Black Sesame Paste substitute

Best substitute

Homemade Black Sesame Paste

Use the same amount as the black sesame paste you are replacing

Best for tangyuan filling

Close match

Toast black sesame seeds, then grind them in a food processor or spice grinder with a teaspoon of neutral oil per half cup, adding the recipe's sugar if it is a sweet application. Identical to the shop-bought product.

Other black sesame paste substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Black Tahini
Close match
Use the same amount
The same seed ground the same way, but generally toasted more lightly and sold unsweetened, so the paste is a lighter grey and less aromatic.
What changes
Best for
ice cream, lattes, sauces, swirls in baking, spreads
Add a few drops of toasted sesame oil and, for dessert use, a pinch of sugar. The colour is close enough that nobody will question it. Middle Eastern and health-food shops carry it more reliably than Asian grocers do.
3Chinese Sesame Paste or Japanese Neri Goma (White)
Close match
Use the same amount
Made from white sesame roasted just as dark, so the roast intensity and aroma are genuinely close.
What changes
The dessert will taste right and look wrong.
Best for
ice cream, fillings, sauces, pastry
Everything comes out tan or beige instead of grey. In a black sesame ice cream that reads as halva ice cream, which is delicious but no longer the dish. Choose this when the flavour matters more than the appearance.
4Regular Tahini Plus Black Cocoa
Different taste
Use the same amount tahini, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons black cocoa per half cup
The supermarket-only route.
What changes
Tahini gives the sesame fat and body, black cocoa supplies the dark colour and a bit of the bitterness black sesame hulls would have contributed.
Best for
ice cream, custards, frostings, lattes
It reads surprisingly well in ice cream, where the faint cocoa bitterness passes for roast. It reads wrong in a traditional tangyuan filling, where a cocoa note is out of place. Tahini is also paler and more raw-tasting, so toast it briefly in a dry pan first if you can be bothered.
5Ground Black Sesame Powder Plus Oil
Different texture
3 parts powder to 1 part neutral oil, by weight
Pre-ground black sesame powder is easier to find than the paste in many places, and adding oil back turns it into a workable paste.
What changes
Best for
fillings, lattes, porridge, baking
It stays slightly grittier than a properly ground paste, which is noticeable in a smooth ice cream and invisible in a tangyuan filling. Toast the powder in a dry pan for a minute before mixing if it smells dusty rather than nutty.
6Red Bean Paste or Sweet Peanut Filling
Different taste
Use the same amount for filled dumplings and buns only
Not a substitute for black sesame paste in any technical sense, but the honest answer when you are making tangyuan, mochi or buns and cannot get black sesame at all.
What changes
Best for
tangyuan, mochi, steamed buns, mooncakes
Both are entirely traditional fillings in their own right, so you end up with a legitimate dessert rather than a failed imitation. Red bean is earthier and less rich, peanut and sugar is closer in texture and sweetness. Neither tastes remotely of sesame.

What is Black Sesame Paste?

Black Sesame Paste is Black sesame paste, sold as kurogoma paste, black sesame butter or black tahini, is toasted unhulled black sesame seeds ground to a slate-grey paste, sweetened in the Japanese and Chinese dessert versions and unsweetened when labelled as black tahini.

Cooking tips

Toast by smell and sound, never by colour, because black seeds look done from the moment they hit the pan. Wait for the crackling and for a strong, obvious nutty aroma. Under-toasted black sesame paste tastes dusty and slightly chalky, which is the most common reason homemade versions disappoint.
Grind the seeds together with the sugar the recipe calls for rather than grinding them plain. The sugar crystals act as an abrasive and get you to a smooth paste noticeably faster.
Loosen the paste with neutral oil or melted butter, not water. Water makes sesame paste seize into a stiff clay, and unlike a savoury sauce there is usually no extra liquid in a dessert to work it back out with.
For a black sesame latte, whisk the paste with a couple of tablespoons of hot milk into a smooth slurry first, then add the rest. Tipped straight into a full cup it sinks and sets in a lump at the bottom.
Keep it in the fridge. Black sesame is high in oil and its aromatics fade fast, and rancid sesame paste has an unmistakable sharp, musty bitterness that no amount of sugar will hide.
Check whether your jar is sweetened. Japanese and Chinese dessert pastes often contain sugar, while black tahini does not, and using a sweetened paste in a recipe that adds its own sugar makes the filling sickly.

Frequently asked questions

Is black sesame paste the same as black tahini?

Nearly. Both are ground black sesame seeds, but Asian black sesame paste is usually made from more heavily toasted seeds and is often sweetened, while black tahini is lightly toasted and unsweetened. You can swap them 1:1 in either direction as long as you adjust: add a pinch of sugar and a few drops of toasted sesame oil when using black tahini in a dessert, and reduce the recipe's sugar when using a sweetened paste.

Can I use regular tahini instead of black sesame paste?

Yes for the texture and the fat, no for the colour. Regular tahini is made from hulled white sesame, so it is pale and lacks the tannic bitterness the black hulls contribute. Everything you make with it comes out beige. Adding a teaspoon or two of black cocoa per half cup fixes the colour and adds a bitterness that passes convincingly in ice cream, less so in a traditional filling.

Can I make black sesame paste without a food processor?

Yes, though it takes patience. A Japanese suribachi, the ridged grinding bowl, is the traditional tool and works well for small amounts, as does a large mortar and pestle. Toast the seeds first, grind them with a little sugar to get things moving, then work in oil at the end. Expect a slightly coarse paste, which is completely acceptable in a tangyuan or mochi filling.

Can I just leave black sesame paste out?

Not in the recipes that ask for it, because it is the flavour and the colour rather than a background note. A black sesame latte, ice cream or tangyuan filling without it is simply not that thing. If you cannot get any black sesame, the better move is to switch fillings entirely, to red bean or sweet peanut for dumplings and buns, rather than to make a pale imitation.

How much black sesame paste do I need for tangyuan?

Traditional fillings are roughly two parts paste to one part sugar and one part softened butter or lard by weight, mixed and then chilled or frozen firm so it can be rolled into balls and wrapped in the glutinous rice dough. The fat is what makes the filling run molten when the dumpling is cooked, so do not skip it.

Related substitutes

More nuts & seeds substitutes

Black Sesame Paste substitute

Other black sesame paste substitutes

2Black Tahini

3Chinese Sesame Paste or Japanese Neri Goma (White)

4Regular Tahini Plus Black Cocoa

5Ground Black Sesame Powder Plus Oil

6Red Bean Paste or Sweet Peanut Filling