What Is Sesame Paste? A Guide to White, Black & Golden Nerigoma
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By Maile Bohlmann
Sesame paste is where sesame stops being a sprinkle and becomes a sauce.
Whole sesame seeds give you crunch. Sesame oil gives you aroma. Sesame paste gives you body. It’s thick, creamy, deeply nutty, and surprisingly flexible. It can become a dressing, a dipping sauce, a noodle sauce, a glaze, a dessert filling, a latte base, a buttercream, a marinade, or the thing that makes a bowl of vegetables taste like something you’d order again.
If you’ve only used sesame as seeds on top of food, sesame paste opens a different door.
Japanese sesame paste is made from ground sesame seeds. Depending on the seed and roast, it can be pale and creamy, dark and dramatic, or golden and aromatic. White sesame paste is round and versatile. Black sesame paste is earthy, bittersweet, and visually striking. Golden sesame paste is rich, fragrant, and luxurious.
At ChefShop, we love sesame paste because it’s both simple and wildly useful. It turns pantry ingredients into sauces almost instantly. It plays well with shoyu, shiro tamari, ponzu, miso, rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, mirin, ginger, citrus, chocolate, cream, and fruit. It can go savory, sweet, or somewhere in the very interesting middle.
And once you understand the basic formula, you don’t really need a recipe every time. You need sesame paste, something salty, something acidic, something sweet, and something liquid to gather it all together.
The Short Version: What Is Sesame Paste?
Sesame paste is a smooth paste made from ground sesame seeds. In Japanese cooking, it’s often called nerigoma. It’s used to add nutty flavor, creamy texture, body, richness, and roasted sesame depth to sauces, dressings, soups, noodles, vegetables, sweets, and drinks.
Use sesame paste when you want:
- Creaminess without dairy
- Nutty depth without using tree nuts
- A fast sauce base for noodles, vegetables, tofu, fish, chicken, and rice bowls
- A bridge between savory and sweet flavors
- More body in dressings, dips, glazes, and desserts
The main types we focus on are white sesame paste, black sesame paste, and golden sesame paste. Each has a different flavor personality.
What Is Nerigoma?
Nerigoma is Japanese sesame paste. The word refers to sesame seeds that have been ground into a smooth, creamy paste. Depending on the producer and style, the seeds may be roasted before grinding, which gives the finished paste deeper aroma and flavor.
That roasting is a big part of why Japanese sesame paste can taste so different from a flat, generic seed butter. The goal isn’t just to pulverize sesame seeds. The goal is to capture roasted sesame flavor in a form that can spread, emulsify, thicken, and disappear into a sauce.
Good sesame paste should taste vibrant: nutty, aromatic, creamy, and concentrated. It shouldn’t taste stale, waxy, bitter in the wrong way, or like a paste that forgot it was supposed to be delicious.
How Is Sesame Paste Made?
Sesame paste starts with sesame seeds. That sounds obvious, but the seed choice matters. White, black, and golden sesame seeds each bring different flavor, color, and aroma.
The basic process looks like this:
- The sesame seeds are selected and cleaned. Good sesame paste depends on good seeds.
- The seeds may be roasted. Roasting develops aroma, nuttiness, sweetness, and depth.
- The seeds are ground slowly. Grinding breaks the seeds down and releases their natural oils.
- The paste is refined until smooth. The goal is creaminess without losing the flavor developed during roasting.
Wadaman’s process is especially interesting because of how much attention they give the sesame before it ever becomes paste. Their roasted seeds are slowly roasted in stages, and their sesame pastes are ground slowly at low temperatures using traditional ceramic grinding stones. The paste passes through the mill multiple times until the natural oil content creates a smooth, creamy texture.
That’s the difference between “ground seeds” and a real ingredient with character.
Sesame Paste vs. Tahini: Are They the Same?
Sesame paste and tahini are related, but they’re not always the same experience.
Both are made from sesame seeds. Both can be creamy, nutty, and useful in sauces. But the flavor can be very different depending on the type of sesame, whether the seeds are hulled or unhulled, how much they’re roasted, how they’re ground, and the culinary tradition behind the product.
Tahini is often associated with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking and is commonly made from hulled sesame seeds, often with a lighter roast or no strong roast. Japanese sesame paste, especially from a producer like Wadaman or Nouka, is often more directly focused on the aroma and flavor of carefully roasted sesame.
