Homemade Hummus Recipe
Until this past week, I had never cooked dried chickpeas/garbanzo beans before. It’s funny how something so small can be so intimidating, but I guess you stick with what you know until you realize what you are missing. Who knew cooking beans was so similar to having children?!
Then I read this line in my trusty Bean Bible (Amazon), “Dry chickpeas are the most challenging bean to cook.” What’s that, a challenge? It’s on. Determined, I filled a small bag of dried beans in WinCo’s bulk section. (You can also find dried beans on Amazon with fantastic reviews!)
I came home and continued reading, “Check that your chickpeas come from a source that sells through its stock quickly. Shriveled, dried-out chickpeas will never get soft, no matter how long you cook them.” Hmmm. My beans were definitely on the shriveled end of the spectrum. I stubbornly pushed on, turning to the official Soaking Chart for Dried Legumes.
Let’s see… whole chickpeas… 10 hours?! My resolve started to waver, but I stuck with it.
And guess what? I am happy to report that I successfully soaked and cooked my shriveled little chickpeas. It was neither difficult, nor a disaster. And I’m not kidding when I say that as they were cooling on the counter, I started popping them in my mouth like candy. They were delicious; the flavor and texture were so superior to any slimy bean I had ever dumped out of a can.
Don’t take my word for it. Try this bean for yourself!
Cooking Dried Garbanzo (or other) Beans using the Speed Soak Method
- Sort 2-3 cups of beans on a rimmed baking sheet and rinse the beans in the cold water.
- I didn’t want to soak these overnight so I switched to the Speed Soaking Method. Brilliant. You can do this with any bean to speed up the soaking time. Here’s how it works: Place the beans in a pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the beans soak in the warm water for 1 hour. Drain the water and rinse the beans.
- Dump the beans back in the pot and cover with several inches of cold water. Bring the water to a boil. Let simmer on medium heat, covered, for an hour or until tender. The beans should be soft but slightly firm. They will cook a bit more as they cool. You don’t want them to be so soft they are mushy or falling apart.
- Remove from the heat and stir in salt, if desired. Let the beans cool in the water, absorbing the salt as they cool.
- After half an hour or so, drain the beans and cool completely. Use them immediately or store in the fridge for several days, the freezer for several months.
I froze my cooked garbanzo beans in flat 1.5-cup portions. I will just pop them out of the freezer as needed for salads, hummus, falafel, or soup. Start to finish, this little cooking experiment took about 2.5 hours of very little effort.
Again, the benefits of cooking your own beans from scratch are totally worth the time involved. They are cheap, tasty, and healthy. And that’s a winning combination in my book.
One of my favorite things to make with garbanzo beans is hummus. For a concoction so simple: garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt… it’s surprisingly addicting. And the best part is, you don’t even have to feel guilty about polishing off an entire container in one sitting. Well, at least my husband and I never do.
The one ingredient that most of us probably don’t have taking up space on our pantry shelves is tahini. It’s just a paste made of pureed sesame seeds. Most 15 ounce jars of tahini cost between $4-$6, but at 1-2 tablespoons per batch of hummus, a little bit goes a long way so it’s a relatively economical ingredient.
In most grocery stores it can be found in the organic/natural food section or the peanut butter aisle. You can also find it on Amazon.
Buying hummus at the grocery store will run you around $3-$5 for a 10 ounce container. I’ve often used coupons for hummus. Combined with a sale, this isn’t a bad deal. We’re perfectly happy with the flavor & quality. However, like many things, making a batch of hummus in your own kitchen is easy and economical.
Spicy Hummus
Adapted from A Rachael Ray recipe
Ingredients
(1) 14.5 oz can garbanzo beans, drained (reserve liquid) or 1 3/4 c. cooked garbanzo beans
1 T. tahini sesame paste
2 T. olive oil
1/2 t. crushed pepper flakes
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground coriander
2 cloves garlic, finely crushed or 3-4 cloves*
reserved liquid or water
salt, to taste
1/2 lemon, juiced
- Combine beans, tahini, oil, pepper flakes, cumin, coriander, garlic, salt, and lemon juice in food processor bowl or blender; pulse to combine.
