Why is the best hummus always in restaurants, especially Middle Eastern ones? I think I make a delicious, flavorful hummus that has a great consistency and is better than the ones you find in the supermarket. But, it doesn’t compare to the silky, light and creamy hummus that I’ve had in restaurants. I want that kind. The kind that will drip, not plop, off your pita if you’re not careful. The kind you can suck up with a straw. You know what I mean.
I got into bed with a book the other night, because reading helps me wind down and relax from my typically crazy day. But of course, I read cookbooks in bed before I go to sleep which is an absolutely terrible idea because that does nothing to quiet my overactive brain which doesn’t stop thinking, thinking, thinking! Regardless, I was reading Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s not-so-new, but gorgeous book , “Jerusalem.” So many recipes, so little time, people. I turned to their recipe for “Basic Hummus” and I swear I almost flipped the page without so much as a glance, because like I said, I already have a perfectly great hummus recipe which I have actually turned into four different flavors. But then I thought “have some respect, you never know.”
The word “supersmooth” caught my attention immediately and then I knew I found it — the hummus of my dreams. Let me jump to the chase. The Ottolenghi hummus is the kind I love at restaurants and they tell me all their secrets. Most importantly, the chickpea skins are removed after cooking and before pureeing. I know!!! Why didn’t I think of that? But before you think I have the kind of time to sit around peeling chickpea skins, think again. After soaking and draining the chickpeas, they are cooked with a little baking soda and then water is added to boil the beans. Most of the skins float to the top of the pot and you just skim them away. I know!!! Brilliant. They also add a lot more tahini (sesame paste) than I do which makes the hummus so creamy. And water. I would never have thought to add water, but it really makes the hummus lighter and cleaner than adding the chickpea liquid which is how I do it. “Better late than never,” is what I was thinking.
I wouldn’t say that my first attempt came out quite as smooth as Ottolenghi’s primarily because not all the chickpeas lost their skins and I was not about to go peeling them, but it was really, really good and very smooth. You can see the image of that below. I also tasted the hummus after adding 2/3 cup of tahini instead of the recommended 1 cup + 2 Tbs. and I thought it was divine. I made it a second time and did take the time to pull off any skins that didn’t come off during the boiling process and the hummus was a tad bit creamier, but I’m not sure it was worth the extra 12 minutes it took me to do that. You should do whatever makes sense to you and if you have the time, feel free to pick out every last skin. For that matter, you can buy canned cooked chickpeas and pull off the skins and proceed from there.
I served this to friends the other night, friends who have had my hummus a million times and they all said “where did you get this? This is so good.” I know, a tad insulting since the implication was that I could not have made it, but I was totally fine with that. Since then, we’ve enjoyed this immensely with pita bread and raw veggies (wow, I could actually hear you yawn through the computer), slathered on a baguette with grilled veggies and slow roasted tomatoes (my recommendation), and dolloped on a Greek salad with chicken souvlaki (we had this for dinner the other night — major hit!). There is an insanely beautiful picture in the book of the hummus topped with whole cooked chickpeas, pine nuts, chopped parsley, cooked lamb and the whole thing drizzled with olive oil. A-mazing.
No matter how you make it, hummus is rather nutritious and especially high in protein and fiber. It’s one of the more healthful spreads and dips, provided you don’t go to crazy on the pita bread or chips. I have even used it in place of mayonnaise in chicken salad. I have even eaten it with a spoon. I have even dreamt about it. You will too, until you make it!
Supersmooth, Light-as-Air Hummus
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups dried chickpeas, garbanzo beans*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ½ cups water
- 1 cup light tahini paste, Ottolenghi recommends 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons, but I thought anywhere between 2/3 and 1 cup was great
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 medium cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 6 ½ Tablespoons ice cold water
- Unrefined olive oil and sweet paprika for finishing, if desired
Instructions
- Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with at least 4 inches of cold water. Allow to soak 6-8 hours.
- Drain the chickpeas. In a medium saucepan over high heat, add the drained chickpeas and the baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Make sure the water covers the chickpeas by at least 2 inches. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming off and foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas cook faster this way and may only need from 20-40 minutes to become tender, but possibly longer. You know they’re done if you can squish a chickpea in between your thumb and forefinger.
