Lemon Tahini Dressing

Healthy Recipes Series

We have been delighting our followers with wonderful recipes from An Oasis of Healing’s new Recipe Book. Purchase here! One of the items essential to being able to stay on a raw vegan lifestyle are healthy and diverse salads. In order to enjoy your salad there is a very important component that needs to meet your taste profile and that you must love: the dressing! A good dressing can make a difference between a salad that you love and could eat every day, to a salad that you would only have once, barely enjoy, and never want to repeat.

So today we decided to present you with one of our favorite dressings. The Lemon Tahini dressing!

Lemon Tahini Dressing

Most of our dressing recipes are really easy to prepare, only requiring the necessary ingredients and a blender. The same happens with our Lemon Tahini Dressing, it requires few ingredients, and not even a blender, only a bowl to whisk all the ingredients together.

The ingredients are also very simple and a staple in most kitchens; tahini (from sesame seeds), water, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Why did we choose this dressing? Because most of the ingredients are super healthy and will contribute to your health and healing!

Sesame Seeds (Tahini)

Sesame plant, scientific name Sesamum indicum, was domesticated over 3,000 years ago and is considered one of the oldest oilseed crops known¹. The Sesamum genus has many other species, mostly in Africa and Asia, and the cultivated type Sesamum indicum originated in India¹. Sesame is a very rich source of vitamins and minerals, fatty acids, phytonutrients, and antioxidants, all health-promoting.

Nutritional Profile and Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds^2,3

• Rich in healthy fats, like mono-unsaturated fatty acids, namely oleic acid, and protein, containing about 18g of protein per 100g of seeds. A diet rich in healthy fats contributes to a balanced blood lipid profile, essential for heart health and making new, healthy cells.
• Sesame seeds contain beneficial bioactive compounds such as sesamol, sesaminol, furyl-methanthiol, guaiacol, phenyl ethanthiol and furaneol, vinyl guacol, and decadienal, some of these components exhibit potent antioxidant effects.
• Very good source of vitamins from the B-complex vitamins such as thiamin (B1), pyridoxine (B6), niacin (B3), folate (B9), and riboflavin (B2).
• Also a good source of minerals like copper, iron, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.

Garlic

Garlic, Allium sativum, belongs to the genus Allium of vegetables, which includes garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, and chives. All of these plants offer powerful antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and unique phytonutrients with incredible health benefits. The nutritional value and health benefits of garlic consumption have been highlighted in the Avocado Fries recipe, and we welcome you to also try that crispy and creamy recipe!

Nutritional Profile and Health Benefits of Garlic^4,5,7,8,9

• Excellent source B-complex vitamins, such as pyridoxine, thiamin, pantothenic acid and also an excellent source of Vitamin C. Besides Vitamin C, other compounds present in garlic are powerful antioxidants, including β – carotene, and zeaxanthin.
• Amazing source of minerals, with RDAs of 73% of manganese, 33% of copper, 26% selenium, 22% phosphorus, 21% of iron, and 18% of calcium. Many of these minerals, like manganese and selenium, are essential for antioxidant enzymes.
• Health benefits associated with garlic consumption include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, immunomodulatory, cardiovascular protective, anticancer, hepatoprotective, digestive system protective, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, neuroprotective, renal protective, antiarthritic, antithrombotic, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities.
• Allium vegetable consumption has been associated, in epidemiological studies, as protective against cancers, particularly cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, and the consumption of garlic has been indicated as providing strong protection against cancer risk.
• Garlic contains diverse bioactive compounds, such as allicin, alliin, diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, ajoene, and S-allyl-cysteine. Many of these compounds, like diallyl trisulfide, allicin, diallyl disulfide, diallyl sulfide, and allyl mercaptan have been shown to exhibit anticancer action.
• Some of these compounds, like allicin antiviral, exhibit antibacterial, and anti-fungal activities.
• In terms of cancer, studies highlight the beneficial action of sulfur-containing compounds present in Allium vegetables, which may produce effects on the different stages of carcinogenesis and affect many physiological processes that alter cancer risk. These compounds act through several mechanisms, including decreased bioactivation of carcinogens, antimicrobial activities, and redox modification.
• Studies published in 2021 and 2022, concluded that the “bioactive molecules in garlic were found to inhibit the various phases of cancer” and that “Garlic extract, its phytocompounds and their nanoformulations have been shown to inhibit the different stages of cancer, including initiation, promotion, and progression.”