- Slowly add enough of the reserved liquid or water (or even more olive oil), pulsing and checking occasionally, to achieve the desired smooth consistency.
- Transfer to a smaller bowl and serve with vegetables, pita bread or crackers. Refrigerate leftovers for up to a week.
* I found this is one of the best places to use roasted garlic. The first time I tried making hummus, I used a clove of fresh garlic. It overpowered the dish, adding a bitter bite. Even when I minced it as finely as possible, it was too strong. We love garlic so that’s saying a lot. Try it either way, but by using roasted garlic, you’ll definitely get a more mellow, sweet garlic flavor. Learn how to roast garlic here.
Hummus is a delicious low-fat alternative to mayonnaise in sandwiches or wraps or served as an appetizer or snack. I even serve it for dinner with pita bread, vegetables, and sometimes grilled meat.
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I absolutely love my Progressive International Lemon Squeezer. I also own a fancy juicer attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer, but it rarely sees the light of day.
This lemon squeezer, on the other hand, gets pulled out several times a week. I use it for both lemons and limes; it quickly presses out fresh juice, while separating the pulp and seeds for any recipe that calls for a small amount of fresh citrus juice. Amazon carries this lemon squeezer for under $10!
Leave a comment, question, or tip! Oh, and has anyone ever frozen hummus before? I’ve read it can be done, but I am skeptical it holds well. Opinions?
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I freeze hummus often and it works well. I put it in small containers that we’ll eat in a few days and that will unthaw relatively quickly. These often double as an icepack in my lunch. I pop a frozen hummus container out of the freezer in the morning, and by lunch its thawed enough around the edges to enjoy with veggies, etc…
I put 2 lbs of chick peas in my large crock pot, fill to top with water and cook on high overnight. I put the crockpot outside as we don’t like the smell of the chick peas cooking and if the crock pot sputters, I don’t have a mess to clean up. When they are soft and still hot, I spoon them into quart or pint canning jars and put canning lids on the jars. I store them in the fridge once they cool and they seal. I once tried storing them in the pantry but one didn’t seal so I don’t want to risk that again. My favorite flavor of hummus is chipotle pepper. I get the best results using chipotle pepper powder.
Another great topping is the spice – herb combo of Zather sprinkled on top. I’ve come to like that the best, it has sumac and sesame seeds. I also like to pool a little olive oil. Another variation I like is to add the canned chipotle peppers, and if I am really in a pinch and want a little franks hot sauce or sirachia.
Thank you so much for this! I tried cooking garbanzo beans for the first time today after finding this and they came out awesome! I am also happy to know they freeze nicely so I don’t have to buy them in the can anymore. I can’t wait to try making hummus for the first time tomorrow!
Good luck Tara! I made mine yesterday and it is so good.
Oh Yum chick peas are so wonderful, I always soak mine overnight,
I need to get some more and make your hummus recipe this weekend.
I’m on a very sodium restricted diet I cook from scratch to have control of the salt levels.
Love your blog.
Thanks!
I’ heard from my daughter,who is vegetarian and Israeli and specialist on hummus;that for truly good hummus ,you need cook garbanzo beans for very long time .The skins has to fall off and you can mush them in your hands. I’ cook my garbanzo in pressure cooker for 50 minutes.
Thanks for posting this – just made it last night – Dec 2013! Delicious I have to say! I was in a quandry of how the beans would look after – maybe post a picture or description or how it should taste, how soft. Thanks again – very very useful!
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll add that to the directions. Glad you had delicious results!
I’ve been making my own hummus for years and loving it. I came across your site while searching for quicker ways to cook the beans and you delivered. Yes…when I first started making it I went the 10-15 hours of soaking the beans route…live & learn.
