Black Sesame Is Everywhere — Here Are 10 Recipes to Try It at Home

After years of matcha green and ube purple taking over our kitchens, the era of black sesame is finally here. The trending ingredient is finding its way into everything, bringing its inky color and rich, roasted flavor to everything from lattes to pastries to soft serve. Luckily, you don’t need to leave home to try it. Black sesame paste, powder and seeds can add something unexpected to even the most familiar recipes.

Of course, black sesame is hardly new. It has long been a staple across Asian cuisines, especially in sweets like Chinese black sesame soup and Japanese ice cream. Its growing popularity makes plenty of sense: Black sesame has the creamy richness of nut butter, a deeply toasted flavor and just enough sweetness to balance its bitterness. A little can add depth to a classic chocolate chip cookie, while a generous spoonful can transform homemade ice cream. These recipes are your place to start.

Chocolate chip cookies can handle a little competition. Tahini gives these an extra-rich, nutty base, while black and white sesame seeds coat the outside for a toasty finish and a delicate crunch. The result is a striking cookie perfect for an edible gift or cookie swap.

Molly Yeh trades the traditional chocolate or cinnamon Babka filling for black sesame paste in this beautifully swirled loaf. The black sesame gives the filling rich, toasty nuttiness.

This traditional Chinese dessert highlights everything that makes black sesame so compelling: It is fragrant, nutty, slightly bitter and not too sweet. It's topped with homemade tangyuan rice balls, which add a soft, satisfying chewy finish. As a bonus: it's also dairy- and gluten-free.

Capitalizing on two flavors of the moment, brown butter and sesame, these crispy treats are indulgently decadent. Kardea Brown finishes them with flaky sea salt and sesame seeds, which balance the gooey marshmallow sweetness with a savory, toasty bite.

If you like ice cream that leans rich, this may become your new favorite scoop. Black sesame paste and powder flavor the creamy custard base, and give the ice cream a striking charcoal color. But don't let the shade fool you, the flavor is nutty and sweet.

These are not your average peanut butter buckeyes. Molly Yeh makes the centers with black sesame paste, butter, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon, then dips each one in creamy white chocolate. You'll find that their black sesame base brings a similar yet somewhat more complex nuttiness compared to peanut butter.

The jade green and velvety black swirls are reason enough to make this loaf cake, but the flavor pairing is just as striking. Fragrant pandan, often described as the "vanilla of Southeast Asia," plays against the toasted richness of black sesame, in this moist coconut milk cake. It is topped with a glossy pandan glaze and a sprinkle of sesame seeds for a final touch.

Molly Yeh gives s’mores a full makeover with pillowy homemade black sesame marshmallows and a cocoa-kissed red velvet cashew butter. Sweet Hawaiian rolls take the place of graham crackers, creating an unconventional and playful sweet slider "s'more".

Inspired by the Korean snack ssal gangjeong, these bars combine puffed brown rice, quinoa, oats, cashews, dates and coconut into one very well balanced breakfast square. A sticky mixture of Korean rice syrup, honey and black sesame paste holds it together and brings a deep nuttiness to every crunchy, chewy bite.