That means Japanese sesame paste can taste deeper, toastier, and more concentrated. It’s not automatically better in every use. It’s just different.
Use tahini when you want that particular tahini flavor. Use Japanese sesame paste when you want roasted sesame to be more clearly at the center.
White Sesame Paste: Creamy, Round & Versatile
White sesame paste is the easiest place to start if you want a lighter sesame profile. It’s creamy, nutty, gently sweet, and flexible. It can go savory or sweet without overwhelming the dish. If black sesame paste is dramatic and golden sesame paste is luxurious, white sesame paste is the everyday genius: useful and adaptable.
White sesame paste is especially good in dressings and sauces because it brings body without a strong color. It can make a vinaigrette feel creamy, a noodle sauce feel unctuous, or a vegetable dressing feel restaurant-level with very little effort.
At ChefShop, Wadaman White Sesame Paste Organic comes in 80-gram and 1-kilo pouches from Japan and is made with organic white sesame seeds. It’s a lovely size for home cooks who want to experiment with sesame sauces, dressings, and small-batch cooking.
How to Use White Sesame Paste
- Whisk into goma-ae-style vegetable dressings.
- Use in creamy noodle sauces with shoyu, ponzu, or shiro tamari.
- Mix with rice vinegar, ginger, and sesame oil for cabbage slaw.
- Add to miso soup or vegetable soup for more body.
- Use in dipping sauces for tofu, dumplings, chicken, or fish.
- Blend into salad dressings, marinades, glazes, and dips.
- Use in sweets where you want gentle sesame flavor without dark color.
Shop Wadaman 80-gram White Sesame Paste
Restaurant, café, or just love the stuff? Get the 1-kilo pouch.
Black Sesame Paste: Earthy, Dramatic & Bittersweet
Black sesame paste is impossible to ignore. In fact, you may have noticed this if you've been to a café or bakery recently.
It’s dark, earthy, roasted, slightly bitter, and visually dramatic. It can look almost ink-black in a sauce, cream, latte, cheesecake, or croissant filling. That visual drama is part of its appeal, but the flavor matters just as much.
Black sesame tastes deeper than white sesame. It can lean nutty, earthy, cocoa-adjacent, toasted, and bittersweet. It’s excellent in savory cooking, but it’s especially exciting in sweets and drinks because it gives familiar formats a completely different personality.
Black sesame paste is the reason black sesame lattes, black sesame cheesecakes, black sesame croissants, black sesame soft serve, and black sesame cookies feel so compelling. It’s not just color. It’s a flavor that sits somewhere between roasted seed, dark nut, cocoa, and smoke.
At ChefShop, Wadaman Black Sesame Paste comes in an 80 gram pouch from Japan, as well as a 1 kilo pouch for higher-volume use.
How to Use Black Sesame Paste
- Whisk into lattes, milk drinks, matcha, hojicha, or coffee drinks.
- Use in cheesecake, pastry cream, buttercream, ganache, mousse, and ice cream.
- Mix into croissant filling, buns, cookies, brownies, or pound cake.
- Whisk into noodle sauces, dipping sauces, or miso dressings.
- Use with tofu, eggplant, mushrooms, roasted squash, or cabbage.
- Pair with chocolate, vanilla, caramel, honey, maple, brown sugar, cream, and butter.
Shop Wadaman 80-Gram Black Sesame Paste
Shop Wadaman 1-Kilo Black Sesame Paste
Read next: Black Sesame Paste for Cafés & Bakeries
Golden Sesame Paste: Rich, Aromatic & Luxurious
Golden sesame paste is the one that feels fancy.
Golden sesame seeds are known for their rich aroma and full sesame flavor. When they’re turned into paste, that flavor becomes creamy, concentrated, and fragrant. Golden sesame paste can taste rounder and more luxurious than white sesame paste, while staying less visually dramatic than black sesame paste.
This is the sesame paste to use when sesame is supposed to be central, not just supportive. It’s beautiful in noodle sauces, dressings, vegetable dishes, dipping sauces, marinades, sweets, and bakery applications where you want deep sesame flavor without the black color.
At ChefShop, Wadaman Golden Sesame Paste is available in both the 80-gram and 1-kilo pouches from Japan and is made with golden sesame seeds. That larger format is especially useful for professional kitchens, cafés, bakeries, and serious home cooks who know exactly what they’ll do with it.
How to Use Golden Sesame Paste
- Use in rich sesame noodle sauces.
