Ottolenghi's Creamy Hummus Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is homemade hummus not creamy? ›

You might need more tahini, garlic, lemon and/or salt and very likely more chickpea water. Add a bit of each as you need, the recipe explains. "Blitz the hummus until very smooth, a few minutes at least. Don't worry about the hummus being too loose; it will thicken as it sits."

As I'm sure you're aware, chickpeas don't have a lot of flavour to them, so they need some pretty punchy ingredients to make it what it is. Yes, adding things like cumin or paprika will make it more interesting, but at the end of the day, if there isn't enough salt and lemon (acid), it will taste bland and insipid.

Baking soda: Adding baking soda to the chickpeas helps make the legume easier to digest, softer, and makes them easy to peel. Don't skip this ingredient!

Tahini is sesame butter, and to make creamy hummus, the secret is to first turn that into sesame cream! To do that, you need to emulsify the tahini in a water based liquid first. This will not happen if you just put everything into a food processor all at once!'

You're Not Using Enough/The Right Tahini

The one ingredient that gives hummus its undeniable richness, depth of flavor, and subtle nuttiness is tahini. This means that the final product depends on the amount of tahini that you add and the brand of tahini that you're using.

A simple touch of fresh chopped green onions, chives, parsley, rosemary or dill is another brilliant way to add more flavor to your hummus. Just add the herb of your choice (or use a mix!), drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt.

Use a classic hummus and then add garlic, lime juice, cumin, coriander, and cayenne to taste, or buy a flavored hummus like garlic or red pepper to eliminate additional seasonings. Mix the beans into your hummus and you're ready to go. A savory black bean hummus can be used in myriad ways.

Next, enhance the blank slate of flavor with a few squeezes of lemon juice, a sprinkling of garlic salt, a turn of freshly cracked pepper, a heavy-handed sprinkle of paprika, and a generous drizzle of your nicest olive oil. Bonus points if you have an herby olive oil on hand with a little color to it.

If you feel adventurous, try replacing the tahini with an equal amount of peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, Greek yogurt, chopped roasted peppers, pitted olives, roasted beets, steamed sweet potato, avocado, or thawed frozen peas, to name just a few possibilities.

The #1 Hummus to Buy. Esti's Original Recipe Hummus is the best store-brand hummus to buy, according to our testers. The hummus looked like what we felt like good hummus should look like—a creamy shade of tan rather than the unnatural-looking variations of yellow that some other brands had.

How long does homemade hummus last? ›

Homemade varieties will generally last anywhere from 3-4 days, whereas store-bought brands generally lasts 6-7 days after opening. These estimates assume that it maintains a refrigerated temperature; as we mentioned already, the shelf life of hummus is diminished greatly if it does not remain chilled.

If , for some reason, you ended up using more liquid than you should have or if you still want a thicker consistency, you can add a bit more tahini. And if you chill the hummus for an hour or so before adding any garnish, that should help as well.

Store-bought hummus may have a longer shelf life than homemade, depending on how it is prepared. But both varieties should last up to 7 days in the refrigerator (for prepared hummus this applies once the container is opened). Like any food, hummus is perishable and is prone to spoilage.

This is another trick from Solomonov—if you mince the garlic in the food processor or blender with the lemon juice and let that mixture rest for a few minutes, the garlic will lose its harsh, raw bite and mellow out. I tried it before and after, and he's right!

Not using baking soda when cooking the beans.

Instead, cook the dried beans with a little baking soda, which softens the skins, along with the beans themselves, making for an extra-smooth purée. Follow this tip: Add a teaspoon or so to the water the chickpeas soak in and then again to the water they're boiled in.

If you find the hummus too thick, add some of the reserved cooking liquid and thin until you get the desired texture. Taste the hummus and add more salt, if needed. Spoon and spread the hummus into a shallow serving bowl (or two of them depending on size), building up the sides a little.

The real secret was to first cook the chickpeas — dry — with a touch of baking soda. This step roughs up the exterior of the beans and encourages the skins to slip off. (The skins, hummus making veterans agree, create those small grainy lumps in the finished product.)

Things that will not make smooth hummus:

Removing all the skins from the chickpeas. Not only will it drive you crazy removing all the skins (honestly they seem endless), it will not make your hummus smooth. Adding lots of water. This will make your hummus watery and a little bit smoother but it will be way too runny.