One trick I wish to pass on to others is, if you don’t have tahini available, you can substitute just about any type of peanut, safflower or seed butter. Good stuff!!
Rob Roy, I just heard the other day about peanut butter, but didn’t know about safflower or seed butter, thanks for the tip!
I’m allergic to sesame so thanks for the switch out tip!
I was so happy to find your blog with the garbanzo beans… I bought some and have done the overnight soaking cooking 1 hour way. You just made my day! Thanks. Will be experimenting and make several kinds with flavors like wasabe, ranch, olive tepanade. Will post on my blog.
I love hummus! Thanks for the tips. If you have a dollar tree nearby I found the exact same lemon squeezer…you guessed it, for a dollar!
I froze my homemade hummus before, and it worked beautifully. It had the same consistency before and after freezing.
Thank you soooooooo much!!! Found your blog/site from a desperate Google search. I was ready to just give the beans to family and have them deal with the whole soaking nonsense lol. Now I can continue on my healthy eating quest! Thanks again!!! 🙂
This was amazing! I used a full pound of chickpeas/garbanzo beans but omitted the pepper flakes, coriander, and cumin because I didn’t have any. I also found this through a Google search, as another comment mentioned. I made the plain hummus as described (no spices except garlic), and to about 1 cup of the hummus added a small handful of cilantro and half of a small jalapeno, chopped, and combined in a food processor. Absolutely delicious!
I’ve been desperately trying to rid my home of canned items. I live way out in yhe country so we had a ton of cans our first year. Since then… I’ve learned to make super easy and superior cream of chicken soup,and my own soups… so, I bought a bag of garbanzos about 6months ago… I’m finally giving it a try. I did the long soak… only about 7hours. Simmering now. Crossing my fingers. I love hummus, so I hope this works and I never have to buy canned beans again! Thank you.
Mmm, we love homemade hummus. Cheap, and healthier than the grocery store. I don’t think I would freeze it because it is so easy to make fresh and I would worry about the texture changing.Thank you for linking up with us for Fabulously Frugal Thursday.
This hummus looks wonderful! I love hummus with different vegetables or with pita chips, and have been wanting to make some too!!! This looks really good!
How much hummus did the 1 3/4 cup of dried chick peas make?
I soak and cook a large amount of chick peas at one time, around 4-6 cups dried.
The recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups cooked chick peas. This hummus recipe yields around 1 1/2 cups.
I use sesame seeds from the bulk dept. and make my hummus in my vita mix. This is a cost cutting measure plus delicious. Sometimes I toast them first along with cumin seeds. Next,
Hi, I always cook at least 5 or 6 cups dried beans and freeze the remainder in two cup containers. When cooking dried beans in a pressure cooker the rule of thumb is to not fill the cooker more than 1/3 full of the soaked beans. The cooker needs room to build pressure. 1/2 full for regular foods. The cooked beans freeze perfectly. The hummus is better not frozen. My daughter likes half apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. I use more lemon juice than this recipe. I make lots of variations, sun dried tomatoes, lemon zest, canned adobe peppers.
It is good to buy a case of organic multi-colored bell peppers in September at the best price, grill them and then pressure can half-pint jars. Lasts all year and totally ready to add to hummus (today) and homemade pizza (last night).
…. pardon me, mind currently blown…. canning my peppers might be the single most brilliant idea that i have ever heard of 😀 CAN’t wait to CAN!!!!! thank you for your brilliance Terry
I just made hummus with garbanzo using this recipe. Its delicious! Thanks a lot!
When I make hummus I usually skip the tahini and use a dash of toasted sesame oil. It gives you a nice and even, though more intense, sesame flavor. If you want to try this, start with 1/4 tsp of the oil and go from there–it’s very strong stuff!
