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."

Israeli hummus is revered for its smooth and creamy consistency, often achieved by a generous addition of tahini, a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini adds a rich, nutty flavor that perfectly balances the earthy taste of chickpeas.

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! Lemon juice: I never suggest using pre-bottled lemon juice, but I especially urge you not to in homemade hummus.

However, there are differences; these countries would serve different traditional food with their hummus recipes, and would tend towards making their hummus with local ingredients—i.e., a Greek hummus would likely use Greek olive oil and chickpeas, whereas a Lebanese hummus would use ingredients sourced closer to ...

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!'

Had an interesting experience using a different brand of tahini and also a diferent brand of organic canned chickpeas. Hummus turned out so much thicker than usual and I stirred the tahini really well before adding.

A single serving of this mass-produced hummus is packed with five grams of fat, including one gram of saturated fat. While, yes, fiber- and healthy-fat-packed chickpeas are wonderful for reducing your cholesterol levels, the issue is that many of the added fats in this hummus come from the addition of soybean oil.

Hummus Giant Sabra Halted Production To Get Back on Track After Frequent Food Safety Issues. A temporary closure of a production plant caused a drop in market share dominance.

From my minuscule knowledge, Israelis use more garlic and arabs use more lemon. Arab hummus is more traditional and Israeli hummus is often combined with other things to create a new product, kind of like cream cheese in America (example salmon cream cheese, strawberry cream cheese).

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.

Why doesn't my homemade hummus taste good? ›

If your hummus is the right consistency or thickness but it tastes dry and pasty, it might be lacking a bit of oil. This recipe relies on the tahini to give it creaminess as I don't find olive oil makes enough of a difference to warrant the extra calories.

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.

The word hummus is Arabic Arabic: حُمُّص, romanized: ḥummuṣ 'chickpeas'. The full name of the prepared spread in Arabic is ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna 'chickpeas with tahini'.

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.

Why is my Hummus Watery and Runny? This is the opposite of the previous issue and is the result of too much liquid. In this instance, the best way to thicken it back up is by adding more chickpeas.

Undercooking the chickpeas

It's a time investment, for sure, but Aviv said rushing this process "results in a grainy texture" in your finished hummus. "And once you start blending, there's no going back."

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.