Make no mistakes: this is truly the best, smoothest, tastiest, EASIEST hummus recipe ever. Whip it up in minutes and you’ll wonder why you ever got store-bought.
I don’t think I need to convince you to love hummus. It’s practically a perfect food: salty, tangy, savory, garlicky, weirdly healthy considering how delicious it is. It checks all the boxes. I’d put it on just about anything.
But as far as I’m concerned, there are two types of hummus, so unlike each other they’re practically two different foods. There’s store-bought hummus, which is still good, but kinda goopy and comparatively low in flavor. And then there’s the hummus you get from your local Mediterranean joint. It’s pillowy, smooth, and ridiculously addictive.
This recipe skews toward the latter. It isn’t perfectly authentic (I have neither the time nor the desire to soak dried chickpeas for days), but it’s close. And it’s delicious and easy to make.
The key to this recipe is boiling canned chickpeas with baking soda to soften them up.
I’ve made homemade hummus many times by dumping chickpeas straight out of the can into the food processor, but this results in a grainy, kinda-chunky final product, and that isn’t what we want. I’ve also made hummus by painstakingly popping every single chickpea out of its skin, but that’s dreadfully annoying and I would never ask you to do it.
Boiling the chickpeas for 20 minutes may seem obnoxious, but believe me: it makes a HUGE difference. This will soften the chickpeas and their skins, and they’ll blend up into the smoothest, creamiest, most perfect hummus you ever did see.
I also call for blooming your garlic in lemon juice while the chickpeas boil. Don’t skip this step either — it mellows the garlic’s raw bite. We’re going for a light, savory garlic flavor, not a punch in the mouth.
I make this recipe nearly every week, and we devour it in a few days every single time. It’s become such a standard part of my weekly routine that I didn’t even think to share the recipe until now. But if you make it, I’ll tell you one thing right now: you’ll never want to buy store-bought hummus again.
Other ways to use a can of chickpeas:
Curried Chickpea Salad
Weeknight Butter Chickpeas (Chana Makhani)
Did you make this homemade hummus? Don’t forget to share a photo on Instagram and tag me @emily.eats.things!
PrintEasy Homemade Hummus
Make no mistakes: this is truly the best, smoothest, tastiest, EASIEST hummus recipe ever. Whip it up in minutes and you’ll wonder why you ever got store-bought.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: About 2 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, from about 2 large lemons
- 1 medium or large clove garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
- ½ cup tahini
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1–2 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- Combine chickpeas and baking soda in a small saucepan. Cover the chickpeas with a few inches of water, then bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and boil for about 20 minutes, or until the chickpeas have puffed up and their skins are falling off. They should be very soft. Drain the chickpeas in a strainer and rinse them under cool water for about 30 seconds.
- While your chickpeas are boiling, combine lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl or measuring cup. Set aside to bloom the garlic; this will reduce the raw garlic bite in your hummus.
- In a food processor, combine chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and spices. Pulse together until a thick paste forms, scraping down the sides and bottom as needed.
- With the food processor running on low, slowly stream in the olive oil, then the water, until fully combined. Taste, adding more salt or lemon juice as needed. Serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of smoked paprika, or straight-up in a bowl.
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