Try this Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- one 15-ounce can (425 grams) chickpeas also called garbanzo beans
- 1/4 cup (59 ml) fresh lemon juice about 1 large lemon
- half of a large garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for serving
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt depending on taste
- 2 whole red bell peppers (substitute about 3/4 cup chopped
- 1/4 cup (59 ml) tahini see our homemade tahini recipe
- pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
- Carbohydrate 0.46452 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.233835 g
- Fiber 0.11025 g
- Protein 0.187005 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0161175 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -1/2 cups or 4 to 6 serving (1g)
- Sodium 1.764 mg
- Sugar 0.35427 g
- Trans Fat 0.035868 g
- Calories 4 calories
Step-by-step
- Move an oven rack so that it is about 5 inches from the broiler. Turn oven broiler on.
- Remove core of peppers then cut into large flat pieces. Arrange pepper pieces, skin-side up, on a baking sheet. Broil 5 to 10 minutes until the peppers skin has charred.
- Add peppers to a resealable plastic bag, seal then wait 10 to 15 minutes until cool enough to handle. Or, add peppers to a bowl then cover with plastic wrap and wait 10 to 15 minutes. Gently peel away the charred pepper skin and discard. Reserve 1 to 2 pieces to use as a garnish when serving then roughly chop the rest.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl then turn on and process for 30 seconds. This extra time helps “whip†or “cream†the tahini, making smooth and creamy hummus possible.
- Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper and the salt to whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape sides and bottom of bowl then process another 30 seconds.
- Open can of chickpeas, drain liquid then rinse well with water. Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor then process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, add remaining chickpeas and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until thick and quite smooth.
- Add peppers to hummus and continue to process for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.
- If the hummus is too thick or still has tiny bits of chickpea, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 1 to 3 tablespoons of water until the consistency is perfect.
- Finely chop reserved pepper from earlier. Then, scrape the hummus into a bowl, make a small well in the middle and add finely chopped peppers.
- Store homemade hummus in an airtight container and refrigerate up to one week.
A printed ingredient list cannot convey how mechanical friction transforms sesame paste into a light, airy base. Raw tahini and lemon juice require a full sixty seconds of initial processing in a food processor before any other element enters the bowl. This crucial step aerates the paste, whipping the fats and acids into a pale emulsion that prevents grainy textures later. Hummus originated across the Levant, where cooks historically relied on manual stone mortars to break down chickpeas and seeds into smooth pastes. Modern kitchens achieve this via high-speed blades, but technique dictates success. Charring fresh red bell peppers five inches beneath a broiler for five to ten minutes loosens their skins for easy peeling, imparting a smoky sweetness that jarred pimientos simply lack. Trapping the hot peppers in a sealed plastic bag for fifteen minutes uses steam to separate the skin from the flesh efficiently. Adding canned chickpeas in two separate batches prevents overload and ensures uniform breakdown against the blades. If the finished purée remains too thick, streaming in one to three tablespoons of cold water while the motor runs adjusts the viscosity instantly. Storing the final dip in an airtight container in the refrigerator preserves quality for up to seven days.
