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Make our favorite hummus recipe to whip up this creamy, flavorful dip at home! Discover how to make this Middle Eastern dip, including the classic hummus ingredients, ways to serve it, our special tricks, and more.
Why we love this recipe
A big pile of creamy, savory, garlicky hummus is essential when it comes to snacking, in our opinion! Hummus is basically it’s own food group, these days. But Alex and I have found store-bought hummus can be expensive and not taste so great.
So when we have time, we love to whip up a batch of chickpea dip at home! This our family favorite hummus recipe that has stood the test of time. It’s simple to make and has pure, lemony garlicky flavor. As two cookbook authors, we’ve tested this recipe to perfection: it’s our go-to for snacks, lunches, and parties. Give it a try: we hope you love it as much as we do!
Hummus ingredients
The key ingredients for any hummus recipe is chickpeas and tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds. From there, hummus can be made with any number of ingredients.
The classic flavorings are garlic, lemon juice, and salt. For our hummus recipe, we like adding in cumin to bring in additional savory notes, but it’s optional. Some hummus recipes have olive oil and some do not. We’ve found this recipe tastes great without it, so our recipe doesn’t require this ingredient.
In addition to the ingredients listed above, this hummus recipe uses aquafaba, the liquid form the chickpea can, to make it creamy. This is our trick to the best fluffy, creamy hummus! You don’t have to buy anything extra, so you technically need only 5 hummus ingredients (without the optional cumin!).
Tips for this hummus recipe
If you’ve got 5 minutes and a food processor, this recipe tastes great and is potentially cheaper than many purchased brands. Plus, it’s also fun to whip up knowing that you made it with your bare hands. Here are a few tricks:
- Use a food processor. A food processor makes the best hummus because it’s too thick to make in a blender..
- Use aquafaba to make a creamy texture. The thick liquid from the chickpea is called aquafaba (you can also use it as a vegan replacement for eggs in some recipes). Here, it gives the hummus a creamy, smooth body.
- Blend the garlic with the lemon juice first. This helps to mellow the garlic flavor a bit.
Hummus without tahini
Don’t have tahini? No problem! We’ve got a special variation just for you. This Hummus without Tahini is delicious spin with a secret ingredient in place of tahini.
Variations on hummus recipes
Check out our classic homemade hummus recipe below! Or try one of the recipes below:
- Add a hot sauce to taste to make Spicy Hummus.
- Use black beans instead of chickpeas for Black Bean Hummus.
- Add roasted beets to make Beet Hummus.
- Make it with canned pumpkin puree for Pumpkin Hummus.
- Add cocoa powder and maple syrup for Chocolate Hummus.
- Add spinach, green onions, and cilantro for Green Hummus.
Ways to eat hummus
There are so many ways to eat this hummus recipe! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Veggie dip with carrots, celery, cucumber slices, bell pepper, radishes, snap or snow peas, broccoli, and more
- Dip for bread or chips like pita bread, pita chips, flatbread, pretzel chips, bagel chips, crackers, or crostini
- Layered dip like Loaded Hummus Dip, topped with veggies and feta cheese
- Bowl meals like this quick Hummus Bowl, served in a bowl with veggies, olives, and rice, orzo or couscous
- Sandwiches like this Hummus Sandwich, spread on bread and layered with vegetables
- Hummus roll ups or wraps, spread inside a sandwich wrap instead of mayo
Dietary notes
This hummus recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can. Simply freeze in an airtight container, leaving room for the hummus to expand (and drizzle a little olive oil on top). Here’s How to Freeze Hummus.
Yes, homemade hummus is gluten free and vegan.
No, hummus is not keto friendly.
A serving of ¼ cup of hummus is approximately 160 calories.
Yes, store hummus in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Hummus lasts for up to 5 days refrigerated. Hummus does go bad; it can become moldy if stored longer than 5 days.
Yes, hummus is a great source of plant-based protein! A ¼ cup serving of hummus has 7 grams of protein or 14% of your daily protein intake.
It’s different in every grocery store, but hummus is in the refrigerated section, usually near the produce.
Classic Hummus Recipe (5 Ingredients)
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) 1x
Description
What’s in hummus? Here are all the typical hummus ingredients so that you can make it at home. It’s one of our top recipes for healthy snacks!
Ingredients
- 1 medium garlic clove
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, plus the can liquid (aquafaba)
- 1 large lemon (3 tablespoons to ¼ cup lemon juice)
- ⅓ cup tahini
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Peel the garlic. Drain the chickpeas into a liquid measuring cup. Juice the lemon.
- Add the garlic and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the tahini, kosher salt, and 4 tablespoons liquid from the chickpea can (aquafaba). Puree for 30 to 1 minute, then scrape down the bowl.
- Add the chickpeas, cumin and salt and blend again, adding 1 to 2 tablespoons more aquafaba until it becomes smooth. Puree for 1 to 2 minutes to come to a creamy consistency.
- Top the hummus a drizzle of olive oil if desired. Serve with veggies, pita bread, or pita chips. Store refrigerated for 5 days.
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
I made this today and it is a very nice hummus recipe! One minor correction to your post however. American kids were absolutely dipping their veggies in hummus 40+ years ago. My husband was eating hummus in Indianapolis in the 70s. His mother purchased in at City Market in downtown Indy. I grew up in Northern Virginia (late 60s-mid 90s) and ate hummus as well as many other international dishes quite regularly. We were not alone in eating an organic, whole food diet either.
How interesting, I love hearing this! I suppose it depends on your sub-community and family of origin as to what foods you were exposed to growing up. Myself in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Alex in the Indiana countryside were never exposed to it in our childhoods. I’m glad that today, there’s a much wider food experience here in America. Thanks for reading and making the recipe!
A few years ago I watched my neighbors daughter in the mornings. I had the pleasure of introducing her to a lot of foods that my children loved that she’d never tried. My favorite thing was when her Mom started asking for the recipes. Crunchy chickpeas is one that sticks out as now loved by many of the neighborhood kids! I also loved when they picked our homemade no refined sugar popsicles over the dyed sugar water in plastic! Question about hummus: I know a few children that are allergic to sesame. Bittman has a recipe that replaces the tahini with sun-dried tomatoes and that’s good, but I would like an alternative that doesn’t use sun-dried tomatoes. Thoughts?
How fun about introducing your neighbor’s daughter to yummy, wholesome foods! Good question about an alternative to tahini: I have used cashew cream as a replacement with good results. I’ve not tried it in hummus, but I’m wondering if that would add a savory creaminess without altering the flavor too much?
I am so inspired by this post and by the story you shared. Such a powerful challenge to expand our relationships as well as our palates. I’m at the beginning of writing my thesis based upon the belief that to care about food is to care about people, and this post made me smile because it embodies this belief. Food is such a powerful way of connecting with people and learning from each other, and we can no longer care about food without thinking about the people behind it. Thank you for sharing this!
“To care about food is to care about people” — I couldn’t think of a better thesis! We found this ourselves as we began to unravel food. And it’s one of the things that makes food endlessly inspiring — the people! Thank you for the comment, Genevieve!
Love that! Your son will expose his friends to so much more as well! His friends will always be excited to see what he brought to try new stuff!
That’s so kind! Yes, I hope so. It’s amazing how many dishes he’ll grow up eating that I had never heard of! Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for the recipe-I’m always on the lookout for a new hummus recipe!
Your link to the story doesn’t work, I’d love to read it…
Thanks for the comment! I tested the link and it worked for me — let me know which link you were referring to!
Works now, no worries!