Easy Homemade Hummus Recipe – creamy & healthy

This easy homemade hummus recipe is quick to make. It’s creamy, healthy and so much tastier than store-bought. This Middle Eastern chickpea dip has so many uses; sandwich fillings, as a dip with crudites or as a sauce for roasted vegetables. It’s so easy to make at home you’ll wonder why you haven’t tried this before. It’s delicious. Not sure you believe me? Make some and see!

This easy, creamy, homemade Hummus recipe (or should you spell it houmous?) is incredibly easy and quick to make. The dip itself is really versatile and a good recipe to have at your fingertips when you need something good in a hurry. Take a look at our serving suggestions, for ideas, you can add different spices, different herbs, add a little chilli heat – just begin with this basic recipe.

Kitchen equipment

These are the things you are going to need to make this easy hummus recipe.

• a food processor or stick blender – you could do this by hand but it would take quite a while and the results are unlikely to be as smooth and creamy. With a food processor, this is the work of minutes and I like things to be simple.
• measuring spoons or digital scales – if you weigh or measure the ingredients into your bowl then this recipe is going to impress you. If you just tip and hope for the best, then sometimes it’ll work out and other times maybe not.

Hummus Ingredients

• Chickpeas: Also known as garbanzo beans. These are really versatile beans as they readily take on all kinds of spices and flavours. If I’m in a hurry I use tinned beans as it makes the whole process quicker. Home-cooked chickpeas will give you a better flavour but you need to have soaked them first, for at least eight hours, before you can cook them. Using tinned beans may not result in quite the same amount of flavour but these will still create hummus that is way ahead in terms of flavour and creamy texture, of anything you can buy pre-made at the store.
  • Should I remove the skins first? I don’t remove the skins from chickpeas before making this dip, for one thing, I rarely have the time and for another, it would mean removing some of the valuable fibre that hummus contains. Even with the skins left on this hummus will be soft, smooth and creamy.
• Tahini: is made of toasted hulled, sesame seeds and has a sauce-like consistency. (Unhulled sesame seeds have a more bitter flavour.) It is widely used in Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food and is easily available from the supermarket. Sometimes when you take the lid off the pot there may be oil sitting on the top of sesame seed paste, just stir it in and it’s ready to use.
  • Don’t like tahini? If you or your family really don’t like the taste of tahini then simply leave it out and add olive oil in its place. Hummus without tahini is still pretty awesome but if you want your hummus to taste like the best store-bought version then you need to include the tahini to get that unmistakable flavour of this amazing chickpea dip.
• Olive Oil: This oil gives the hummus a silky, velvety texture and will give your homemade hummus a wonderful creaminess
• Cool water: Chilled or cool water is used in this recipe to make it into a beautiful creamy dip and to help this process the water needs to be cool.

Flavours that make this the best Hummus

• Salt: I usually add a teaspoon of salt to this amount of chickpeas. Salt is a real flavour enhancer and just a little will really make all the flavours in your homemade hummus shout out loud. If you want to limit your salt intake then it’s fine to reduce the amount.
• Fresh Lemon juice: I use the juice of a lemon, you want about 2 tablespoons of juice, which really lifts the flavour and helps bind everything together.
• Fresh Garlic: Fresh garlic will give you the best flavour. I use 2 cloves when I’m making this but feel free to adjust this amount to suit your own tastes. Also, sometimes garlic cloves are enormous and sometimes they’re really skinny and small so take that into account when you’re deciding how much to use.

How to make homemade Hummus Recipe

This is super simple. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of the food processor and blend. Be brave and give it a minute or two to really turn these ingredients into a silky smooth, healthy, creamy dip.

It will thicken up a little more once it’s been in the refrigerator a while but that’s all good.

Variations on this homemade Hummus recipe

If you ever peruse the aisles at the supermarket or look through recipe books you’ll know that there are lots of different type of hummus that you can buy. This version is for a classic, traditional homemade hummus, which I believe is superior in every way to store-bought, and you can use it to serve as a base for other spices and herbs to give it a slightly different flavour. Here are just a few simple ideas.

• Try adding a 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder (1/8th teaspoon of cayenne pepper) for a delicious, fiery kick.
• Fancy something a little gentler but still warming that also adds a delicious smokiness? Then add around a half teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika.
• How about Lemon and coriander, which is a bit of a favourite of mine. Add a handful of coriander to the blender and a little lemon zest and whizz it into the dip. Reserve a little herb to decorate the top with and zest a little lemon peel for a pretty decoration.

Serving and Using hummus

This hummus is super quick to make but how do you eat this classic mediterranean dip?

Here are a few of my ideas about what to eat with hummus.

• Serve in a bowl with the dip flattened with the back of a spoon and sprinkle with paprika and a little oil… maybe sprinkle a few chopped herbs over it too.
• In salads, it makes a nice protein addition to the meal.
• As a sandwich filling, using bread, a crusty roll or toasted pittas. Add salad vegetables such as tomatoes finely sliced, green leaves, sliced cucumber, a dollop of your favourite pickle and don’t forget Siracha hot sauce. Love Siracha!
• Serve it as a dip with crudites. Present it with sliced red peppers, young celery sticks, cucumber batons and carrots. Toasted pitta bread and tortilla chips also really work well.
• Use it to make a protein and fibre rich sauce. Pour the sauce over roasted vegetables before serving.
• Serve with falafels with hummus drizzled across the top as a sauce… wrap them all up with salad in a wrap or tucked into pitta bread.
• It makes a terrific topping for baked jacket potatoes.
• A favourite in my home is as a filling for a toasted sandwich with sliced tomatoes.

If you have any other ideas – please share them.

Storing Hummus

This hummus recipe will store in the refrigerator for up to three days in a suitable container.

Freezing hummus

Although hummus is something that I think is best eaten fresh, it is possible to freeze it.

This super easy Hummus recipe does freeze successfully. You can either freeze the whole batch for later or freeze it in pots that hold an individual portion. Remember to leave space at the top of the container to allow for expansion as the dip freezes.

To defrost the dip, put it in the fridge and allow it to thaw. On thawing you may notice that the spread seems to have separated a little. This is perfectly normal and all you have to do to return your hummus to its former glory is to give it a good stir.

It should last quite happily for up to 2 months in the freezer.

What do you do with your hummus?

Other recipes you may like…

• Easy Avocado Hummus Dip
• Avocado Toast (with variations and ideas)
• Hazelnut and Chocolate Spread
• Peanut Butter
• Almond butter
• Vegan Cream Cheese

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rewritten 28th May 2021 with new photographs and some extra information.

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