Hope you enjoyed your festive break and walked into 2025 with a spring in your step! I enjoyed my break and doing sweet nothing so much that I am having trouble returning to my day to day, if I am honest. Therefore, today’s recipe for tahini pasta is a little lazy, but I figured that you need those recipes in your life too.
This simple tahini pasta was born out of me being too lazy to go to the shops in between Christmas and New Years Eve and so not having much in my fridge besides heaps of Brussels sprouts, a lemon and a jar of tahini. I decided to combine these simple ingredients with a few cupboard and fridge staples and convert them into a simple yet delicious creamy pasta with charred Brussels sprouts, toasted hazelnuts and some leftover vegan bacon. It went down a treat on a gloomy December night so I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
PASTA: I picked relatively smooth baby ears (orecchiette) pasta to make this simple dish with, but any smooth & short pasta will work well.
TAHINI: I love nuttiness and creaminess of tahini. As it’s something I always have in my fridge I decided to combine it with a bunch of cupboard staples to create a luxurious pasta sauce. It comes together in minutes and works really well with charred Brussels sprouts and hazelnuts. I used light tahini, which is made out of hulled sesame seeds as it’s less bitter than hulled tahini.
NUTRITIONAL YEAST: Nutritional yeast if a staple vegan seasoning and I like adding to creamy sauces as it adds a little bit of cheesiness. If you don’t have it, don’t worry. Perhaps add a smidge more miso – just be careful as it does also add salt so taste as you go along.
MISO PASTE: I added a dash of miso to this simple sauce. It adds depth of flavour and seasons it at the same time. If you don’t have any in your fridge, add more nutritional yeast instead.
GARLIC: Finely diced garlic pan-fried gently in olive oil is what infuses the sauce with a lot of flavour. Take your time with this step and keep the flame low as you don’t want the garlic to brown – it will make your dish taste bitter.
LEMON: Most creamy pastas, cream dishes in general, cry out for a splash of acid to cut through the richness. I like to add a good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce and some lemon zest too to reinforce fresh lemony flavour.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS: While I wanted this pasta to be simple, I had to add some veg to it as that’s how I roll. I had plenty of Brussels sprouts leftover in my fridge drawer so that’s what I used, but you could also use kale or broccoli or cauliflower florets instead.
HAZELNUTS: Good food needs a variety of textures and so chopped toasted hazelnuts provide a bit of crunch to this overwise soft dish. If hazelnuts aren’t already in your cupboards, toasted walnuts or pecans will work just as well. Or pumpkin and sunflower seeds if you want to keep this dish nut-free.
OLIVE OIL: I used a splash of olive oil to pan-fry Brussels sprouts in and another to sautee garlic so that it’s mellower in taste. You can pan-fry Brussels sprouts on a dry pan if you wish although they won’t be as tasty and add a dash of garlic powder to the sauce instead of pan-frying fresh.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) COMBINE SAUCE INGREDIENTS
In a medium bowl combine tahini, miso paste, nutritional yeast, lemon zest and juice and maple syrup.
2) THIN THE SAUCE
Whisk just enough pasta cooking water to create a creamy and silky smooth sauce. Keep the rest of the cooking water on hand.
3) CHAR YOUR SPROUTS
Char sliced Brussel sprouts in a heavy frying pan / skillet. You want them cooked and charred in places as it makes them taste better.
4) COMBINE AND SERVE
Warm up cooked pasta in thinned tahini sauce, season well, add charred Brussel sprouts and serve with a sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts and bacon pieces if liked.
- 300 g / 10.5 oz Brussels sprouts
- 300 g / 10.5 oz orecchiette pasta (or rigatoni)
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 60 g / ¼ cup (hulled/light) tahini
- 1-2 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- zest ½ small lemon + 15 ml / 1 tbsp juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- handful of roasted hazelnuts, to finish
- vegan bacon, to finish (optional)
- Slice prepped Brussels sprouts lengthwise. Preheat a heavy pan on medium heat, add a dash of olive oil and sliced sprouts (you may need to cook them in two batches). Fry, stirring now and then until soft and charred in places. Season well.
- Cook pasta in plenty of water until 1 minute short of how you would normally cook it. Before draining the pasta reserve 240 ml / 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside.
- Whisk tahini, miso, nutritional yeast, lemon zest and juice and 1 tsp of maple syrup in a bowl, add a splash of pasta cooking water to thin.
- Preheat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a large frying pan, on low heat. Add finely diced garlic and sautee until fragrant and opaque.
- Whisk in tahini sauce adding more pasta water to thin if necessary. Next add in pasta to heat it up in the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add sprouts just to warm up and serve immediately.
- Divide between plates, top with chopped hazelnuts or/and vegan bacon if using.