I also use extra olive oil when I roast garlic so I can use it for cooking and hummus… Try adding a bit of garlic oil along with the regular olive oil if you’re a true garlic lover.
Yummy!!! I just made roasted red and yellow peppers for the first time and also just made hummus from scratch thanks to this site! I also used garlic infused olive oil and chili infused olive oil and line juice instead of lemon! Delicious! Even my 2 yr old likes it, thanks for this site!
glad you liked it so much abigail! roasted peppers go really well on lots of things. next time you are making tacos/nachos/fajitas roast some up. or my personal favorite of all, toss some in a creamy pasta dish. and hummus…. well i literally eat it every day haha
Like others before me, I found this site by desperately Googling dry chickpeas how to cook – and I am so gals I found this one! You make it clear, simple and un-intimidating, and now finally that bonanza of dry beauties are out of the canister and into hot water 😉
My “recipe” is a hodge-podge of different curry and Moroccan recipes but one thing it absolutely required was chick peas, and since I don’t allow cans in my house anymore – well, except for the cat food 😉 – I had to do it for sure this time. Things are smelling scrumptious already, and I just wanted to say thanks for empowering me past my garbanzo fears 😉
Yea! We’re so glad you found us!
I have used raw sunflower seeds in place of tahini for hummus. You need to process the hummus longer, but it will come out completely smooth. It is also easier to find the seeds over tahini and much cheaper too.
Thanks so much for posting this! I found you through a google search. Great, clear, concise directions. I had a ton of dried garbanzo beans lying in my cupboard and now I am going to try to roast them crispy for a yummy and healthy snack!
We’re glad you found us!
Thanks for posting. I’m cooking garbanzos tonight and forgot how to do them.
Try adding spinach and artichoke. So delicious. I hulled out cherry tomatoes and filled them with artichoke and spinach hummus for a party appetizer, not one was left!
Clear, concise, easy….thanks
I would never remove the skins myself. I would bet you a whole penny there is some pretty good nutrition in the skins for one, and why do do all that work if it is all going to be ground up anyway into a finer part of some humus paste. Right now I myself need to go out and get a small food processor because I can not get it thick enough in a blender, and it is a bit coarse from just mashing it by hand. I want mine to spread on bread something akin to how peanut butter might spread, and then add a few sandwich extras such as lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, whatever, and some condiments. The sun dried tomatoes though sound like a good mix.
After many trials, I now make hummus that is just the creamiest. Texture is better than store bought. Start with frozen cooked chickpeas. Thaw. Add a bit of water and cook for 5 or 6 minutes. Put in a good blender, add whatever you like, maybe a little extra liquid. I use coconut oil, tahini and lemon juice. Love roasted garlic in it. Green olives maybe. Use a dab of salt. Heaven. The coconut oil firms up in the fridge, not too hard and easily softens with no intervention. Just slow down gobbling it?
I tried cooking dried garbanzo beans for the first time the other day and they had these skins that were coming off after the cooking process. Another site I found said to remove the skins but that was certainly way more work that it’s worth. Do you remove the skins after cooking or use them as is in your hummus recipe? Thanks for your help. I’m heading in to the kitchen now to make some fresh sun dried tomato hummus!
Yes, some skins naturally come off during cooking. I don’t normally pop the skins off the garbanzo beans because neither my husband nor I mind a thicker hummus. I made one batch last week where I popped the skins off first. 2 cups took my 20+ minutes and is definitely not something I plan to do every time. It did produce a super smooth hummus. Check out Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for more (the comments also contain lots of information): http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/01/ethereally-smooth-hummus/
try chipolte peppers if you really like spicy!!!!
