The Perfect Hummus

How do you like your hummus? If smooth, creamy and lightly garlicky is your answer, then you gonna love this recipe.

Hummus is one of my staples to have in the fridge. It makes for a perfect snack, delicious appetizer, flavourful side on buddha bowls or great addition to any homemade sandwiches. If you’re spending lots of money on hummus in stores every week, you definitely need to try to make it at home to see how easy it is. If you say “I tried, but it’s just not as good” then I will prove you otherwise with my perfect hummus.

What makes a good hummus great is, in my opinion, the texture. And this is where a lot of homemade attempts can fail. However, using my tips below, you’ll never buy another hummus again.

In order to make it super creamy and fluffy, you need to cook your chickpeas in water with baking soda for about 20 minutes. Baking soda raises the pH of the water which helps to break down the skins on the chickpeas and make the beans really soft and almost mushy, which makes it so much easier to blend until super smooth. This way you don’t even need to peel the skins! How great is that?

Another tip when it comes to texture is to use a really good quality tahini (sesame paste) that is not overly thick and when adding water to your blender, making sure it’s ICE cold! This reacts with the fat in the tahini and helps make the hummus light and fluffy.

Next tip has more to do with the taste. I love garlic, BUT, I really don’t like when it’s super overpowering which can easily happen, especially when making spreads of any kind. To help mellow out the strong taste of garlic, once you’ve peeled and chopped it, let the garlic sit in lemon juice for at least 10 minutes.

Total time: 30 minutes | Servings: makes 2 cups

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chickpeas
2 tbsp tahini (heaping full)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 medium to large size garlic clove
Juice from 1 lemon
2 - 3 tbsp ice cold water
Fresh herbs, chili flakes, olive oil to garnish (optional)

Instructions:
1. Add the drained chickpeas to a small pan, cover with water and add baking soda. Place the pan on the stove, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until the chickpeas look bloated and soft, and the skins start to fall off. Then drain and run under cold water until cooled down.

2. While the chickpeas are cooking, juice the lemon. Then peel and chop the garlic clove and put into a small bowl with a little bit of the lemon juice and set aside.

3. Place chickpeas into a food processor (or blender), add the garlic, all of the lemon juice, tahini, salt and cumin. While running the food processor, slowly add in 2 tablespoons of ice cold water. Blend until super smooth. Add more water if needed, depending on your desired consistency. Taste your hummus and add more lemon juice if you like yours little bit more tangy.

4. Serve with a garnish of your choice.