My favorite hummus recipe! With a few simple tricks, you can make the best creamy, smooth homemade hummus, and yes, it’s better than store-bought.
Hummus is a delicious spread (or dip) made from chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and spices. It is a popular dish in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. You can find it in most grocery stores, but trust me, you’ll want to skip those and make your own. Homemade hummus is just so much better!
This hummus recipe is a keeper (our family’s been making it for years!). So many of our readers swear it’s their forever hummus recipe, too. I’ve also shared our recipe for roasted red pepper hummus, which I bet you’ll also love!
Key Ingredients
- Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans): These are the base for my hummus, and they can be canned or cooked from scratch. I use both, but homemade chickpeas have a slightly better flavor.
- Tahini: This sesame seed paste makes the hummus so delicious. You can buy it at the store or make your own. I prefer homemade because it makes my hummus 100% from scratch. Here’s my homemade tahini recipe. To make hummus without tahini, see my tips below the recipe.
- Lemon juice: Skip the bottled stuff! Fresh lemon juice makes all the difference in great hummus.
- Garlic: I use one small clove for just the right amount of flavor, but you can add more for a stronger garlic flavor or use roasted garlic instead. Here’s how to roast garlic.
- Ground cumin and salt: Both improve the flavor of our hummus, and the cumin adds a little extra richness and spice. In our video, I sprinkle Za’atar seasoning on top for serving, which I love!
- Olive oil: This gives my hummus a luxuriously smooth texture. I also like to drizzle a little extra on top when serving. Fruity, light-flavored olive oils are my favorite for making hummus.
How to Make Hummus from Scratch
The secret to the best hummus is all about the order in which you blend your ingredients! Seriously, this simple trick makes a huge difference.
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 two. See the photos below? In the first photo, I’m pouring tahini into a clean food processor.
After a minute of being whirled, whipped, and creamed in the food processor, it turns into the paste you see in the next photo. It’s lighter in color and much thicker.
Now, we can add the remaining hummus ingredients. I like adding the chickpeas in two batches, processing the first batch for a minute before adding the rest. Then, I stand back and let my food processor run.
When it looks close to done, I add a splash of cold water while the processor is still running. After a few tablespoons of water, the mixture transforms into fluffy, creamy, whipped hummus.
I use cold water, but aquafaba (chickpea liquid) works incredibly well, too. If you want to learn more about it, here’s our ultimate guide to aquafaba. Some of our readers have also suggested using ice cubes instead of the water.
Do You Need to Peel the Chickpeas for Hummus?
I usually skip peeling my chickpeas when making hummus, but it’s totally up to you! If you have some extra time and want the absolute smoothest texture, go ahead and peel them. It takes about 10 minutes to peel a can, and it does make a subtle difference. The photo below shows slightly smoother hummus made with peeled chickpeas on the left.
Even though the peeled chickpeas make a slightly smoother hummus, the difference isn’t huge. So, if you’re short on time, skip peeling. Your hummus will still be delicious! For more recipes with chickpeas, see all of our chickpea recipes.
What to Serve with Hummus
There are so many delicious ways to enjoy hummus! I love dipping fluffy flatbread, homemade pita bread, or fresh, crunchy veggies in it. It’s also delicious, next to other spreads and dips, like my homemade baba ganoush (a roasted eggplant dip), tzatziki sauce, homemade labneh, and our incredible tahini sauce. For extra flavor, try adding some toppings, as I do for my spiced beef and feta hummus.
Hummus is also great on sandwiches and wraps, alongside homemade falafel, or as a healthy, flavorful filling for lettuce wraps. I’ve even got a recipe for easy hummus cups with cucumber and tomato if you want something quick and easy.
Easy Hummus (Better than Store-Bought)
- PREP
- TOTAL
Homemade hummus is easy to make and tastes much better than anything you can buy at the store. You will need tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds. Buy it or make it yourself. Here’s our homemade tahini recipe, which I highly recommend for the best homemade hummus! To leave it out, add more olive oil.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 (15oz) can chickpeas, drained or 1 ½ cups (250g) cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice, 1 large lemon
1/4 cup (60ml) well-stirred tahini, try our homemade tahini recipe
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons (45ml) cold water or aquafaba
Dash ground paprika, sumac, or Za’atar for serving
Directions
1In the bowl of a food processor, combine the tahini and lemon juice and process for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then process for 30 seconds more. This extra time helps “whip” or “cream” the tahini, making the hummus smooth and creamy.
2Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then process for another 30 seconds or until well blended.
3Drain the chickpeas. Then add half of the chickpeas to the food processor and process for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then add the remaining chickpeas and process them until thick and relatively smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
4The hummus will likely be too thick and still have tiny bits of chickpea. To fix this, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of cold water or aquafaba with the food processor turned on until you reach the perfect consistency.
5Taste and adjust as needed. Serve hummus with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika, sumac, or Za’atar.