I googled this page searching for information on dried garbanzo beans/chickpeas. I got an amazing amount of cooked beans from about $1.50 worth of bin garbanzos. I would say enough to make sandwiches for a month. I am just now working on making sandwich spreads with these beans. Now looking for fresh olives to grate into it; a little red wine vinegar helps, (but just a little), as well as olive oil, and other seasonings, and flavors; (anything that would taste good and be good for you). I would still like to gain more insight on healthy flavorings. This will be a good way to transfer from eating carcinogenic lunch meat with “sodium nitrate” to these beans which are supposed to be anti-carcinogenic. It also appears to be inevitable that the most frugal ways of eating are also much healthier, especially over expensive processed foods.
Thanks for this; I’ve used it twice already, a year apart.
The steps to soak & cook dried beans is worth the effort once you taste how delicious they are compared to canned beans. Also, freezing the beans is easy, so keeping canned beans on hand for an emergency is no longer needed. Thanks for posting this.
Has anyone ever tried to make ‘roasted red pepper’ hummus? I’m going to try it tomorrow and thought I’d just toss in jarred roasted red peppers. Any other ideas?
Yes, that would be a delicious addition!
realize im late but roasted red peppers at home have a smoother consistency and often a little sweeter flavor. just some olive oil salt and pepper over sliced red peppers. roast then for 15 min or so and let them cool. fridge for 4 days or so they are fine. they have never lasted longer than that at my house I put them in everything
Hi Susan,
I’m also answering late, but as I am making a batch of roasted red pepper hummus right now, I thought I would comment. The other commenter, Nick, is so right!! Just brush a halved and seeded red pepper with a tiny bit of olive oil (even that is optional, I have roasted w/out the oil, too) and put the baking sheet under the broiler in the oven. When blackened, take them out and put them in a bowl with a tight lid for 10 min and they will be super easy to peel. Then you can store or use right away. Far better than the canned variety. Enjoy!
Agree with the red pepper thing, for sure! It’s sooooo easy to roast them. Another tip, if you haven’t discovered Gateway Produce (Andresen at about 18th in Vancouver), check it out.
They have great produce and I’ve gotten as many as 5 red peppers for $1.00 and they were big and beautiful. Their prices almost always beat the grocery stores on produce and some is grown locally, though much comes from CA.
hey,
just found this recipe and love the twist with roasted garlic. I have noted a bitter note if I use the processor, not so if I use a food mill.
Regards to the freezing issue,, i am not sure if u have an answer or not, but I suggest freezing a small amount in an ice cube tray and see how it fares.
PS another extra twist is adding some cilantro chopped, lemon zest with the juice and some fresh minced chili if u like some heat- red flecks add some interest.
I use fresh celantro and fresh jalepano or cerrano pepper (food processor) to make my hummus…along with the roasted garlic and home made tahini (which tastes better (different) if you roast the seeds first)
Sounds strange but its a hit every time I make it no matter where or who I serve it too.
I live in deep south Texas so I always warn folks that its not Guacamole…
I make this once a week and the family eats it as a snack with home made flat bread when they get home from work /school while waiting for the evening meal to magicly appear on the table.
Like so many others in the comments I found you while Googling for how to cook dried chickpeas. I am trying to avoid anything in cans (BPA) and since I saw them in the bulk bin at my local health food store recently I bagged about a pound. Now I have a handle on them and am looking forward to making many of these recipes. Love the idea of cooking and then freezing beans – I had only just learned you can do that and I currently have a bunch of cooked Great Northern beans waiting in the chilly wings for their next act. Now they will have company 😉
Your instruction on preparing the dried beans was very helpful thank you. I have been eating hummous for years and never even considered roasting the garlic. My beans are cooking right now and I am actually going to add both roasted and a little fresh garlic…(minus the green inner part that can also make it taste bitter). Take care!!
I have bookmarked this so I can come back. The article on beans was fantastic. I may even share my recipe for Hummus from whole sesame seeds and green olives. I am doing South Beach. the hummus was amazing in fried eggs!
This is just what I was looking for! My husband loves Hummus, and he buys these tiny hummus packs everyday for like $3 each…. Not anymore… Thank you!!