Red Pepper Tahini Dressing

When you love red bell peppers and find yourself frequently buy jars of them, you’re already on your way to making a fantastic 4-ingredient red pepper dressing. Simply grab a clove of garlic, kosher salt, and tahini. Mash the red pepper and garlic into a paste. Stir in the tahini, then thin it out with the red pepper water. Boom, you’re done!

Red bell peppers are fantastic and it’s so easy to tear through a jar of them within a day or two. This scenario leaves you with some really amazing pepper water to work with. You have a pre-made mixture of water, salt, vinegar, and natural red pepper flavor at your fingertips. Never again do you have to waste this heavenly liquid. This is perfect to make a variation of my go-to tahini dressing from Epicurious. And if you’re not a fan of tahini, check out my more classic dressing … an easy Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette with Honey Mustard.

A few things to keep in mind

When buying tahini, look for Greek tahini because it’s super smooth with and thinner consistency. If you have a thicker type of tahini, just remember to add more pepper water to thin it out as needed. 

When dealing with a mortar and pestle, it usually works to mash similar-sized ingredients. This is why you should dice the red peppers fairly small, then mash them with the broken down garlic. The order in which you do things really matters in order to get a true paste-like texture. Do not use a food processor because it whips in some unwanted air. 

Also note that the coarseness of kosher salt helps break down the garlic and red pepper during the mashing process. And of course, it enhances the flavor. But of you’re on a low-salt diet, feel to omit it because there is already some salt in the pepper water.

Lastly, your tahini dressing will thicken as it sits, so it’s best to use it immediately. Tahini seems to act like a sponge when you store it for more than a couple hours, it’s quite remarkable. To remedy this, just keep adding pepper water as needed before you’re ready to use it next. 

Ingredients

• ¼ cup diced red bell peppers from a jar, plus ¼ cup red pepper water
• 1 clove of garlic
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons Greek tahini dressing

 

Instructions

1. Finely chop red bell peppers to about ⅛ inches pieces.
2. Roughly chop the garlic, then add it to a mortar with the salt. Mash the garlic down to a paste-like consistently, then add the chopped peppers. Continue mashing until a uniform paste-like texture is achieved. Note that a consistent, gentle-but-firm and tapping motion with a pestle is all that is needed here. If you needlessly mash harder, the pepper paste will splatter everywhere. Not to mention you’ll be wasting your energy.
3. Transfer the paste into a small bowl. Stir in the tahini until well incorporated. The mixture will be thick. 
4. Thin this out by stirring in the red pepper water. The amount can vary depending on your liking. Of you like it thick, add less water. If you like it thinner, just add more. 

Yield: Approximately 1/2 cup