6Store homemade hummus in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to one week. Freeze, covered with a thin layer of olive oil, for up to one month.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- How to cook dried chickpeas: Use canned or home-cooked chickpeas for this recipe. Here is how we cook dried chickpeas.
- Hummus without tahini: For the best hummus, which rivals our favorite store brands, use tahini. However, a chickpea puree without it is still quite delicious. Just add more olive oil. Another option is to use natural, unsweetened, creamy peanut butter in its place.
- If you like garlicky hummus, increase the garlic by a clove or use roasted garlic.
- Aquafaba for fluffy hummus: This is the thick starchy liquid in a can of beans (or the bean cooking liquid). You can use this instead of water in the last step of the recipe. Instead of plain water, add a splash of aquafaba at the end. As it whips, it creates an incredibly light and airy texture. Taste your aquafaba first. If it’s too salty, use less salt when making your hummus.
- Tahini & lemon juice are not creaming: Depending on your food processor, the blade might not come into contact with the tahini and lemon juice. You need to increase the amount of liquid in the food processor, so add the olive oil. If they still do not cream, add a tablespoon of cold water.
- Blender: A food processor is best for making hummus, but a high-powered blender will work. Be sure to scrape the sides down a few extra times as you make it.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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After reading this twice, I’m convinced! I can’t wait to try it! I’m a 1st time hummus maker and I bet this is going to be the “keeper,” and… there are no quantities for the ingredients. arghh! So frustrating! Obviously she’s using one can of chick peas. And she says “one small clove of garlic. Great. How much lemon?! How much tahini?! Did I miss something obvious? I hope so. As a 1st-timer, guessing would be about as smart as making it blind-folded. Frustrated. Back online to search for another one.
Hi Kathy, I believe you did miss the full recipe, which is found at the bottom of the article (or you can click the ‘Jump to the Recipe’ button right at the top of the page). All ingredients with amounts and directions (including a printer-friendly option) should be there. Hope that helps!
Wow sooooooo good
Being a huge hummus fan (for years, always store bought), I tried your recipe last week and it’s so delicious! I doubled the garlic and used aquafaba rather than the cold water. I’m doubling the recipe this week and never going back to store bought.
A bit labor intensive, especially stirry the tahini. But well worth it. Best I’ve ever tasted!
Yum yum yum. Started making this and goes down a treat with the whole family. I added beetroot and made pink hummus. Also like to garnish with pomegranate seeds. Nice with toasted lebenese bread, pita bread, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks. Bread sticks.
This all sounds amazing! We love hearing how people adapt our recipes. Thank you for sharing.
I have been making your hummus recipe for a couple of years now and it just gets better and better. I just added a little twist. I make the tahini from scratch, using your recipe of course, and I use it immediately for hummus. It’s always fresh and I only have to wash my blender once. Thanks again.
That’s amazing! I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying the hummus recipe, and that you’re even making your own tahini from scratch. That’s dedication! Love it!
I’ve made this recipe several times now, and it’s good, but IMHO it has too much tahini. A quarter cup makes the hummus bitter. So this time I cut that in half, just 2 tbsp. Then in addition to the seasonings mentioned here, I added: – entire package of fresh dill – dried minced garlic, onion – generous amount of lemon pepper – generous amount of smoked paprika – several generous dashes of Worcestershire. Excellent and much less bitter and heavy!
Great tasting and helpful tips for processing! Too easy not to make every time you want humus.
So glad you gave our recipe a try!
This is the absolute best hummus recipe I have ever tried. Better than any store bought brand as well. Thanks for sharing
Tried this tonight for snacking at work with carrots and cucumber. All I can say is wow. The flavour is incredible and I don’t think I could possibly go back to store bought again!
I am always pleased to find a recipe promising smoother hummus but it didn’t work well for me. The tahini and lemon juice mixed together to form one firm lump! The resulting hummus was okay. I guess something was wrong with my tahini. It was from the bottom of the jar so maybe not so oily as it could have been.
Hi Rosie, It is really important to stir tahini before using it, because as you mentioned the oil does tend to separate.
Oh wow! I just made it! I added cayenne pepper and topped it off when served with more cayenne pepper.. Sooo delicious! Thanks so much!
This is by far the best Hummus recipe I’ve tried! I’ve tried other ones but none come out as creamy and delicious as this one. It literally is hard for me not to eat 1 batch in one sitting, I usually double the recipe so that I have a lot of it because it’s so easy to go through it! I use sugar snap peas and cucumbers for my scooping 🥰😅.
Absolutely perfect. This is a go-to for sure!
What can I use instead of the lemon juice? I am allergic to lemons.
Hi Juanita, While I have not tried these substitutions myself, the two I’d try would be a good-quality vinegar (but use less at first and add more if you need it) or swap the lemon juice for plain yogurt, which will make things creamy and should add a tart flavor.