Reader Request: Grinding Sesame Seeds in the Ninja Pulse

Every so often, I get reader requests that go like this, “ Can the Ninja <model> do <fill in the blank>?

As it turns out, most times, no matter the model or the question, the answer is, “yes!”

For today’s little experiment, reader Veronica asked if the Ninja Pulse can grind sesame seeds. After a little back-and-forth dialogue to determine how she wanted to use the seeds, I find out she was looking for a flour-like consistency, which is what I’ll show here.

Veronica specifically mentioned black sesame seeds, so I ordered up a batch on Amazon and went to work.

The tutorial here is relatively simple. If you have any of the Ninja models with a single serve cup, it will work, but I do like to do tests in the Pulse because if it works in the Pulse, it’ll work in any of the models. It is important to use the single serve cup for this project, because the blades in the larger jars just will not give you a very fine grind, as I demonstrated in this post about grinding coffee beans.

How to Grind Sesame Seeds in a Ninja Blender

1. Toast the seeds. Veronica’s instructions indicated that the raw seeds needed to be toasted, so I toasted them lightly in a dry pan over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. It doesn’t take long to toast sesame seeds; They are done when they start to become fragrant. This helps the seeds blend very nicely as well, because the natural oils come alive (same applies to any raw nut when grinding into flour or nut butter).

I used a little less than 1/4 cup of seeds, because I don’t need a big batch, but you could use anywhere from 1/4 cup to a full cup. This was originally a full 1/4 cup, but I lost some upon transfer from the pan! Okay, I lost quite a bit…

2. Put toasted seeds into your single serve cup. You do not need any oil if you just want to make sesame seed meal.

3. Pulse evenly for 20-30 seconds until you get a consistency you like. If you keep pulsing for longer, you’ll end up with tahini. You can see in this next picture that there is a ring in the cup with seeds stuck to it near the top – that is really close to nut butter texture, so I pulsed a little too long.

4. You’re done! About 1/4 cup of seeds yielded a bit more than 1/4 cup of flour-like sesame meal.

As for how to use it, I have been sprinkling a little on my daily big salad, and it very yummy, almost like a more savory black pepper. You could also make glutinous rice flour balls, which was what Victoria had in mind when asking this question.

And there you have it. In all this, project took about 5  minutes, including toasting the seeds.

Have a question about how to make something in your Ninja Blender? I’m always open for reader requests, so, don’t hesitate to ask!