- Whisk into dressings with ponzu, shiro tamari, or rice vinegar.
- Mix into miso glazes for eggplant, squash, carrots, or fish.
- Use in dipping sauces for dumplings, tofu, vegetables, or chicken.
- Add to ice cream, custards, cookies, cakes, or pastry fillings.
- Pair with honey, citrus, soy sauce, miso, chocolate, caramel, and cream.
One thing to keep note of: Exports of golden sesame paste from Japan have been more limited of late. If we're out of stock when you come through, make sure to click "Email me when back in stock" to get notified when it's available again.
Shop Wadaman 80-Gram Golden Sesame Paste
Shop Wadaman 1-Kilo Golden Sesame Paste
White vs. Black vs. Golden Sesame Paste
All sesame pastes bring nutty flavor and creamy body, but they don’t behave the same way.
| Sesame Paste | Flavor | Color | Best Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| White sesame paste | Mild, creamy, nutty, gently sweet, versatile | Pale beige | Dressings, sauces, noodles, vegetables, tofu, dips, lighter sweets |
| Black sesame paste | Earthy, roasted, bittersweet, dramatic, cocoa-adjacent | Dark gray to black | Lattes, cheesecakes, croissants, ice cream, cookies, noodles, savory sauces |
| Golden sesame paste | Rich, aromatic, round, deeply sesame-forward | Golden beige | Noodle sauces, dressings, glazes, vegetables, professional kitchen use, sweets |
The easiest way to choose is to ask what role you want the sesame to play.
If you want flexibility, start with white. If you want drama and nuttiness, choose black. If you want deep sesame aroma and richness, choose golden.
How Sesame Paste Builds Sauce
Sesame paste is one of the fastest ways to make a sauce feel like it has structure.
It thickens. It emulsifies. It clings to noodles and vegetables. It softens acidity. It makes salty ingredients taste rounder. It turns a splash of ponzu or shiro tamari into something with body.
The basic formula is simple:
Sesame paste + salt/umami + acid + sweetness + liquid
That might mean:
- Sesame paste + shoyu + rice vinegar + honey + warm water
- Sesame paste + ponzu + mirin + water
- Sesame paste + shiro tamari + lemon + ginger + water
- Sesame paste + miso + rice vinegar + maple syrup + hot water
- Sesame paste + shirodashi + citrus + sesame oil
Once you understand that framework, sesame paste becomes a weeknight cheat code.
Simple Sesame Paste Sauce Ideas
| Sauce Idea | Mix | Use With |
|---|---|---|
| Classic sesame dressing | White sesame paste + shoyu + rice vinegar + sugar or honey + water | Spinach, green beans, cabbage, broccoli, tofu, noodles |
| Ponzu sesame sauce | Sesame paste + ponzu + warm water + sesame oil | Dumplings, noodles, roasted vegetables, grilled fish, chicken |
| Miso sesame glaze | Sesame paste + miso + mirin + shoyu + water | Eggplant, squash, carrots, mushrooms, salmon, tofu |
| Black sesame dessert cream | Black sesame paste + sugar or honey + cream, milk, or coconut milk | Cheesecake, lattes, ice cream, panna cotta, pastry filling |
| Golden sesame noodle sauce | Golden sesame paste + shiro tamari + rice vinegar + ginger + water | Soba, udon, cold noodles, cucumbers, shredded chicken |
| Spicy sesame sauce | Sesame paste + chili sesame oil + ponzu + warm water | Ramen, dumplings, tofu, cabbage, rice bowls, noodles |
How to Use Sesame Paste in Savory Cooking
Sesame paste is especially good when a dish needs body and flavor at the same time.
1. Vegetable Dressings
This is one of the most classic and useful applications. Whisk sesame paste with shoyu or shiro tamari, rice vinegar or ponzu, a little sweetness, and water. Toss with spinach, green beans, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, mushrooms, or potatoes.
The sauce should be creamy enough to coat but loose enough to move.
2. Noodle Sauces
Sesame paste loves noodles. It clings in a way thin sauces don’t. Use it with soba, udon, ramen, somen, rice noodles, or even spaghetti if that’s what dinner is.
For cold noodles, combine sesame paste with ponzu, shiro tamari, ginger, and water. For richer noodles, add miso, chili sesame oil, or sesame oil.
