Hummus 101
First, let us mention that this simple hummus recipe uses tahini. In the hummus-loving world, there are two camps. Some love the zest and deep flavor of tahini added, others could really go without it. We like it both ways, but for smooth hummus rivaling our favorite brands in the store, we use this recipe.
In the past, if we were in the grocery store you could almost bet that one of us would throw a tub of smooth hummus into our cart. That was until we figured out this simple hummus recipe that we honestly believe is better than anything we could have found at the store.
So, what’s the secret?
It’s simple really. It’s the order in which you add ingredients to your food processor. Seriously, it’s that easy. Tahini and lemon juice go in first. Then, before you add anything else, turn on the food processor and let it run for a minute or so.
After a minute of being whirled, whipped and creamed in the food processor it turns into the paste you see on the right. It’s lighter in color and much thicker.
From here, you can add ingredients as you will, but make sure you stand back and let that food processor run — we’re talking a minute of running after adding each ingredient.That’s how you make a hummus recipe that’s better that store-bought.
To Skin or Not to Skin The Chickpeas?
Another trick for extra smooth hummus is to remove the skins of each chickpea. We’ve done it. For one can of chickpeas, you’re looking at about ten minutes. We really didn’t want to add that to our hummus recipe, but just to make sure, we tried it both ways — skinless chickpeas and chickpeas right out of the can.
In the photo below, the spoon of hummus on the left used skinless chickpeas. The right came from chickpeas straight out the can. You can see, even from this photo that the skinless chickpeas made for a slightly smoother hummus, but in our opinion it really wasn’t enough of a difference to warrant ten minutes of skinning chickpeas.
