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With fresh seasonal veggies and a creamy tahini sauce, this Israeli-inspired tahini salad is packed with a variety of flavors and textures – there won’t be leftovers! This is a community-favorite recipe our readers always love!
save this recipe!Every recipe on the blog so far has been my own creation. But then Rudolph, one of our readers, emailed me one day. The subject line was, “It’s yours to use or publish as you wish”, and the email was simply this recipe – Rudy’s Sunshine Salad.
So I made it. And it was delicious. And the combination of ingredients and flavors that I never would have thought of on my own inspired me to discover even more reader recipes.
And so this week I’m so excited to be featuring YOUR recipes! I put a call out for recipes and you all delivered. But first, we’re kicking it off with the recipe that started it all. Rudy’s Sunshine Salad!
Reader rating
“This salad is my new obsession. Love that it isn’t a ton of ingredients and is so bright, zesty, crunchy and fresh.” —Megara
Here’s What You’ll Need
This is just an overview – jump to the recipe card for full measurements and printable instructions.
- Limes: We’ll be using both the zest (which adds lime flavor) and the juice (which adds acidity) to bring some power to the salad dressing.
- Tahini: Tahini, or sesame seed paste, can have an overpowering flavor on its own (go ahead and lick the spoon, you’ll see), but it makes a creamy base for the salad dressing and is delightful when mixed up with everything!
- Chickpeas: Use canned chickpeas for simplicity, or cook your chickpeas from dried to save money.
- Cucumbers: You can use either seeded or non-seeded (English) cucumbers here.
- Celery: The bright flavors of the celery balance out the tahini dressing and add a hefty dose of crunch!
- Cilantro: And finally, Rudy’s favorite part of the salad (and mine too!) – the fresh cilantro.
DIY Tahini
You can find tahini in most grocery stores, but we also have a guide to making tahini if you’re feeling adventurous!
Serve it with these cottage cheese stuffed tomatoes!
Rudy’s Sunshine Salad (Israeli-Inspired Tahini Salad)
Ingredients
- 2 limes
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup tahini, 60 g
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, 60 mL
- 1 14-oz can chickpeas, drained, 400 g
- 2 medium cucumbers, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 5 stalks celery, diced
- ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
Instructions
- Dressing: Grate the zest from 1 lime and add it to a medium bowl, along with the juice from both limes. Whisk in salt, tahini, and olive oil.
- Salad: Add drained chickpeas, diced cucumber, diced celery, and chopped cilantro to a large bowl.
- Toss: Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Nutrition
Nutrition information calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!Meal Prep it!
Make a batch of this salad and portion it into 4 or 5 meal prep containers with a hardboiled egg and a handful of nuts (like pistachios or almonds).
How long will this keep in the refrigerator?
About 3 to 4 days!
Hi! Love this, and am going to try making it very soon. Can you please recommend a ready made Tahini dressing? Thank you!
I usually just go for the store brand tahini! 🙂
I like it and I added 1/3 cup of diced fresh fennel and it was awesome
What am I missing? I followed the recipe. This salad is so bland.
I would recommend High Quality Olive Oil, USDA Tahini, Fresh Cilantro, Crisp Organic Veggies– the Biggest English Cucumber you can find. I dice the cucumber and the 5 Long Stalks of Crunchy Celery into the same size as the size of a ChickPea, so that every flavor is in every bite.
Maybe it’s the time of the year in your area, as your veggies may not be in season.
This is the best salad and I make it 3-4 times a week. I can not imagine someone not liking this. Please try this again. It will not dissapoint.
I just made this, but I used spinach instead of cilantro. I cut the fat down I used less EVOO I spinked water in to thin it out. It is an okay recipe not fulfilling all the raves it got make it again.
The cilantro is an important ingredient here and spinach doesn’t carry much flavor. If you don’t like cilantro, next time try using Italian parsley 🙂
Looks delicious. Big thanks to Palestinians for the recipes which Israelis have coopted to erase indigenous Palestine cultures and foods.
What could I substitute for the chickpeas?
Any white bean would work well here (like butter beans or Great Northern!)
Can you please tell me what a serving size for the salad is? I know it says 327 calories but is that for a cup, 1/2 cup? Thank you so much.😁
This makes pretty big servings, about 1 and 1/2 cups each! 🙂
I made this not realizing how bitter tahini paste can be. I added some sugar and extra lime juice to counteract it. I have read that adding some maple syrup to the paste can help also. Maybe there should not be so much of the paste in there, or temper it by using cashew butter or peanut butter, etc. It would be good to inform readers that tahini paste an be a bit strong. Thank you for sharing the recipe otherwise it was good.
This is super good. Next time I’ll only use 1 lime tho. I’ll make this for Easter!