The Heart-Healthy Home-Made Hummus
The whole game is aquafaba. Supermarket hummus gets its smoothness from cheap sunflower oil; this gets it from the chickpea liquid instead. Same velvety whipped texture, a fraction of the refined fat.
why it works
Using the bean water instead of extra oil keeps the fat balanced while the starch whips up like an emulsion. Tahini is worth keeping — it's unrefined ground sesame, so those are premium polyunsaturated fats rather than industrial ones. Chickpea fibre does the rest.
Ingredients
- 1 tin (400g) chickpeas — drained, but save the liquid in a mug
- 1–2 tbsp tahini
- juice of 1 large lemon, freshly squeezed
- 1–2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- pinch of sea salt
- smoked paprika, for the top
Method
-
Tahini, lemon juice, garlic and cumin into the blender first, and whiz for 30 seconds until it looks smooth and slightly creamy. Doing the base before the chickpeas go in is what stops it turning grainy.
-
Add the drained chickpeas and blend again.
-
It'll look thick and chunky at this point. Instead of reaching for more oil, drizzle in 3–5 tablespoons of the saved chickpea liquid while the blender is running, plus a tiny splash of ice-cold water. Keep going until it hits that deli-style smoothness.
-
Scoop it into a container, dust the top generously with smoked paprika, and into the fridge.
remix
- Add 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil at the base stage for a richer version
- Roast half a head of garlic first if raw garlic is too aggressive for you
- A roasted red pepper blended in turns it pink and sweet
- Harissa swirled through the top
- Keep the aquafaba you don't use — it freezes, and it whips like egg white