Creamy Tahini Pasta (20-Minute)
Developed and tested by Robyn Conley Downs
on Feb 21, 2023 (last updated May 14, 2026) 
Made with tahini, fresh lemon, and nutritional yeast, this creamy tahini pasta comes together in 20-minutes with no dairy required! A weeknight pantry dinner that turns 6 simple ingredients into a silky, plant-based version of restaurant-style pasta.
5 star review
“This is a super simple pasta recipe that my kids and husband enjoyed!”
– Ashely
My Favorite Dairy-Free Tahini Pasta Sauce!
This creamy tahini pasta is the no-fuss dairy-free pasta dinner I make when the pantry is bare and dinnertime is creeping evvvvvvver so closer My signature trick to make it weeknight easy? Skip the stovetop sauce-making entirely! Just whisk tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper directly into a bowl, then thin with starchy pasta water until silky and pourable. The pasta water is the magic that turns the seized-up tahini into a glossy, restaurant-style cream sauce in about 60 seconds flat!
Two things matter for the best version of this recipe. First, taste your tahini before you use it!! Tahini that is bitter or stale from the back of the cabinet will produce a bitter, stale sauce, no matter how much lemon you add. A fresh, well-stirred tahini with a smooth, almost buttery taste is what you’re looking for. Second, reserve more pasta water than you think you need. The sauce takes a full 1/2 to 3/4 cup to come together, and adding more at the end to loosen is easy, while a too-thick sauce is a bit harder to fix.
Top this creamy tahini pasta with chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, and a final squeeze of lemon for the brightest finish! And while this pasta is excellent as-is, you can stretch it into a more substantial meal with my easy Italian chicken, or a handful of cherry tomatoes and peas (one of my readers, Ashley, swore by this combo for kid-friendly bowls in the comments, and I think it’s a great ideas). And for another fast, dairy-free creamy pasta, my 20-minute tomato cream sauce is super easy and uses sun-dried tomatoes for a deep, savory flavor.
Welcome to My Kitchen, Let’s Make Tahini Pasta!
Testing Tips for Creamy Tahini Pasta Sauce
- Use a short ridged pasta shape if you want every bite to catch the sauce evenly. Cavatappi (corkscrew) is my favorite for this recipe, with all the twists and ridges holding onto the tahini cream beautifully, but penne, fusilli, and bowtie also work, and spaghetti is fine, too.
- If dairy is part of your diet, swap 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan for the nutritional yeast. The cheese gives you a sharper, more familiar Italian flavor profile, though you may want to reduce the salt slightly since parmesan is naturally salty. I have tested both versions and the parmesan version is creamier and more savory while the nutritional yeast version has that signature cheesy-vegan flavor!
- This creamy tahini pasta is one of my favorite meal-prep lunches because it actually tastes great cold. After it has been in the fridge a day, stir in a small splash of warm water to loosen the sauce, then eat straight from the container.
Creamy Tahini Pasta (20-Minute)
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta (any type)
- ¾ cup tahini
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Equipment
Instructions
Prepare Pasta
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a strong boil.
- Add the pasta, stirring to avoid the pasta sticking together. Boil on high until just al dente.
- Before draining, carefully remove two cups of pasta water. Set aside.
- Drain the pasta, then add back to the pot it was cooked in over low heat.
Prepare the Tahini Pasta Sauce
- While the pasta is cooking, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
- The tahini will seize up with the addition of the lemon juice and appear grainy, but continue to whisk until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Carefully add ¼ cup of the pasta water to the sauce and whisk again until smooth.
- Add the tahini pasta sauce to the cooked pasta in the pot, stirring to combine.
- Add ½ cup pasta water along with the nutritional yeast, stirring until well incorporated. If necessary, add additional pasta water until the sauce evenly coats all the pasta. Discard any remaining pasta water.
- Taste and add additional salt if desired. Sprinkle with parsley and chili flakes, if using, and serve immediately.
Notes
- For Serving: red pepper flakes, fresh chopped parsley.
- Salt the pasta cooking water generously!. This recipe relies on the pasta water to flavor both the noodles AND the finished sauce, so under-salted water produces a bland final dish. I add 1 to 2 tablespoons of kosher salt to a large pot of boiling water, which sounds like a lot but most of it gets discarded with the drained pasta.
This is a super simple pasta recipe that my kids and husband enjoyed!
I was concerned that the slight bitterness of the sauce would be a problem for the kids, but they enjoyed the hummus flavors. They liked the creaminess of the sauce. I added peas and cherry tomatoes at the end as a sweet counter balance to the tahini.
Ashley, yay, so happy this one was a hit with the whole family. Great tip about adding the cherry tomatoes and peas — such a great way to balance the bitterness and add a veggie boost. Thanks so much for leaving a review!