew has dissipated. It has a wonderful savory, zesty, and almost sweet flavor most turmerics do not. A one pound bag will supply a year’s worth of turmeric if you use it daily (and possibly longer!). This is honestly the brightest, most flavorful turmeric I’ve ever had. I just love it!
Turmeric is one of the most powerful spices for beauty and longevity. Its antioxidants are shown to improve blood flow to the heart and skin, assist with the detoxification of toxins, aid in digestion, and it contributes to an overall healthy complexion. Turmeric also builds the blood and offers natural elements of iron. Yellow-colored foods like turmeric are also seen in Ayurvedic cultures to be the best for promoting longevity, assisting with digestion, and enhancing beauty. Pretty cool, right?
Another key component of this recipe is lemon juice. Lemon is full of antioxidants such as Vitamin C and flavonoids that boost collagen production in the skin. It’s also incredibly detoxifying and nourishing to the liver which is important for longevity, disease prevention, a healthy immune system, healthy elimination, and skin health.
Vitamin C found in lemons also aids the body’s absorption of iron from the tahini!
Finally, to enhance the flavor just a bit, I added a blend of coconut and apple cider vinegar which have healthy prebiotics and probiotics for gut health, stevia for a touch of necessary sweetness to balance out the other strong flavors, and just a touch of black pepper which adds flavor and helps the body absorb the antioxidant benefits of turmeric better. If you don’t like stevia, you can use another natural sweetener like maple syrup, coconut syrup, agave or even a date, but you’ll need to use something or it won’t taste right.
You can also use either coconut or apple cider vinegar instead of a blend although I enjoy using both since they offer different benefits but are both highly alkaline (unlike other types of vinegar). Coconut vinegar is a bit more nutritious than apple cider vinegar, but both have a wonderfully balanced flavor combination between sweet and sour.
You can actually make the recipe two ways: as a dip or as a dressing.
To make it as a dip for veggies, follow the recipe without the optional addition of water to thin it out. The stevia reacts with the vinegar in the recipe and creates an excellent whipped, aerated texture that has an incredibly light, fluffy feel to it.
To turn this into a dressing, add 2 tablespoons of water, shake in a jar, and you have a salad dressing just like that!
- 1 tsp. raw, organic apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. raw, organic coconut vinegar (or use another teaspoon apple cider vinegar)
- 1/4 cup cold, filtered water
- 1/4 tsp. organic turmeric
- 1/3 cup raw organic tahini
- juice from 1 large lemon
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. pure white stevia extract (or 4 tiny drops liquid stevia)
- (optional): pinch of garlic powder, cayenne, ginger, or onion powder would also be nice
- Use the recipe above and add 2 more tablespoons of cold water and shake in a jar.
- Add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until combined.
- Serve 2 tablespoons per dish as a dressing (should serve around 4).
- If using as a dip, this only makes about 1/2 cup which will serve 2.
- Feel free to adjust the recipe to serve however many you like!
- Serve on your choice salad, with raw or roasted chopped vegetables, or add it to your favorite warm grain dish.
- If you do not use stevia, you can use 1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave instead for a vegan option, but this will increase the sugar content.
Use this recipe on your favorite salad, or use it as a spread for raw veggies for a healthy snack. It would also be delicious drizzled onto raw or roasted chopped vegetables and would be lovely drizzled over warm grains like quinoa or brown rice. I’m particularly loving it on my Roasted Veggie Beauty Detox Salad and my favorite kale salad.
Have you ever used tahini or turmeric in your homemade dressings?
Ingredients/Products I Used:
- Artisana raw, organic tahini
- Flavor of the Earth organic turmeric
- Coconut Secret raw coconut vinegar
- Bragg Apple cider vinegar
- Simply Organic ground black pepper
- NuNaturals pure stevia extract
I am going to make this tonight. I have a jar of tahini.
Great! I hope you enjoy it!:)