Sesame Seeds
Tiny but mighty, sesame seeds bring nutty depth and a satisfying crunch to everything from bagels to stir-fries.
In a nutshell
Sesame seeds are small, flat oilseeds with a mild, nutty flavor that deepens dramatically when toasted. They’re one of the oldest cultivated oilseed crops in the world and a staple in cuisines from the Middle East to East Asia. Both the seeds themselves and their pressed oil are kitchen workhorses for home cooks.
Nutrition
≈ 77 Calories and 6.7g fat per tablespoon.
Sesame seeds are surprisingly nutrient-dense for their size. The majority of their calories come from healthy unsaturated fats — particularly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids — making them a heart-friendly addition to your diet. They’re also a solid plant-based protein source and deliver an impressive amount of dietary fiber to support digestive health. Sesame seeds are rich in calcium, magnesium, and iron, making them especially valuable for those limiting dairy. They also contain unique lignans called sesamin and sesamolin, which have been studied for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as zinc and B vitamins that support immune function and energy metabolism. Nutrition per 100 g.
Culinary uses & pairings
Sesame seeds shine as a finishing touch — scatter them over sushi rolls, noodle dishes, stir-fries, roasted vegetables, or salads just before serving for crunch and visual appeal. Toasting them in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until golden unlocks their full nutty aroma, a step that’s almost always worth doing. They’re also pressed into the dough or crust of breads, bagels, burger buns, and crackers, or blended into spice mixes like za’atar and dukkah.
Beyond whole seeds, sesame is the backbone of tahini, the creamy paste used in hummus, baba ganoush, salad dressings, and desserts like halva. In East Asian cooking, toasted sesame oil (pressed from roasted seeds) adds a finishing fragrance to soups, dipping sauces, and marinades. Ground sesame is also the star of gomashio, the Japanese salt-and-sesame condiment, and of classic Middle Eastern sweets like sesame brittle and cookies.
Pairs well with
Substitutions
Buying & storage
Look for sesame seeds that are uniformly cream or ivory in color with no off smell — rancidity is the main quality concern since their high oil content means they turn quickly. Bulk bins at natural food stores are perfectly fine as long as turnover is high; otherwise sealed bags offer a better shelf-life guarantee. Black sesame seeds are a separate variety (not just toasted white seeds) and are worth seeking out at Asian grocery stores for their slightly more bitter, earthy flavor and striking visual contrast. If you bake often or make tahini at home, buying a pound or more at a time from a store with good turnover is the most economical approach.
Varieties
- White (Hulled): The most common type in US kitchens; mild, nutty flavor with a pale ivory color. The hull has been removed, giving a softer texture and slightly sweeter taste.
- Natural (Unhulled): Retains the outer hull, making it slightly more bitter and chewier but higher in calcium and fiber. Often tan or off-white in color.
- Black: A distinct variety with a bolder, more complex and slightly bitter flavor; the hull is intact and the seed is naturally black. A staple in Chinese and Japanese cuisine and striking as a garnish.
- Toasted: Pre-toasted seeds sold ready to use; convenient but lose their peak fragrance faster than toasting your own. Great for quick weeknight finishing.
- Red / Brown: Less common in the US; found in some Middle Eastern and African cuisines with an earthy, robust flavor profile.
Recipes using sesame seeds
310 recipes across our recipe sites use sesame seeds. A few favorites:
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History & origin
Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is widely regarded as one of humanity’s oldest cultivated oilseed crops, with evidence of its cultivation dating back more than 5,000 years in the Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamia. Ancient Egyptians ground sesame into flour, and sesame-and-honey confections appear in ancient records across the Near East. The crop spread along trade routes to China, the Middle East, and eventually Africa, where it became integral to West African cooking — enslaved Africans brought it to the American South, where it was historically known as benne and used in traditional Southern biscuits and sweets. Today sesame is grown across tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, with major production in Tanzania, India, Sudan, and China.
How it’s made
Sesame plants are drought-tolerant annuals that thrive in hot, dry climates with well-drained soil. The plant produces small tubular flowers that develop into seed pods; when the pods ripen they split open — a trait likely echoed in the phrase ‘open sesame’ — releasing dozens of tiny seeds. Harvesting is labor-intensive because the pods shatter easily, so most commercial harvesting is done by hand or with carefully timed mechanical methods once plants are nearly dry. After harvest, seeds are cleaned, sorted, and either sold hulled (the outer coat removed by soaking and mechanical friction), unhulled, or roasted. For toasted sesame oil, the seeds are roasted before pressing to extract the dark, fragrant oil.
Good to know
- The phrase ‘open sesame’ from One Thousand and One Nights is widely thought to reference the way ripe sesame seed pods burst open when touched.
- Sesame oil has exceptional oxidative stability compared with many vegetable oils, thanks in part to natural antioxidants including sesamol and sesamolin — yet whole seeds themselves can go rancid relatively quickly once ground or stored improperly.
- In Japan, black sesame ice cream is a popular flavor, prized for its striking grey color and rich, slightly bitter taste.
- Thomas Jefferson reportedly grew sesame at Monticello, referring to it by the traditional Southern name benne.
- A single tablespoon of unhulled sesame seeds contains a notable amount of calcium, making them a useful plant-based calcium source — though exact comparisons to milk vary depending on bioavailability.
