homemade organic hummus

We love hummus around our house. We eat it all year around, but we seem to eat gallons of it in the summer – it’s so easy to pack along with some veggies to the pool or the park. I’ve made it over the years, but I haven’t settled on a go-to recipe/method until just the past few months. When I’ve made it in the past, the taste seemed about right, but the texture was off. My method/recipe makes super smooth hummus every time. Plus, making it yourself allows you to experiment with all sorts of fun flavor combinations depending on what’s in season.

I’ve found two methods to fix the texture issue:

A long pre-soak for the chickpeas of at least 24-hours (which has other benefits).
Overcooking the chickpeas. Typically, I like my chickpeas a bit al dente, especially in salads and soups. It turns out that overcooking them works best for hummus. They break down faster or something. I typically love all things Smitten Kitchen, but Deb recommends skinning the chickpeas for her hummus. I might have time to skin chickpeas, but I can certainly think of about 319 things I’d rather do with my time than skin chickpeas. I think this version tastes just as delicious without all of that monotonous work.

The best part about those tricks is that they don’t take any extra effort – just a bit more time in preparation, which is why I like to make a BIG batch at a time. Or I’ll make a huge batch of chickpeas, and then freeze them in four-cup portions to make things extra easy the next time we’re craving some hummus.

We used to buy hummus in big tubs at Costco, so it was pretty inexpensive. But this stuff is just as cheap, but with the added benefit of 1) it being organic and 2) being able to pronounce all of the ingredients in it. Also, we’ve had lots of fun experimenting with adding different stuff to make it even more delicious!

homemade organic hummus

Ingredients

4 cups over-cooked organic chickpeas (I like this method)
1/2 cup organic tahini
2 small garlic cloves, peeled & smashed
1 teaspoon sea salt
2-3 green onions
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, optional*
1 large lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp cumin
Several turns of freshly ground pepper
2-4 tbsp reserved chickpea cooking liquid
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for garnishing

Instructions

Add everything to the bowl of the food processor except the bean cooking liquid and the olive oil. Turn on the processor and let it run for a minute or so until the mixture becomes smooth. Then add about two tablespoons of the cooking liquid, and run it for another 30 seconds - one minute. Taste it. Add additional cooking liquid if necessary, depending on your desired consistency. Then add the olive oil, and process just a bit more.
Serve immediately with a drizzle of olive oil on top (and I like to sprinkle some feta on top too if I have it!). I store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week (if they last that long).

Notes

Adapted from In Jennie's Kitchen.

*I often substitute other hot peppers if I don't have any chipotle in adobo around. Some other additions: cilantro, parsley, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomatoes. Have fun experimenting!

https://www.sarabytheseason.com/2014/06/05/homemade-organic-hummus/