Learn how to make an easy restaurant-style ultra-smooth hummus. This recipe uses canned chips, garlic, tahini, and olive. And the secret to making smooth hummus is one simple technique!

hummus topped with chickpeas with pita chips

I finally made an ultra-smooth and creamy hummus.

This is certainly not the first recipe of it’s kind. But this one is my all-time favorite. For me, hummus has to be creamy, scoopable with a pita chip and has the perfect amount of seasonings. A harmonious bite through and through. This recipe is one that I’ve worked extra hard on because, right now, you can’t always find your favorite convenience foods at the grocery store. I’ll show you how you can easily make homemade hummus, way better than the store-bought stuff.

But first, have you noticed how store-bought and restaurant-style hummus are very different? I find the store-bought stuff just tastes like thick chickpea paste without too much flavor.

pita chip dipped in hummus

My recipe uses five simple ingredients (if you don’t count the salt and oil), most of which you probably already have at home. Except for one ingredient, most of these are pantry staples. I’ve shared a link below so you can order it straight to your door and then make what I call the best hummus of all time.

The main difference is that this recipe employs a simple technique before we process it into a dip. And as a result, we are left with the smooth garbanzo bean dip that’s perfect for serving with pita chips for a movie night snack or over your shawarma bowl for dinner!

Hummus is the ideal recipe to make if you stocked up on canned chickpeas with the current situation we have going on. With just a simple food processor, you can make hummus in around 20 minutes!

What is hummus?

Hummus is a creamy dip often made in Middle Eastern or sometimes Mediterranean cuisine. It’s made from cooked chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) and often includes tahini paste, lemon juice, and garlic for flavor. 

boiling chickpeas

What do you need to make homemade hummus?

  • Garbanzo bean: Or often called chickpeas. You’ll need one can for a single batch of this recipe. And don’t forget to save the liquid that the beans come packed it, it’s called aquafaba. It’s the perfect blending liquid, and we’ll use it later.
  • Baking soda: Baking soda is the crucial ingredient in making smooth hummus, do not skip this ingredient!
  • Garlic: I use one giant clove of garlic here and find it’s perfect for us. If you anticipate leftovers, I would suggest using a little less garlic than you usually like, as it does tend to spice up the hummus quite a bit as it sits. We love garlic (and I use a ton in my recipes, always), but even I use just 1-2 cloves!
  • Tahini paste: Tahini paste is the backbone of any excellent hummus recipe. Tahini is made from toasting and grounding up sesame seeds and is used in tons of Middle Eastern cuisines. It’s also a key ingredient when you’re making baba ganoush.
  • Lemon juice: I use about three tablespoons of lemon juice and find that to be the perfect sweet spot of us, it’s bright and zingy without being over-powering. Try it this way first, and you can always add more lemon juice (and cut back another tablespoon on the aquafaba )
  • Olive oil: use a good quality extra virgin olive oil here, if possible. Since we aren’t cooking with it, the olive oil flavor does shine through.
  • Seasonings: I season with kosher salt and ground cumin. The cumin is an optional ingredient, but it does add a ton of smoky flavor, just the way your favorite middle eastern restaurant makes it!
blending up tahini paste

What is the secret to making the best hummus from scratch?

The secret to making the best hummus is using a teaspoon of baking soda and boiling the chickpeas for a short 10 minutes once you drain them from the can. Then, blend them with all the other ingredients. I know what you’re thinking; ‘those chickpeas are already cooked.’

Yes, they are. I grew up watching my mom cook dried chickpeas with a hint of baking soda, and not until recently did I realize that the reason her hummus was always so much smoother than mine was that she always boils chickpeas with baking soda.

So I played around with using a can of chickpeas and adding another 10 minutes of boiling time, and it worked even better than I had initially hoped.

top down shot of creamy hummus

Variations:

  • Toasted sesame: replace one tablespoon of the olive oil with toasted sesame oil and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds to finish once plated
  • Roasted red pepper: If you have half a jar of roasted red pepper, drain and add the red peppers in with the chickpeas when you’re blending to give it a unique flavor
  • Spicy: Add 1-2 tablespoons of chili garlic sauce to add a spicy kick
  • Kalamata olive: Add a ½ cup of sliced Kalamata olives in with the tahini, lemon juice, and garlic to blend into a smooth paste
  • Pesto: replace 1-2 tablespoons of the olive oil with basil pesto and sprinkle with freshly chopped basil before serving
  • Chipotle: Add 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce when you’re blending the chickpeas. You can even add a bit of that adobo sauce.
  • Add sumac: Swap out the cumin or add a simple of sumac  as a garnish
  • Add Greek salad on top: When you’re garnishing the hummus, add a homemade marinated feta greek salad on top that you can then serve as a dip!
hummus with pita chip resting in bowl with chickpeas

How to serve homemade hummus:

pita chip dipped in homemade hummus
Yield: 5-6 servings

The Best Extra Smooth Hummus (Way Better Than Store Bought)

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Learn how to make an easy restaurant-style ultra-smooth hummus. This recipe uses canned chips, garlic, tahini, and olive. And the secret to making smooth hummus is one simple technique!

The Best Extra Smooth Hummus (Way Better Than Store Bought)

Ingredients

  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can chickpeas (reserve 4 tablespoons of liquid)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 large clove of garlic (or two!)
  • ¼ cup tahini paste
  • 3 tablespoons EACH: lemon juice AND olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon EACH: kosher salt AND ground cumin, optional

Instructions

  1. BOIL: Add the drained chickpeas to a saucepan and cover with 3 cups of water. Add the baking soda and bring the chickpeas to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and allow the chickpeas to simmer for 10-12 minutes until you see the chickpea peels floating to the top. If fine if the chickpeas get super soft, we're processing them anyway!
  2. DRAIN: Drain the chickpeas in a colander or mesh strainer and remove all the peels that you can easily take off the chickpeas. You could also just rub the chickpeas in the colander to help loosen up more peels and remove them. Rinse the chickpeas under cold running water and continue to remove any peels that may have released from the chickpeas.
  3. PROCESS: Add the garlic, tahini, and lemon juice to a food processor and process until completely smooth, this will take 1-2 minutes. Then, add ½ of the chickpeas, along with the olive oil, salt, ground cumin, and 2 tablespoons of the chickpea liquid. Process until it forms a smooth paste. Then, add the remaining chickpeas and 1 tablespoon of water or chickpea liquid (see notes). Continue to process in the food processor until smooth. If you feel the hummus is still thick, you can add the one remaining tablespoon of the chickpea liquid (aquafaba) and process it for another 10 seconds. Serve the hummus with pita chips or pita bread.

Notes

* Update (03/23) I've started subbing the water or chickpea liquid for a couple of cubes of ice instead. This makes an even creamier hummus!

Have you made this recipe?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR, I'd love to see what you made!