I was in Minneapolis this past weekend for a Cru conference with some of my favorite people ever. I told them all that I’d pass my hummus recipe along, so here you go. This post is for you. 🙂

I am positively in love with Hummus. And one of the best things about it is that it’s one of those foods that tastes the best when you make it yourself. I’ve bought prepared Hummus in the grocery store—there are varieties containing everything from roasted garlic to red peppers—but they all have a decidedly acidic taste and I’m not really a fan of it.

However, I do make one exception — Holy Land Hummus. If you are close to a store (mostly in the Twin Cities) that sells Holy Land Hummus — buy the lot. The jalepeno is the Horrmann favorite.

Making hummus at home is surprisingly easy as long as you can find tahini, a specialty sesame paste sold in jars. I buy ours at our local co-op and that’s the way to go if your city has one.

It starts with chick peas. These dudes are drained and rinsed so that thick bean goo is all gone. I’m not a fan of bean goo. You can of course used dried chick peas and soak them overnight, but I’m just not that patient.

Throw the chick peas along with the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, salt into your food processor. If you don’t have one, a blender is fine. And just to note, the tahini is a pretty important ingredient here. That’s what gives hummus its wonderful toasty flavor. If you make your hummus without it, it will still be tasty, but you’ll know something is missing.

Also, if you’d like to make a different kind of hummus than just the original, add-in whatever you have in your fridge. Again, jalepeno is our favorite, but you could add roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, olives, dill, etc. Whatever suits your fancy.

Pulse the mixture several times until it’s combined, adding tablespoons of water as needed to help it come together. The mixture should NOT be overly smooth; you want it to have some texture. At this point, give it a taste, add salt, pepper, or more tahini as needed, and add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Pulse only 2 to 3 more times to combine.

Serve with pita wedges, chips, crackers, carrots sticks…whatever you have on hand.

Enjoy!

Classic Hummus

• 1 can (14.5 Oz.) Garbanzo Beans, Rinsed And Drained
• 1 Tablespoon Tahini
• 2 cloves Garlic, Chopped, Or More To Taste
• 1/2 whole Lemon, Juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground paprika or cayenne pepper, Or More To Taste
• Salt To Taste
• 3 Tablespoons Water
• 2-3 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• Mix-ins: jalepeno, roasted red peppers, dill, olives, basil, tomatoes

Combine chickpeas with all ingredients (if you do a mix in, add that here too), except water and olive oil, in a food processor.