Smooth and Creamy Homemade Hummus
The ONLY recipe you need for preparing perfectly smooth, ultra-creamy homemade hummus. This is so easy to make in 5 minutes with just a handful of ingredients: chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and a touch of seasoning. You’ll wonder why you haven’t been making this at home all along!
Hummus is essentially a wonder food. It’s an ultra-versatile dip and spread – perfect for adding flavor and texture to wraps and sandwiches, and the easiest way to transform a heaping plate of veggies into a delicious, satisfying snack. Don’t even try to resist it paired with pita, crackers, or those cute little tubs packaged with pretzels.
Better yet, though, there’s no need to resist. Eating hummus is guilt-free! Chickpeas, the base of a creamy, classic hummus, are a good source of plant-based protein and fiber. Added flavor comes from spices, tahini, and just a touch of olive oil for a healthy fat.
How to make your own hummus
If you’re interested in making hummus at home, you’ll be glad to know it’s incredibly quick and easy. You can use either a food processor or a powerful blender, such as a Vitamix or Ninja. Whatever you use simply needs to be powerful enough to pulverize the chickpea skins. Some recipes homemade hummus recipes call for removing the chickpea skins by hand, but I don’t find that necessary – and it’s a lot of extra work!
This recipe calls for adding the ingredients in a specific order. It may seem a little arbitrary, but trust me, it works like a charm and is how you get that perfectly smooth, creamy hummus every time – without hunching over a pile of chickpea skins!
- Combine water and lemon juice in a small bowl or measuring cup; mix tahini and olive oil together in another. Give the tahini a good stir with a spoon to be sure it’s a smooth and even consistency. Set both of these aside.
- Add drained chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin, and a pinch of cayenne to your food processor or blender, and break all that good stuff down! You want to get it finely ground, like you see in the photo on the left below.
- Now add first the water/lemon juice mixture, followed by the tahini/olive oil. Blend, blend, blend, and voila–hummus!
I usually use just 1 clove of garlic per 14 ounce can of chickpeas – any more than that and I’m sure to get a side eye from other family members. If you and yours can’t get enough, add an extra clove! Roasting the garlic is also divine – to do this quickly, you can just roast peeled cloves on a skillet for 10-15 minutes over medium heat, turning frequently.
You can also add other ingredients for some fun flavor variations! Hummus is the ultimate canvas. A few ideas:
- Roasted garlic
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Roasted red peppers
- Jalapenos or other peppers
- Basil or other fresh herbs
- Pine nuts
How long does homemade hummus last?
Homemade hummus keeps well for at least 3-5 days in the fridge. Just be sure it is tightly sealed, and drizzle a thin layer of olive oil on top of the hummus for good measure.
The other big question on storage is always: can I freeze this? I am excited to report that YES, you can freeze homemade hummus! Use a tightly-sealed, freezer-safe container and leave some room, as the hummus will expand as it freezers. For best results, freeze in small batches, and defrost in the fridge overnight as needed. After thawing, give it a good stir, taste, adjust any seasonings as desired, and serve.
More Easy & Delicious Homemade Dips:
- Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin Hummus
- Garlic Rosemary White Bean Dip
- White Bean Sun-Dried Tomato Dip
- Skinny Chipotle Street Corn Dip
If you try this easy hummus recipe or any other on the blog, please rate it and leave a comment below. I love hearing from you, and other readers will benefit from your experience!
Any questions? Just let me know! Enjoy!
Smooth and Creamy Homemade Hummus
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp. lemon juice from 1-2 lemons
- 6 tbsp. tahini stirred well
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil plus a bit extra for drizzling
- 1 (14 oz) can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp. table salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
- pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Measure water in a small liquid measuring cup, and add the lemon juice to combine. In a separate measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the tahini and 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Add the chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl of a food processor and process until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the machine running again, add the water and lemon juice mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube. Continue to process for 1 minute, then, with the machine still running, pour the olive oil and tahini mixture through the feed tube. Continue to process until the hummus is smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- Hummus can be served immediately, but will taste even better after 30 minutes or so, to give the flavors time to blend. Drizzle a little more olive oil on top when serving, and garnish as desired.
Notes
- Storage: Hummus keeps well in the fridge in an airtight container for at least 4 days. When ready to eat, drizzle the top with olive oil and serve.
- Garnish: In these photos, the hummus is garnished with a drizzle of olive oil, toasted sesame seeds, chia seeds, a sprinkling of cumin, and a tiny bit of cracked black pepper. We love it this way! You could also garnish with extra chickpeas, fresh parsley or cilantro, paprika, or other spices – the sky’s the limit!
- Flavor Variations: Try adding roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, basil or other fresh herbs. Hummus is a wonderful canvas for any other flavors you want to add, so experiment and add what appeals to you!
- Yield: This recipe yields about 1 heaping cup of prepared hummus. The nutrition information below is an estimate for a small serving of about 1.5 tablespoons.
- Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.
Nutrition Estimate
