Tarator sauce substitutes

Half a cup of tahini, a quarter cup lemon juice, one grated garlic clove, half a teaspoon salt, four to six tablespoons cold water added gradually.

Best for

fried fish, falafel and shawarma, drizzling over roast vegetables, sabich and pita sandwiches

This is tarator, so it is less a substitute than the recipe you were looking for, and it is worth knowing because it is faster than going out to buy a jar. The one thing that surprises people is the seizing: adding lemon and water makes tahini tighten into something like plaster before it suddenly relaxes into a smooth sauce, so keep whisking and keep adding water. Use cold water, which loosens it better than warm, and add lemon to taste at the end, since tahini brands vary a lot in bitterness.

Ready-made tahini sauce from the chilled or condiment aisle.

Best for

convenience, falafel wraps, salad dressing, when you have no tahini jar to work from

Structurally right and instantly available. Commercial versions are tuned mild: much less lemon, often a little sugar, sometimes yogurt or oil to soften the bitterness, so straight from the bottle they taste flat and slightly sweet next to a proper tarator. A tablespoon of lemon juice and a grated garlic clove per half cup pulls it back sharply. Check the label for added sweeteners, which are the main reason a bottled sauce can taste wrong on fried fish.

Unsweetened cashew butter or sunflower seed butter treated exactly like tahini, with lemon, garlic, salt and water.

Best for

sesame allergies, fried fish and vegetables, when tahini is unavailable, milder palates

Behaves the same way, seizing then loosening, and produces a sauce with the same creamy pourable body. The flavour is milder and sweeter: cashew is rounder and slightly milky, sunflower is grassier and can be a touch bitter in its own way, and neither has tahini's distinctive toasted sesame edge. Because both are less bitter, they need less lemon to balance, so start with three tablespoons of lemon per half cup and taste. Choose a version with no added sugar or the sauce will taste like a dessert.

Thick yogurt or labneh with grated garlic, lemon, salt and one tablespoon of tahini stirred in per half cup.

Best for

falafel and kafta, grilled meat and vegetables, lighter plates, stretching a nearly empty tahini jar

A legitimate Levantine sauce for the same food, lighter and much lower in fat. What changes is the kind of sourness: yogurt is lactic and creamy-tangy, where tarator is sharp and citrusy, and the sauce is thinner and whiter. The single spoon of tahini matters more than its quantity suggests, because it restores the sesame note that makes the sauce recognisable. On fried fish, where you want the richness of sesame, this is the weaker choice.

Lebanese garlic emulsion, or mayonnaise with grated garlic and lemon beaten in.

Best for

fried fish, shawarma and chicken, fries, when you want richness rather than nuttiness

Does tarator's structural job precisely, supplying fat and acid in a spoonable sauce, and it is a normal thing to eat with the same dishes. It tastes clearly different: aggressively garlicky and rich, with none of tahini's earthy bitterness, so the plate reads as garlicky rather than nutty. Excellent with fried fish and chips, less appropriate with falafel where the chickpeas want sesame beside them. If you use toum, ease off any additional garlic in the recipe.

Plain hummus loosened into a pourable sauce, the pantry emergency version.

Best for

genuine emergencies, falafel plates, wraps, when hummus is the only sesame product in the fridge

It contains tahini, lemon and garlic already, which is why this works at all. What you get is noticeably beany and slightly grainy, thicker and duller than tarator, with a starchy texture that coats the tongue rather than running off the fork. Blitz it in a small processor with the lemon and water rather than stirring, which smooths it considerably, and add extra salt because most hummus is under-seasoned for use as a sauce.