3. Dipping Sauces
Use sesame paste in dipping sauces for dumplings, tofu, grilled vegetables, chicken skewers, fish, summer rolls, steamed vegetables, or hot pot.
It’s especially good with ponzu because ponzu brings acidity and soy-dashi depth while sesame paste brings body.
4. Marinades and Glazes
Sesame paste can help marinades cling. Mix it with miso, shoyu, mirin, ginger, garlic, citrus, or rice vinegar for a rich coating on eggplant, mushrooms, squash, salmon, chicken, pork, tofu, or carrots.
Use heat carefully. Because sesame paste contains oil and solids, it can scorch if cooked too aggressively. It’s often best as part of a glaze or sauce added toward the end.
5. Soups and Broths
A spoonful of sesame paste can give soup body and nuttiness. Try it in miso soup, ramen broth, vegetable soup, mushroom broth, squash soup, or brothy greens.
For an easy bowl, whisk sesame paste with a little hot broth first so it loosens smoothly, then stir it back into the pot or bowl.
6. Rice Bowls
Sesame paste sauces are ideal for rice bowls because they tie everything together. Use them with tofu, roasted vegetables, chicken, salmon, mushrooms, cucumbers, pickles, greens, and sesame seeds.
A rice bowl with sesame paste sauce almost always tastes more deliberate than the effort required.
How to Use Sesame Paste in Sweets, Drinks & Baking
Sesame paste is one of the best bridges between savory and sweet. It has enough fat and body to behave like a nut butter, but its flavor is more complex and less expected.
1. Lattes and Café Drinks
Black sesame paste is especially good in lattes because it brings both color and flavor, but note that it doesn't dissolve, so thoughtful incorporation is key. Whisk it with sugar or syrup, then blend with milk, espresso, matcha, hojicha, or coffee. Our favorite use? Blend it into your cold foam or whipped cream for a nutty latte topper.
White or golden sesame paste can also work in drinks, especially where you want a softer nutty flavor without the dark visual effect.
2. Cheesecake and Custards
Black sesame cheesecake works because the paste cuts through richness with roasted, earthy depth. Golden sesame paste can create a warmer, nuttier version. White sesame paste is subtler and can be lovely with citrus, honey, or vanilla.
3. Croissants and Pastry Fillings
Sesame paste can be mixed into pastry cream, frangipane-style fillings, buttercream, ganache, or sweetened cream cheese. Black sesame gives a dramatic look; golden sesame gives luxurious aroma.
4. Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts
Sesame paste is excellent in ice cream, semifreddo, milkshakes, soft serve, and frozen custards. Black sesame is the dramatic classic, but golden sesame can be just as delicious.
5. Cookies, Cakes, and Brownies
Use sesame paste in cookies, shortbread, brownies, pound cake, tea cake, sponge cake, or sandwich cookies. It pairs beautifully with chocolate, caramel, miso, honey, maple, citrus, vanilla, hojicha, and matcha.
Why Sesame Paste Separates
Sesame paste may separate in the jar or pouch, with oil rising to the top and solids settling below. That’s normal for many natural seed and nut pastes.
Before using, knead the pouch or stir the paste thoroughly until it’s smooth again. If it’s very firm, warming it gently can help loosen the texture.
Don’t pour off the oil unless you specifically want a much drier paste. The oil is part of the sesame. It carries flavor and helps create the creamy texture.
How to Store Sesame Paste
Sesame paste contains natural oil, so freshness matters. Store unopened sesame paste according to the package instructions. After opening, keep it tightly sealed and refrigerate it if the label recommends refrigeration or if you won’t use it quickly. Cold sesame paste may become firmer, so bring it closer to room temperature or knead the pouch before using.
Use your nose. Fresh sesame paste should smell nutty and inviting. If it smells stale, rancid, waxy, or like old oil, it’s time for a new pouch.
What to Buy First
If you’re new to sesame paste, start with the flavor you’re most likely to use.
- Choose white sesame paste if you want a versatile sauce and dressing base.
- Choose black sesame paste if you’re excited about desserts, lattes, dramatic sauces, or bakery-style applications.
- Choose golden sesame paste if you want a richer, more aromatic sesame flavor and a larger format for frequent use.
For many home cooks, white sesame paste has the most applications in the kitchen. For cafés, bakeries, pastry programs, and anyone chasing black sesame desserts or drinks, black sesame paste is the one to watch. For chefs and serious sesame obsessives, golden sesame paste is the sleeper.