- Drain the chickpeas. You will have about 3 2/3 cups. Transfer the chickpeas to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until you get a stiff paste. With the machine running, add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Lastly, slowly drizzle in the ice water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes until you get a really smooth and creamy paste. I actually set my timer for 5 minutes and washed the dishes in the meantime.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and allow the hummus to rest for at least 30 minutes. If not serving right away, refrigerate until needed. Make sure to remove it from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving. If desired, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.
Notes
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
I didn’t follow the recipe here but I wanted to see how your method of cooking the chickpeas with baking soda worked out. It didn’t. What a gooey mess. I feel like, based on previous comments here, that you need to rewrite the recipe to let people know the skins don’t just simply pop up to the top, easy peasy. They don’t. A few do, along with other whole chickpeas, but the majority are mixed in making it almost impossible to remove them. I was able to get some but wasted too much time doing it and gave up. The one benefit it would seem to using baking soda is that the chickpeas cooked quicker than normal, though they had a wee bit of chalky texture to them that doesn’t happen with slower cooking. I make hummus often, using a variety of methods, and honestly didn’t notice a difference in the texture this time.
Hi Shelly, Thanks for writing in. Whereas I appreciate all feedback, if you didn’t follow the recipe as you admitted, it’s a little unfair to suggest the recipe doesn’t work. As I wrote, this is an Ottolenghi recipe which has been widely adapted by many food bloggers with success. I have made hummus dozens of times without any problem using this method. What I have surmised is that when people rapidly boil the beans as opposed to simmer them gently, that’s when things can go awry. But even if the skins aren’t easy to remove, they can be blended into the hummus and almost disappear, resulting in a super smooth, light hummus.
How can you say the recipe doesn’t work when you started off your review by saying you didn’t follow the recipe? Maybe you have a typo in your review?
Hi Pamela,
Firstly let me say wow, what an amazing site you have, I love the crisp clean look and the images are fantastic, they really pop with colour and style.
I loved your recipe, it turned out even better than I could have possibly imagined, yes it was a bit fiddly at times but it was really worth it. I added chopped red chillies to mine, well half, so I had a nice zingy one for me and a less hot one for guests. It went down well. So well I blinked and it was gone.
I never would have thought to use baking soda for hummus but now I am a convert to the cause. Once again Pamela, let me say thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent with the world. I will be a regular visitor to your site from now on
Thank you for your generous email, Lee. I love the idea of adding chilies since I, too, love anything spicy. I’ll have to try that! Thank you!
After years of making “lumpy” hummus, I was excited to try this recipe because of the technique for removing the skins, but I must be doing something wrong. For me, the baking soda seems to be working *too* well. Not only does it break down the skins, it causes the beans themselves to fall apart. The skins and tiny bean bits are tangled together in sort of a lumpy sludge — there’s no way to separate them. I tried rinsing off the cooked beans in a collander, but the pieces are small enough and soft enough that they pass right through the holes along with the skins.
I’m using dried beans soaked for 8 hours, drained, cooked with baking soda for 3 minutes, then boiled for 20 minutes.
What am I missing?
Hmmmmm, I really have no idea. Usually the opposite is the case where the beans aren’t soft enough after 20 minutes. And 20 minutes isn’t even long. This is an Ottolenghi method which I have used many, many times. If you have a slow cooker, perhaps try cooking the beans with baking soda in the slow cooker. Start with 3 hours on high and see if that works better for you. Although I think this experience you had was a fluke, unfortunately.
I just had another thought — when you cooked the beans, were you vigorously boiling them or simmering? I have found that an aggressive boil causes the beans to lose their shape, as opposed to gentle bubbles/simmering.
The first time I tried this, I used a vigorous boil with the lid off. The second time, I put the lid back on and turned the heat down to a moderate simmer. I also reduced the baking soda by half. One or the other helped a tiny little bit, but not enough to separate the beans from the skins.
Interestingly, I went ahead and finished the recipe the second time, and the hummus came out perfectly smooth — even with the skins still in.
