Sharing my favorite recipe for smooth, creamy, roasted garlic hummus was inspired by the fabulous, memorable hummus made by my high school friend Phil at his Greek restaurant Opa! Opa! in Sacramento, California. If you’ve never made this appetizer before, it’s not hard to do. After learning how to make delicious homemade hummus, you’ll hesitate when reaching for a store-bought container at the grocery store!
Hummus Ingredients
What are the ingredients for hummus? These are the simple items needed to make creamy roasted garlic hummus at home: canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), baking soda (for removing the skin of the garbanzo beans), tahini, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, high-quality virgin olive oil, chickpea liquid from the can, roasted garlic cloves, cumin, paprika, salt to taste, freshly-ground black pepper to taste. Optional garnishes: roasted red bell pepper, cooked garbanzo beans, parsley, more olive oil.
How to Make Hummus
How to make hummus from scratch? Here’s exactly how to make a fabulous batch of creamy homemade hummus from scratch! Start by opening the cans of chickpeas. In a small bowl, reserve about 1/2 cup of the chickpea liquid from one can and then drain off the rest of the liquid. (You may only need 1/4 cup of the liquid for this recipe, but it’s always a good idea to have a bit more on hand just in case it’s needed.)
Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus Recipe
For hummus that has a nice creamy consistency, it’s achieved by removing the tough outer skins from your canned (cooked) chickpeas. An easy way to do this is to transfer the drained chickpeas to a wide skillet and add 1-1/2 tablespoons of baking soda right over the top of them.
How to Make Creamy Hummus
Heat the skillet over medium heat. With a wooden spoon or heat-safe spatula, continuously stir the chickpeas and baking soda for about 3-1/2 minutes. The baking soda should fully coat the whole batch of chickpeas. This process will loosen up the skins so they’re easier to remove.
Best Hummus Recipe
Transfer the garbanzo beans to a colander. Under running water rinse the baking soda off the chickpeas by rubbing them vigorously between your hands. While doing this, you’ll notice that the skins will start separating from the beans – which is awesome! Transfer the chickpeas to a large bowl filled with cold water. Continue to rub the beans between your hands to loosen up the skins. Drain off the water and pull off the remaining skins with your fingertips.
Garlic Hummus Recipe
Add the skinless chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, roasted garlic, cumin, and paprika to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the garlic hummus is nice and smooth. The mixture will be thick. Add some chickpea liquid to thin out the consistency of the hummus. At this point I’ll usually add in a bit more lemon juice too, as I really like that bright sunshiny flavor!
Homemade Garlic Hummus
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pulse again. Turn off the machine, and with a spoon sample the mixture. Make any needed flavor adjustments like adding in another clove or two of roasted garlic, or a touch more tahini. The final flavor of each batch of hummus is beautifully unique depending on the maker!
How to Garnish Hummus
Transfer the hummus to a lovely wide bowl. With the back of a spoon, create a spiral design over the surface. Drizzle olive oil in the creases. Sprinkle paprika and parsley over the top. In a decorative fashion, add cooked garbanzo beans and roasted red bell pepper to the middle of this yummy appetizer. Mmmm…this creamy roasted garlic hummus is so darn good! Helpful tip: if you’re in a hurry, you can use roasted peppers from a jar. Lightly twist the strips of peppers from both ends to create a festive look!
How to Serve Hummus
Serve homemade hummus with warm slices of pita bread or a variety of fresh, colorful veggies. A great selection of sliced vegetables to serve with this appetizer includes bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, baby corn, and grape tomatoes. I also love serving a few Kalamata Greek olives in a little bowl on the side. So delightful. Once this appetizer hits the table it’ll be gone in a flash!
Recommended Kitchen Tools for Classic Hummus Recipe
I absolutely love my Breville Sous Chef food processor. It’s so darn handy. For hummus lovers, the cute serving bowl below makes a great hostess gift.
Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
Delicious creamy roasted garlic hummus is easy to make at home with this easy recipe! Enjoy this healthy appetizer with a combination of warm pita bread and a bevy of colorful fresh veggies.
Ingredients
- 2 15.5-ounce cans garbanzo beans, reserve 1/2 cup of liquid then drain off the rest
- 1 + 1/2 tablespoons baking soda (to ease removal of chickpea skins)
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (or more to taste)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (plus more for drizzling over the finished product)
- 4 roasted garlic cloves (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 cup chickpea liquid (or a bit more, as needed)
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- Garnishes: Roasted bell pepper, garbanzo beans, chopped parsley, olive oil
Instructions
DIRECTIONS FOR REMOVAL OF GARBANZO BEAN SKINS
Removal of the skins on your garbanzo beans (chickpeas) will create a much creamier hummus than if the skins are left on. To remove the skins, place the drained chickpeas in a wide skillet. Add 1-1/2 tablespoons baking soda to the pan. Heat the beans over medium heat for about 3-1/2 minutes while constantly stirring them. Transfer the beans to a colander. Rinse the garbanzo beans well to remove the baking soda. As you rinse them, vigorously rub the beans between your hands. You’ll notice that the skins will start coming off. Place the beans in a bowl of cold water and continue rubbing the beans with your hands until the majority of the skins have been removed. Drain off the water and continue the removal process using your fingertips.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING HUMMUS
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the skinless chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, roasted cloves of garlic, cumin and paprika. Pulse until hummus is creamy and smooth. The mixture will be thick. Turn off the machine and have a taste test.
