AbstractThis study was conducted to investigate the effect of using different proportions of tahinah (0–25%) on the protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of chickpea dip and to evaluate this parameter when chickpea dip is consumed with wheat bread. Protein quality was evaluated using the methods of amino acid score and true protein digestibility in weanling Sprague–Dawley rats. The levels of tahinah that provided the best true protein digestibility and protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid score were 20 and 25%. Values of true protein digestibility were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than for the other types of chickpea dip (0.87 and 0.88 respectively). The consumption of wheat bread with chickpea dip led to a marked improvement in the true protein digestibility of the protein mixture (0.90); however, the protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid score did not change in the same manner owing to the relatively low amino acid score. It can be concluded that the addition of tahinah to chickpea led to an increase in the protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid score of chickpea dip (based on laboratory rat requirements for essential amino acids) and that the consumption of chickpea dip with bread led to an improvement in the protein digestibility of chickpea dip but not in the protein digestibility‐corrected amino acid score.© 2002 Society of Chemical Industry