Glad you achieved a successful result the second time around! The vigorous boil is what broke down the beans the first time. Simmering is the preferred technique. And I think the baking soda helps to soften the skins to the point that they will puree incredibly easily, even if they haven’t fully been removed. Thanks for reporting back! 🙂
I live in Trinidad & Tobago (where the well known chick peas sandwitch, “Doubles” was born). I have been trying to figure how to make a smooth hummus for some time, and tried your method. Just like others here, i was not able to separate the skins, but what i realized that the skins were considerably softened and yielded a smooth finish. My only change after doing a few batches and scaling is to use less Bicarb and especially so if you are doubling the recipe. Or it will end up with that soapy taste. In Trinidad the people who sell Doubles commercially end up with a very soft mushy chick peas that i have noticed is not possibly even with pressure cooking. And often you get the bicarb taste. So even in other recipes bicarb is used to soften the chick peas skins. Thanks for the recipe.
That’s all so interesting! Thanks for the feedback and the info, Wilmark. 🙂
My 9 month old son loves it! I use roasted garlic and added avocado. Now even my picky 4 yr old daughter is asking for it to snack on. We just love the super smooth and creamy texture.
roasted garlic and avocado are the perfect add-ins. Yum!
Wonderful! I have made so many hummus recipes, but this was definitely the best. I’m going to try the roasted garlic variation next time. Thanks for posting!
So many variations you can try! 🙂
I sprout the garbanzo beans before I cook them in but of baking soda …. Every single skin comes off by itself:):) than I blend them in vitamix with crushed ice and olive oil, tahini and garlic
sounds perfect!
First of all, this is my new absolutely favoritest website.
I’m not a very good cook. Usually when I try a new recipe, it RARELY turns out as expected. But I tried this one. When the chickpeas were done cooking, I thought I didn’t get nearly enough skins, and the final product was such a mess of soft chickpeas, I couldn’t tell the skins from the beans. I almost threw the batch away.
But I didn’t. And, ultimately, the result was the MOST AMAZING hummus I’ve ever had. The consistency is like frosting. So smooth and light. And it doesn’t need even one extra grain of salt. Or garlic. Or lemon. Or ANYTHING!. SO GOOD! And, a bonus you can’t possibly imagine — my husband did NOT have to add hot sauce to it (which he does to most things).
Thank you for this. My confidence is bolstered!
Phew! I was getting a worried after the first paragraph. I am so happy it worked out for you!!! Thanks for sharing. You never know who might find herself in a similar situation and not know whether or not to bail. 🙂
Hi Pamela, I just stumbled upon this when trying to find a bigger food processor to make hummus. (I want to make more than 1kg at a time)
I feel like im in a similar situation! I love the hummus I make. I use the same ingredients as you, different amounts, I think its perfect. I EVEN ADD THE CHICKPEA LIQUID!! which ill change in the next batch. But ive never thought to remove the skins (which I just mentioned to my mum and she laughs and says yeah but it takes a while. She doesnt know that theres a faster way)
Im cooking the chickpeas right now. I added the baking soda etc. the water im boiling it in is dark like ive burnt it, theres a bit of a burnt smell, it could be the baking soda. there arent skins floating to the top, its more like 1 big mush of chickpeas and the separated skin.
so my question is…
is the pan meant to be preheated to hot so when you put the in chickpeas and baking soda it will start cooking very high straight away?
Do you leave the lid on when boiling and what temperature do you boil at? normally I put the lid on and leave the stove on low heat and slowly boil.
Is there a way to remove the skins if you cant skim them off while they are boiling?
thank you
Hmmmm……I’ve never had the chickpea liquid go dark or burnt. I would taste it and make sure it tastes fine. Perhaps there’s a chemical reaction happening with your pot? I take cold pot out of the cupboard and add the chickpeas and water. No need to preheat the pot. I bring up to a boil at high heat and then lower heat to low so the water simmers. You need plenty of water so that it doesn’t evaporate before the beans are tender. Otherwise you can remove the skins manually, but yikes! That seems like a lot of work. A little extra water in the hummus might help get it a bit thinner…..
Hi,
I am excited to make this! How long would you say it keeps in the fridge? 🙂
4-5 days no problem. It does thicken up when it is refrigerated though. Just leave it at room temp to get less firm.
quick tip I learned from america’s test kitchen for canned chickpeas! If you drain them, coat them in about 2 tbsp baking soda and then heat them for a minute or so in a skillet the skins will fall off super easily! I haven’t ever tried this with the dried ones that I cook at home but with canned ones it is so easy!
Oh cool! I thought that only worked when cooking from a dried state. Thanks!