- Add some of the reserved chickpea liquid to the hummus to thin it out. You may also want to add a bit more lemon juice as well. It’s just personal preference! Add salt and pepper to taste. Pulse again. Make any needed flavor adjustments. At this point you may wish to add in a touch more tahini or even another clove or two of roasted garlic.
- Transfer the hummus to a wide bowl. With the back of a spoon, create a spiral design on the surface of the hummus. Drizzle olive oil on top. Sprinkle with paprika. Add a few garbanzo beans on top as well as a few slightly twisted strips of roasted red bell pepper.
Notes
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How long will hummus stay fresh? Store your homemade hummus in an air-tight container and place it in the refrigerator. Your hummus will stay fresh for up to four days.
- How do you make creamy hummus? For creamier hummus, remove the skins of your cooked (canned) garbanzo beans.
- What do you do with hummus? Serve hummus as an appetizer with pita bread, pretzels or veggies. Use hummus to make deviled eggs by mashing the yolks with hummus. As a healthier sandwich option, use hummus instead of mayonnaise and mustard. Pair up hummus with your favorite Mediterranean dishes.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Snack, Lunch
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: Greek, Israeli, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean
Keywords: homemade hummus, roasted garlic hummus, garlic hummus recipe
CREAMY ROASTED GARLIC HUMMUS > PIN IT TO PINTEREST
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CREAMY ROASTED GARLIC HUMMUS > JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Do you love eating hummus? Have you ever made it at home? What do you think about this homemade hummus recipe? Join the conversation! I invite you to leave a comment below.
This looks delicious. This is so eye catchy and foodies like me will crave to try that.
Maybe I could try it with nachos too. Thanks for sharing!
What great instructions for making super creamy hummus! I’ve made hummus many times but never actually peeled the skin. Such pretty pictures too!
Thanks for this simple, easy to follow recipe. We love hummus and I’m totally in for trying a new recipe. I love how you left some chickpeas as garnish. Looks delish!
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This recipe looks amazing! My daughter loves hummus, and would enjoy every bite of this
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This looks so good! I love Hummus but I’ve never made it myself. Going to try it some time!
I just had hummus yesterday and commented to my hubby that I’d like to be able to make it – this is the perfect recipe!
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Amazingly presented. I love the pictures. it looks so yummy and delicious. I love hummus :) thank you for sharing the recipe
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Awesome recipe! I have to try!
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This is amazing. I tried hummus once because I was pregnant and craving it. Not my favorite but it looks really delicious here! Thanks for sharing !!
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I honestly did not know that you can make hummus out of chickpeas. I love chickpeas and I use it in my soups. Great recipe idea! Thanks
This is pretty easy and a painless process to follow. It is not complicated and the outcome is amazing. I am sure my family and friends would love this.
Removing the skins is my least favorite part of making hummus or roasted chickpeas. Such a tedious task, it’s a good thing the payoff is worth it.
Now this sounds like a delicious way to make your own hummus! I have to admit I’ve not tried making it myself. I’ll have to change that.
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I know I would love this hummus. I am all about garlic. This looks so fantastic. I need to try it out soon. I know I’d eat so much of it.
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Ooh, I’m drooling. How I miss eating pita with hummus. I’ll try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great recipe. Is my second favorite hummus recipe. The roasted bell pepper one is still my favorite. I would definitely do this recipe again.
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Thank you so much for this beautiful recipe, I will make it again next month when we have family party! I am sure my family will love it too, thanks !
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That sounds so good! I have to try to make it
This hummus looks very delicious! I have never tried to make hummus myself. I am going to have to try it out! thank you for sharing :)
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I pinned this recipe the other day to make later in the week and I just had to come back and tell you that it was a hit. My son (the hummus lover) loved it! Thanks!
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That hummus is absolutely glorious looking! And so that’s how you get it so creamy! I normally leave the skin of the chickpeas on, thinking meh it’ll just get blended all together in the food processor but it looks like it is worth the step!
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I have some chickpeas that I need to use! I gotta try this recipe out!! Looks amazing!
I love making hummus at home, but I’ve never removed to skins of the chickpeas before. I will definitely give that a try next time. Thanks for the tip!
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Such a classic recipe, but a yummy winner every time!
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This looks really delicious, I have never made my own hummus but would really love to.
Who knew hummus was so easy to make?! I love anything garlic so I’m definitely going to have to try this!
This looks so delicious! And so pretty that it would be perfect to bring to a party. I will definitely have to try this recipe!
-Jennifer
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this looks delish! I love hummus but I’ve never made my own before! Thanks for sharing this! I cannot wait to try!
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This looks delicious! I love homemade hummus!
I love making hummus! It’s so easy, and what a fabulous snack option. Yours looks amazing, and anytime someone says, “roasted garlic” to me, I’m all in!
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This looks SO yummy! I love all the seasonings and flavors going into this!
I love hummus and will definitely have to give this recipe a try very soon!
This hummus recipe looks like a winner. It would make a great snack.
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This looks so yummy! I love homemaking hummus. I am excited to try this!
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Oh my goodness!! This looks so delicious ???? Me and my family are big BIG hummus fan and I keep making it with different flavors..but nothing beats CLASSIC hummus!!pinned????????
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