- 1 red bell pepper
- One 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup tahini (I use Trader Joe’s)
- 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped or minced
- 2 tbsp cold water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
- 1/4 tsp cumin
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the bell pepper in half vertically and remove the stem and seeds. Place pepper halves cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, then turn oven to BROIL and bake an additional 5 minutes (this will depend on your oven). Keep an eye on the pepper and when the skin is mostly blackened, it should be done. Remove from oven and cover the pan with foil (this helps the pepper’s skin to be removed super easily after it sits in its own steam). Let it sit to steam and cool like this for 10 minutes, then you can peel the skin off with your fingers. Once the skin is removed, dice the pepper.
While the pepper is baking, place the rinsed chickpeas in a saucepan and cover with water. Add 1/2 tsp baking soda, stir, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, set a timer for 10 minutes and stir occasionally. Once the timer goes off, rinse and drain the chickpeas again (you want to rinse the baking soda off). *This step achieves softer chickpeas that will blend into a smoother hummus, and you will not have to pick out the skins to discard them either.
Now you can combine all ingredients and blend to desired consistency! I put them all in a metal bowl and used my immersion blender to completely puree the mixture until super smooth. Other ways this can be done is in a food processor or blender.
*If your garlic is really strong, put it into the fresh-squeezed lemon juice to sit while you prepare the pepper and chickpeas and it’ll calm some of the harshness down.
*Blend to your desired consistency. If your hummus seems too thick, add more cold water or olive oil (1 tbsp at a time). Adjust spices as you see fit! If it tastes bland, add more salt and/or cumin, or play around with some of your other favorite spices!
Serve with pita or naan cut into wedges, baby carrots or other cut veggies!
WHY MAKE YOUR OWN WHEN YOU CAN BUY IT?!?!
Sabra hummus is my favorite brand (taste wise) from the store, but when I look at the ingredients, I am disappointed! There is soybean oil, potassium sorbate and natural flavors in there. None of these may be red flags to the normal consumer, but there are problems here.
Soybean oil is made from genetically modified soy unless it’s organic, and soy can be difficult to process digestively. Potassium sorbate is a preservative that could potentially be toxic to DNA and impact immunity, and “natural flavors” is an unregulated umbrella term that doesn’t tell us much about what is actually in the food. Why aren’t the base ingredients enough to flavor the hummus? (The answer is: they are, and they’re even better when made at home!)