Garlic metabolites also have the potential to alter the peroxidation of lipids, the activity of nitric oxide synthase, nuclear factor-kappa B, epidermal growth factor receptor, protein kinase C, and regulate cell cycle, and survival signaling^5,11.

Lemon

Lemon, Citrus limon, belongs to the same family of fruits that includes lime, orange, tangerine, and grapefruit. Although a small citrus fruit, lemons are packed with nutrition and health benefits!

Nutritional Profile and Health Benefits of Lemon^10,11

• Lemons, like limes, have a very low glycemic index, making them one of the favorite fruits to eat when wanting to treat or prevent cancer!
• Excellent source of vitamin C (about 88% of RDA), a powerful antioxidant with strong free radical scavenging properties and helps support the immune system.
• Contains citric acid, which constitutes about 8% of lemon juice and gives it the characteristic sour taste. Citric acid is a natural antioxidant and preservative and aids digestion.
• Rich in phytochemical flavonoids such as hesperidin, naringin, and naringenin, also found in other citrus fruits. These phytochemicals have been found to exert beneficial effects: antioxidant, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, and immune modulator.
• Contain flavonoid antioxidants such as α-carotene, ß-carotene, ß-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and lutein.
• Modest source of vitamin A, another natural antioxidant, and low amounts of some B-complex vitamins, and minerals, like iron, copper, potassium, and calcium.

Who would have said that dressings can be healthy?! Well, our dressing recipes are healthy and delicious, and to prove it, it is time for you to prepare it and try it with your daily salad filled with diverse vegetables and healthy fats!

Here is the recipe for completely healthy and delicious Lemon Tahini Dressing!

• Makes: 1.5 cups Prep time: 10 minutes               • Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup tahini
• ½ cup water
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.

Simple right? We hope you truly enjoy it! 😊

REFERENCES

1. Sesame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame, accessed Feb 25, 2023.
2. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. Search Results. Seeds, sesame seeds, whole, dried. Published April 1, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170150/nutrients, accessed Feb 25, 2023.
3. Nutrition and You. Sesame Seeds Nutrition Facts. https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/sesame-seeds.html, accessed Feb 25, 2025.
4. Mondal A, Banerjee S, Bose S, Mazumder S, Haber RA, Farzaei MH, Bishayee A. Garlic constituents for cancer prevention and therapy: From phytochemistry to novel formulations. Pharmacol Res. 2022 Jan;175:105837. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2021.105837. Epub 2021 Aug 24. PMID: 34450316.
5. Asemani Y, Zamani N, Bayat M, Amirghofran Z. Allium vegetables for possible future of cancer treatment. Phytother Res. 2019 Dec;33(12):3019-3039. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6490. Epub 2019 Aug 29. PMID: 31464060.
6. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. Search Results. Garlic, raw. Published April 1, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169230/nutrients, accessed Feb 25, 2023.
7. Nutrition and You. Garlic Seed Nutrition Facts. https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/garlic.html, accessed Feb 25, 2023.
8. Shang A, Cao SY, Xu XY, Gan RY, Tang GY, Corke H, Mavumengwana V, Li HB. Bioactive Compounds and Biological Functions of Garlic (Allium sativum L.). Foods. 2019 Jul 5;8(7):246. doi: 10.3390/foods8070246. PMID: 31284512; PMCID: PMC6678835.
9. Nicastro HL, Ross SA, Milner JA. Garlic and onions: their cancer prevention properties. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2015 Mar;8(3):181-9. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-14-0172. Epub 2015 Jan 13. PMID: 25586902; PMCID: PMC4366009.
10. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. Search Results. Lemons, raw, without peel. Published April 1, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/167746/nutrients, accessed Feb 25, 2023.
11. Nutrition and You. Lemon Nutrition Facts. https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/lemon.html, accessed Feb 25, 2023.