How to Make Hummus

How to Make Hummus

Judging by the varieties of hummus at my grocery store, it’s easy to tell that this delicious dip has become pretty popular.  I have been eating hummus for years, and now my 2-year-old daughter also loves to gobble it up.  Hummus makes a great addition to snacks because it adds protein and fiber, both of which help to keep you full.  I love to dip veggies (especially baby carrots) and whole wheat pita chips or crackers into hummus for a quick and healthy snack.  If you haven’t tried hummus, I strongly encourage you to have a taste.  I assure you, you will be going back for more!

What You Need

I started making my own hummus a few years ago, once I realized how easy it was.  All you really need is a food processor.  As with anything homemade, the benefits of making your own hummus are that you control the ingredients, and you don’t need to scour labels looking for unnatural preservatives.  To make a plain hummus recipe, you only need a handful of ingredients, most of which you probably have on hand or can easily pick up: canned garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  The one exotic ingredient that you will need is tahini paste, which is made from sesame seeds.  Most large supermarkets carry this in their international foods aisle.  It is a little pricey, but you use such a small amount in one batch that it will last you a long time.

What You Save

I asked my husband to help me with this, since I am an English teacher and hate math, but I knew you might be interested in the cost analysis of making your own hummus.  Making your own hummus costs about $1 less than buying it.  While this is not a huge savings, if you eat as much hummus as we do in my house, this can add up!  Not only is this hummus better for you and cheaper, but it truly tastes better…fresh is the best word for it.

What You Can Create

The cool thing about making hummus at home is that you can vary the ingredients to create different flavors of hummus.  My absolute fave is roasted red pepper, which is the recipe I give you below, but you can try jalapeno, garlic, spicy, olive, basil, sun-dried tomato…the possibilities are endless.  Check out Tammy’s Buffalo Hummus she made last month. Whenever I have made this recipe in the past, it has been Rachael-Ray style, with a “glug” of this and a “shake” of that, but I know it’s important to have a recipe with measured out ingredients, so I did that this time.  Just know that you may need to add a little more or less of this or that to get the texture to your liking.  Also, I roast my own red bell pepper under the broiler, which is super easy, but you could also buy jarred ones.  Just know that this may change your cost.

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: Organize Yourself Skinny

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans (rinse really well and drain)
• 2 cloves, garlic
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 2 T. tahini paste
• 2 T. olive oil
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 roasted bell pepper

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients except roasted bell pepper in a food processor.
2. Puree until smooth. You might need to add a little water to thin it out if necessary.
3. Scrape sides, add roasted bell pepper and puree again until pepper is broken up and dip turns slightly red.
4. Refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to a week.

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Put all ingredients except roasted bell pepper in a food processor.

Puree until smooth.  You might need to add a little water to thin it out if necessary.

Scrape sides, add roasted bell pepper and puree again until pepper is broken up and dip turns slightly red.

Refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to a week.