Classic Hummus – Vegan, Gluten-free & Nut-free
I assure you I am only being slightly facetious when I say this vegan homemade easy hummus recipe will completely ruin store-bought hummus for you. It’s literally THAT good. Light, creamy, insanely smooth and the flavour is just so perfectly balanced.
I would be lying terribly if I said this vegan hummus recipe came easily to me. It’s been a solid few months of weekly trial and error. Often the flavour would be fantastic, but the texture wouldn’t be right. Even when I would seem to hit the nail on the head, I would try to repeat the exact same homemade hummus recipe the following week, only to have it be not quite right. Frustrating 🙁
The number one thing I have learned on this homemade hummus making journey is how to troubleshoot and adjust as needed. In fact, I would say that the following tips and tricks are nearly as essential as the vegan hummus recipe itself. Let’s break this down and get you one step closer to vegan hummus heaven!
Hummus Mastery 101
- Boiling your own chickpeas allows you to add baking soda, which will loosen the skins and make them much easier to remove. Even with a very powerful blender or food processor, the smoothest vegan hummus can only be achieved by removing the skins. Annoying? Yes. Worth it? OMG, yes!
- Be sure your chickpeas are cooked until quite soft. Once you hit around the 40 minute mark of the boiling process, spoon out a couple little chickpeas (be careful, obviously going to be crazy hot) and squish them. If they’re ready, they should mush very easily.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove any skins floating on the water’s surface while chickpeas are boiling. Once chickpeas are done and ready to be strained, strain and then add them into a large bowl and fill with icy cold tap water. Swish around and gently massage the chickpeas. This will remove more skins, which will float to the top and you can use the slotted spoon to remove them. I am a perfectionist and try to remove almost every last skin, but even ridding them of half that amount will make a huge difference. First time homemade hummus makers find this the hardest step. Follow these tips and I assure you it will make for an easy hummus recipe!
- All tahini is different. The ideal consistency is very runny. However, I have used a more paste style tahini and had no problem, but this will alter the amount of water required. Runny tahini = less water added, thick tahini = more water added.
- A real game changer for me was going with an oil blend (rather than just straight olive oil, commonly used in most recipes available), which I found over-powered all the other subtle flavours and wasn’t always as palatable as I would have liked it be. Instead I use 50% olive oil and 50% grapeseed oil. This is just a total personal preference and not necessary to achieve homemade vegan hummus greatness.
- A good quality food processor is the ultimate tool for making super smooth vegan hummus. I just have a mid-range one from Hamilton Beach, but I love it and it works great. A blender will also work here, as I have tried this homemade hummus recipe with both options. However, still gotta give it to my processor. I feel like I have more control with it and it achieves a consistency I prefer.
- This is kind of a weird one. I have found that once the hummus is done and either ready to eat or to go into a container in the fridge for later, topping with just a drizzle of oil will prevent the top layer from drying out. Even if we are snacking on the hummus and it’s going to go back into the fridge, I’ll once again give it a quick little drizzle of the oil to help keep it moist. Not a must, but in the quest for homemade hummus perfection, I found this helped big time.
If you like all things chickpea, check out our chickpea recipes!
Classic Hummus - Vegan, Gluten-free & Nut-free
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups dried chickpeas
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 3 tbsp lemon
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil - or half olive oil, half grapeseed
- 3/4 tsp SALT - I used pink Himalayan
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 2-3 tbsp cold water
- more oil for topping
- smoked paprika for topping
Instructions
- Sort and rinse dried chickpeas. In a large bowl or container, add rinsed chickpeas and about 4-5 cups of water. Place in the fridge and allow to soak overnight or up to 12 hours. Once soaking is complete, drain and set aside.
- In a pot over high heat, add soaked chickpeas, baking soda and 5-6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down heat to a medium setting to allow water to remain at a simmer. Stir every 10 minutes or so. This will help loosen the skins, which should float to the top. Use a slotted spoon to remove these.
- Once chickpeas are very soft (45-60 minutes), remove from heat and strain.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cooked chickpeas and top with very cold tap water. Gently whoosh around and massage chickpeas. This will remove more of the skins, which should again float to the waters surface and can be removed with a slotted spoon.
- Drain the chickpeas and add to a food processor along with tahini, garlic clove, lemon, cumin and salt. Blend on low, stopping to scrape down sides when required.
- Add oil and 2 tbsp of cold water. Blend on high, again scraping down sides when required. Continue to blend on high setting for 1-2 minutes. If hummus is still too thick add another tbsp of cold water and blend for another minute.
- Once hummus is processed to desired texture, toss into a container and top with additional drizzle of oil and sprinkle of smoked paprika, or any other spice or fresh herb you'd like! Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Vegan gluten free recipes, meal plans, wellness, home | Mostly Domestic
Vegan and Gluten free food and cooking | Mostly Domestic
Vegan and Gluten free meal plans, prep and food shopping lists | Mostly Domestic
