by Elise Bauer

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Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce

Name: Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 pound kale, well rinsed; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 cup chopped onion; 1 clove garlic, minced; Salt; 4 tablespoons tahini (use tahini made with toasted sesame seeds, not raw); 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 3-4 tablespoons water; 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds for garnish

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Paleo Greens Kale

Chopped kale sautéed with onions and garlic, mixed with a sauce of sesame tahini, sesame oil, lemon juice, and salt.

Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

Oh my, this is a good one. I never would have thought to pair kale with tahini (thank you to my friend Peg for the suggestion), but it’s great!

Sort of reminiscent of a popular Japanese dish with spinach and sesame gomasio.

The slightly bitter green kale does a happy dance with the acidic lemon and salty richness of the tahini sauce. Very easy to pull together.

Would make an excellent addition to a Thanksgiving or holiday spread. Enjoy. (And as my dad says, eat your greens!)

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Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound kale, well rinsed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
4 tablespoons tahini (use tahini made with toasted sesame seeds, not raw)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3-4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Method

1 Remove kale ribs, slice kale: Using a sharp paring knife, cut out the rib of each kale leaf. Discard or compost. Slice the leaves roughly 1/2-inch thick.

2 Cook onion and garlic: Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a large sauté pan. When hot, add the chopped onion. Cook for a couple of minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute more.

3 Add kale to the onions: Add the kale to the sauté pan. Even if you have a pretty large pan, the kale will be practically falling out of it. Put in as much as you can and use tongs to turn over and mix with the oil and onions.

After a couple minutes the kale should wilt a bit so you can add the rest of the raw kale.

Cook, turning the kale leaves over occasionally until the kales leaves have wilted and are tender. Sprinkle a little salt over the kale leaves while cooking.

4 Make tahini sauce: While the kale is cooking, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and dark sesame oil. Add more salt and sesame oil to taste.

5 Toss cooked kale with sauce: Once the kale is done, toss in the sauce, reserving a little to drizzle on top.

Serve, topped with a little sauce and toasted sesame seeds.

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Elise Bauer

Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.

24 Comments / Reviews

Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce Cancel reply

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Delicious. Hearty

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- June 27, 2020
- · Reply
Elizabeth

Delicious! A while back my son made a kale salad and drizzled tahini over it. I was a bit dubious but it was great. I thought about the tahini and kale combo tonight but wanted to saute the kale instead of fixing a salad. Your recipe hit the spot! I fixed an Aleppo pepper chicken dish and this kale was the perfect accompaniment.

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- · Reply
cheri

Just made this with kale from the farmers market and tahini that I made myself. Excellent and delicious recipe. Thank you….

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- · Reply
molly

I wrap the mid rib pieces in saran and freeze to dice later for soup…
- · Reply
Crystal

Elise,
OMG. I’m not much of a commenter, tho I’ve been reading for a while. This is INCREDIBLE!

Kudos! I can’t get enough of the tahini+kale flavor, though it’s a combo I’ve never tasted before.

WELL DONE!

So glad you liked it Crystal! ~Elise

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- · Reply

christina

Great idea just to toast some sesame seeds and puree. Elise, how much toasted sesame seeds do you use to get 4 tbsp of tahini?

No idea. We just made a big batch of it. ~Elise
- · Reply
beth

when you say to use tahini made from toasted sesame seeds would tahini that says it’s made from dry roasted sesame seeds be the same thing?

Yes. ~Elise
- · Reply
John

I made it tonight. It was so good! My 2 1/2 year old really like it.

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- · Reply
Cindy

What brand of tahini do you recommend?

Great question. I don’t really know. The current batch of tahini we are using we just made from scratch by puréeing roasted sesame seeds with a little olive oil. ~Elise
- · Reply
Katie Mack

I made this tonight…but I used Thai peanut sauce in place of tahini (that’s what I had in my fridge). Oh. My. Dear. Lord. I just ate a pound of kale by myself! I am a changed woman now! Great recipe.

Oh, that would work. Totally. Great idea! ~Elise
- · Reply
Andrea Lee

Sounds great! My tahini is made from raw sesame seeds. Will this recipe still work? Any suggestions to tweak?
Thank you!

Great question. You really do want the roasted flavor. You might try it, but add a lot more dark sesame oil, until you get the rich roasted flavor for the sauce. Personally I don’t like the taste of raw sesame tahini. But maybe it will work if you add enough sesame oil. ~Elise
- · Reply
Cheryl H

Sounds just delicious, Elise! Thanks for another wonderful way to serve greens! Kale is one of my favorite foods & my fave way to prepare it developed as a diet dish when I was on a candida-busting diet: 1 head of turnip greens or bok choy, 1 head dinasaur or other kale, and sometimes 1/2 a bunch curly parsley. I chop all and cook in a little chicken broth, with 4 or 5 chopped garlic cloves, until all is wilted & soft–not much more than 5 min! Then I turn the stove off, stir in some chopped dandelion greens & cover for about 3-4 min. To each serving, I then add 2tsp flax or olive oil, about 1T chopped almonds, and sprinkle over the top 1T flax seeds (essential)that have been ground w a little wakame seaweed. Just delicious, IMHO,& my preferred breakfast for years, especially with a little added tofu.

Isn’t flax oil great? This sounds terrific. Like the kind of food that my body craves after a little too much indulgence. ~Elise
- · Reply
Liza

This was delicious! I added some chopped yellow bell pepper into the saute which added some nice sweet notes, and I tossed in some chickpeas at the end and called it lunch. Thank you for a great recipe!
- · Reply
Melissa S.

This sounds great. I stumbled upon the great kale/tahini combination when I was rooting around in my fridge for something to top my baked sweet potato with. I often bake a few sweet potatoes on Sunday and then bring them for lunch during the work week. This particular time I topped it with garlicky kale and a drizzle of tahini and it was to die for! Will be trying your recipe soon.
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almostveg

I love kale – thanks for providing another way to eat it. Recently I added it to Chinese noodles since I had some leftover from a soup, and it was good there too. Quite a versatile green.
- · Reply
Martini-Corona

My husband was in Peace Corps in Tanzania and he learned there to add a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter to cooking greens in a similar way. Cuts the bitterness and tastes delicious. This will be a good variation!
- · Reply
Paula

LOVED THIS!!! I grew up eating something very simular. My Mom used escarole,(which my Dad pronounces “Shga-dole”)instead of kale and everything else was pretty much the same except instead of tahini she used pinenuts or raisins or both. It’s funny how changing the nut from sesame to pine changes the flavor from Asian to Sicilian. Either way I love dipping crusty bread into the “juice”. Thank you for your great recipies and CIAO!
- · Reply
Cindy

Do you think this recipe would work with spinach as well? (Have spinach from CSA box)

Yes, I think it would work fine with spinach. Just don’t over-cook the spinach. ~Elise
- · Reply
Lindsey

This looks really good! Is there a way to make tahini? I always have sesame seeds on hand, but I have a hard time finding it and when I do, it’s so expensive that I can’t bring myself to buy it.

Sure. To make a batch of tahini, lightly toast a cup of sesame seeds. Add them and a third a cup of olive oil to a food processor. Pulse until a paste forms. Add more olive oil and pulse until you reach the consistency of tahini you want. That’s it! ~Elise
- · Reply
Patty Schumacher

sounds good. I usually saute my kale (ala 30 minute recipes from Moosewood cookbook) with crushed pineapple, onions, garlic, hot sauce and peanut butter!
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Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce

Chopped kale sautéed with onions and garlic, mixed with a sauce of sesame tahini, sesame oil, lemon juice, and salt.