Perfect Homemade Hummus (smooth + simple!)

This homemade hummus recipe comes out perfectly each and every time, and tastes so much better than store-bought! Smooth, flavorful, and simple to prepare: simple, no peeling chickpeas required, and it’s ready in under 10 minutes! 

When it comes to hummus, I am a huge fan…after all, we have 7 hummus recipe flavors on the blog! I love that it’s simple to prepare, packed with protein, and so flavorful.

This classic homemade hummus recipe is perfectly light (almost fluffy!), and smooth, and has the perfect blend of spices, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil.

Ingredient notes

• chickpeas– you can use canned chickpeas or cook your own. I like to make Instant Pot chickpeas!
• liquid– make sure you reserve the liquid from the can of chickpeas. This is a key ingredient for both smoothness and flavor.
• tahini– this is sesame seed paste; find it in the international foods section of your grocery store.
• garlic– I find it’s easier to blend minced garlic evenly rather than throwing in whole cloves (which can sometimes be chunky)

A 3 step method for creamy hummus

Rather than throwing all of our ingredients into the food processor at once, we use a simple three-step process for this hummus. This ensures that all the ingredients get properly blended, making the hummus more smooth, and also ensures that you can control how thick or thin your hummus gets.

Start by adding everything except for the chickpeas

To your food processor, add the tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, cumin, ground coriander and 1/4 cup of the reserved chickpea liquid. Blend for 1 minute until frothy and completely combined.

Add the chickpeas

After adding the chickpeas, blend on high speed for 1 minute, then stop the processor, take the lid off, and scrape down the sides. Put the lid back on and blend for another full minute. The mixture should be thick and creamy.

Drizzle chickpea liquid through the chute

At this point, you can decide if your hummus is thick enough, or if you want to add more liquid to thin it out and make it smoother. Drizzle it slowly through the chute of your food processor while blending, until you get the consistency you desire.

Tips for the smoothest hummus

If you are looking for ULTRA creamy hummus, you can take it even further for that perfectly smooth consistency:

1. Overcook your chickpeas– you can simmer them on the stove for extra time, or add 5 minutes onto the Instant Pot cook time. Soft chickpeas make considerably smoother hummus.
2. Peel your chickpeas– pinch the skins off the chickpeas and discard. This will take 10 minutes, but yields very smooth hummus.

How to serve

Homemade hummus works well in so many ways! Here are some ideas to serve it:

• dip– serve with tortilla chips and vegetable sticks
• condiment– spread it on your sandwich, pita or even as a pizza base
• salad dressing– toss it onto your salad or as part of a macro bowl
• sauce– serve it with fish, chicken, or tofu

Storage

This recipe works great to make ahead and enjoy later! When storing hummus, I personally like to portion it out into 1/4 cup portions, but you could also store the whole batch in one container.

Here are some tips to safely store this recipe:

• fridge– store in an air tight meal prep container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
• freezer– store in an air tight meal prep container, freeze in souper cubes, or in freezer bags (roll them flat for easiest storage) for up to 3 months.
• thaw– overnight in the fridge.

Check out my favorite meal prep containers!

Looking for more hummus recipes?