Sesame Paste Pairing Guide
| Pairing | Why It Works | Try It In |
|---|---|---|
| Sesame paste + shoyu | Nutty body plus fermented salt and umami. | Noodle sauces, dips, vegetable dressings, marinades. |
| Sesame paste + ponzu | Creaminess plus citrus acidity and soy-dashi depth. | Dumpling sauces, tofu, noodles, roasted vegetables. |
| Sesame paste + shiro tamari | Creamy sesame with pale, delicate umami. | Light dressings, fish, vegetables, tofu, cold noodles. |
| Sesame paste + miso | Fermented body on top of nutty body. | Glazes, soups, eggplant, squash, mushrooms, salmon. |
| Sesame paste + sesame oil | Texture plus aroma: paste gives body, oil gives fragrance. | Noodles, dressings, dumpling sauces, vegetables. |
| Sesame paste + chocolate | Bitterness, roast, fat, and sweetness all speak the same language. | Brownies, ganache, cookies, ice cream, cakes. |
| Sesame paste + dairy or alt milk | Cream softens sesame’s roast and carries aroma. | Lattes, custards, cheesecake, ice cream, panna cotta. |
| Sesame paste + citrus | Acid cuts richness and makes sesame taste brighter. | Dressings, sauces, fish, slaws, desserts. |
Shop Sesame Paste at ChefShop
ChefShop carries Wadaman sesame pastes from Japan, including white sesame paste, black sesame paste, and golden sesame paste.
Wadaman is one of the sesame producers we love because they treat sesame like a specialty ingredient, not a commodity. Their roasting and grinding process is patient, deliberate, and focused on aroma. That care shows up in the final paste: smooth, creamy, fragrant, and deeply sesame-forward.
Use sesame paste for sauces, dressings, noodles, vegetables, tofu, soups, marinades, desserts, lattes, croissants, cheesecakes, ice cream, and any dish that could use nutty body and roasted depth.
FAQ: Sesame Paste
What is sesame paste?
Sesame paste is a smooth paste made from ground sesame seeds. It’s used to add nutty flavor, creamy texture, body, and richness to sauces, dressings, noodles, vegetables, sweets, drinks, and baked goods.
What is nerigoma?
Nerigoma is Japanese sesame paste. It’s made by grinding sesame seeds into a smooth paste and is used in Japanese sauces, dressings, vegetable dishes, noodle sauces, desserts, and other sweet and savory preparations.
Is sesame paste the same as tahini?
Sesame paste and tahini are related because both are made from sesame seeds, but they’re not always the same. Japanese sesame paste is often made with carefully roasted sesame seeds and can taste deeper, nuttier, and more aromatic than many lighter tahini styles.
What is white sesame paste used for?
White sesame paste is used for dressings, dipping sauces, noodle sauces, vegetable dishes, tofu, soups, marinades, glazes, and lighter sweets. It’s creamy, nutty, versatile, and a good first sesame paste for home cooks.
What is black sesame paste used for?
Black sesame paste is used in lattes, cheesecakes, croissants, ice cream, cookies, brownies, pastry fillings, noodle sauces, dressings, and savory sauces. It has a dark color and a deep, earthy, bittersweet sesame flavor.
What is golden sesame paste used for?
Golden sesame paste is used for rich noodle sauces, dressings, dipping sauces, miso glazes, vegetable sauces, desserts, and professional kitchen applications. It has a deep, aromatic sesame flavor and a creamy texture.
Why does sesame paste separate?
Sesame paste may separate because sesame seeds naturally contain oil. Oil can rise to the top while solids settle below. Stir the paste thoroughly or knead the pouch before using so the texture becomes smooth again.
How do you make sesame paste into sauce?
Start with sesame paste, then add something salty or umami-rich, something acidic, something sweet, and enough water or broth to loosen it. For example, mix sesame paste with shoyu, rice vinegar, honey, and warm water for a quick vegetable or noodle sauce.
Does sesame paste need to be refrigerated?
Storage depends on the product, so check the package instructions. After opening, keep sesame paste tightly sealed and refrigerate it if recommended or if you won’t use it quickly. Cold sesame paste may firm up, so stir, knead, or gently warm it before using.
Where can I buy Japanese sesame paste?
You can buy Japanese sesame paste from ChefShop, including Wadaman white sesame paste, black sesame paste, and golden sesame paste from Japan.
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