Making Delicious Hummus From Scratch

Dairy Free DIY Gluten Free Health Recipes

At $4 for an 8 oz tub of organic hummus, keeping my 4 year old in hummus could get expensive. He loves the stuff. I've been wanting to make my own for a long time, but I had some trouble acquiring bulk organic chickpeas, and I wasn't willing to settle for canned beans. You can definitely use canned beans for this recipe though; it will save you some time but add a bit to the cost. I finally got a 25 lb bag of organic chickpeas for $32, so now I'll be making hummus from scratch for quite a while!

I like to give beans a good soaking before I cook them, and for this hummus I actually let them sprout for a day or two first. Sprouting increases digestability and decreases cooking time. It's also easy, though it's not essential if you don't have the time. Some people actually make a raw hummus from sprouted chickpeas, but they are still a bit crunchy after sprouting, which makes a grainy final product, and I wanted to mimic the creamy, smooth storebought hummus as much as possible.

If you'd like to try sprouting them, soak for 10-12 hours, in dechlorinated water if possible (make it easily!) Drain the soaking water and rinse the chickpeas, then continue to rinse every 12 hours for a day or two, until the tails are about half as long as the chickpea. If you're not sprouting, just soak dry chickpeas overnight before cooking them in the morning.

After soaking and sprouting the chickpeas, I cook them in a slow cooker on low for about 5 hours, until the beans are tender. It may take longer, depending on the cooker; my slow cooker seems to cook pretty hot. If you haven't sprouted them, they will likely take longer to soften. 

Or, you can speed up cooking by doing it on the stovetop. I prefer to cook in the slow cooker because I can just toss in the ingredients, turn it on, and go on with my life without thinking about cooking for a while. Stovetop cooking requires constant attention and is easier to screw up, in my experience.

After cooking, let the beans cool and drain the liquid. I simply put my crock pot outside in the night air to cool off, and continue the hummus recipe in the morning. If you have hot nights, it's probably not such a good idea to leave your pot out overnight or you might end up with fermented chickpeas. When I drain the beans I add the cooking liquid to my chickens' food instead of pouring it down the drain. You may want to use some of the liquid in blending up the hummus as well.

Place about 4 cups of cooled, drained chickpeas (if you are starting from canned, this is where you jump in) in a food processor along with:

1/2 c olive oil
2 t salt
2 cloves garlic
1/2 c sunflower seed butter or sesame tahini
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

I use sunflower butter because that's what I generally have on hand, and it tastes delicious in the hummus, but if you want a more traditional flavor use sesame tahini insead.

Chickpeas, Olive Oil, Sunflower Butter, Garlic & Salt is all it takes!

Blend everything together until it's creamy smooth. At that point, it's ready, and it's delicious, and it costs pennies rather than dollars, and it didn't come in any wasteful packaging.

This hummus freezes well, so I always make a double batch and stick some in the freezer for later. If you have some extra chickpeas after making this recipe, try roasting them for a delicious, simple and healthy snack; follow the link for instructions.

Enjoy with veggies, crackers, or whatever!

We purchase organic garbanzo beans in bulk from Azure Standard, a natural foods distributor. Below are Amazon Affiliate Ads. Any purchase made through them helps support our family. Thanks in advance!

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Making Delicious Hummus From Scratch

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Oleh Mellow

Mellow May 12, 2012 50 Comment