The Best Homemade Hummus (Plus Four flavors)

$2.24 recipe / $0.37 serving
by Beth - Budget Bytes
4.98 from 36 votes
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If you haven’t started making your own homemade hummus, you’re totally missing out. It only takes about five minutes, you can adjust the taste to be juuuuuust the way you like it, and you can make a different flavor every week so that it never gets old! I promise, once you make your first batch of homemade hummus, you’ll never go back to store bought.

Four flavors of Homemade Hummus - Plain, Parsley Scallion, Jalapeño Cilantro, and Roasted Red Pepper

What is Hummus?

Hummus is a Middle Eastern chickpea dip or spread, made with just a few simple ingredients. At its most basic, hummus includes:

  • Chickpeas
  • Tahini
  • Olive Oil
  • Lemon
  • Garlic
  • Salt

There are a million different things you can add into hummus and I have posted the basic recipe below, plus add-ins for three flavor variations (Jalapeño Cilantro, Roasted Red Pepper, and Parsley Scallion). I’ve also garnished my “original” flavor with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of paprika and a few whole chickpeas. All of that is completely optional.

How to Use Hummus

Hummus is great to keep in your fridge to eat as a snack with some pita bread, naan, vegetables, or chips, but it also makes a great spread for sandwiches, wraps, and loaded flatbreads. It has a really great richness and adds moisture so I find that it makes a great substitute for mayo or cheese. I also love adding hummus to scrambled eggs, using it in place of a pasta sauce, or even as an addition to pizza!

How Long Does Homemade Hummus Last?

Homemade hummus will stay good in your refrigerator for about 5 days. Unlike some store bought hummuses, homemade hummus does not contain any preservatives, so you’ll want to only make the amount you can eat within a five day time frame.

Can I Substitute the Tahini?

I strongly advise against substituting tahini in hummus. While many people substitute either peanut butter or almond butter for the tahini, they have very different flavors from tahini and this will definitely change the final flavor of your hummus. To get that true authentic hummus flavor, you definitely need to use tahini.

Can I Make Hummus in a Blender?

While you can make homemade hummus with some of the more powerful blenders available on the market (like Blentec or Vitamix), it might be too thick for many blenders to handle. I suggest using a food processor to make your hummus. You don’t need a heavy duty, expensive food processor, though. The Hamilton Beach model I use is fairly inexpensive for a food processor and is a total beast. I love it. 

Close up of pita bread being dipped into Homemade Hummus
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Homemade Hummus

4.98 from 36 votes
You only need a few simple ingredients to make the BEST homemade hummus! Plus four extra hummus flavors to try.
Homemade hummus is quick, easy, and inexpensive, and can be made with several different flavor add-ins. Here are four delicious flavors to try. BudgetBytes.com
Servings 6 (1/4 cup each)
Prep 5 minutes
Total 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 15oz. can chickpeas* ($0.79)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice ($0.182)
  • 1/4 cup tahini ($0.85)
  • 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
  • 1/2 tsp salt ($0.05)
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin ($0.03)

Instructions 

  • Drain the chickpeas. Place the drained chickpeas in a food processor along with the olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt, and cumin.
  • Pulse the mixture until it is fairly smooth. If the mixture is too dry to process smoothly, add a couple tablespoons of water, extra olive oil, or liquid from the canned chickpeas.
  • Taste the hummus and adjust the salt, cumin, lemon, or garlic to your liking.

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Notes

*About 1.75-2 cups chickpeas
** Try using roasted garlic instead of fresh for a more mellow flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 201.53kcalCarbohydrates: 18.55gProtein: 7.4gFat: 11.5gSodium: 371.85mgFiber: 5.92g
Read our full nutrition disclaimer here.
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!

Bowl of Homemade Hummus garnished with chickpeas, olive oil, and paprika.

How to Make The Best Hummus – Step by Step Photos

Tahini in jar

Let’s start by taking a closer look at tahini. Tahini is like peanut butter but made with sesame seeds instead of peanuts. It even has a similar texture to natural style peanut butter, but a very different flavor. A flavor which is critical, IMHO, to getting an authentic hummus. Tahini has a slightly nutty, slightly bitter flavor that is totally unique. Some people use peanut butter in its place, but I find their flavors to be vastly different. Tahini is about twice the price of peanut butter, but you’ll only need a small amount at a time and it stays fresh in the refrigerator for quite some time (it may need an occasional stir). You can find tahini in grocery stores either near the peanut butter, near Mediterranean ingredients like olives and artichokes, or in the natural foods aisle.

Process shot of Homemade Hummus from raw ingredients to fully blended.

Drain one 15oz. can of chickpeas and add them to a food processor along with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup tahini, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp ground cumin. Pulse the ingredients until they become smooth. If the mixture is too dry to properly purée, add a couple tablespoons of water, olive oil, or even the drained juice from the canned chickpeas. Taste the hummus and adjust the salt, lemon, garlic, or cumin to your liking. And that’s it! That’s all it takes. You can garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sumac or paprika.

Jalapeño Cilantro Hummus

Process shot of Jalapeño Cilantro Hummus

To make Jalapeño Cilantro Hummus, remove the stem from one jalapeño, slice it lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Add the seeded jalapeño and about 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves to the food processor with your basic hummus and process until smooth. This hummus tastes great with a little extra cumin! You can also try roasting the jalapeños in the oven until soft and blistered for a more subtle flavor (don’t forget to remove the seeds).

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Process shot of Roasted Red Pepper Homemade Hummus

To make Roasted Red Pepper flavored hummus, simply add one to two roasted red pepper to a batch of plain Homemade Hummus and process until smooth. Make sure most of the liquid from the jar is drained from the pepper before adding it to the processor to avoid thinning out the hummus too much. This hummus tastes great with a little smoked paprika added to the mix!

Parsley Scallion Hummus

Process shot of Parsley Scallion Homemade Hummus

For Parsley Scallion Hummus, thinly slice three to four scallions (green onions) and pull about 1/2 cup of parsley leaves from their stems. Add the parsley and scallions to a food processor with a batch of plain hummus and process until smooth. This hummus is great with vegetables, as a sandwich spread, or even as a vegan pasta sauce!

Four flavors of homemade hummus in containers ready for the refrigerator

What is your favorite flavor of Hummus? I might try adding some roasted garlic next!

Pita being dipped into Parsley Scallion Homemade Hummus
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Comments

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  1. I like to cut the lemon juice to 2 tbsp on the basic recipe but homemade hummus has ruined store bought for me.

  2. This recipe looks so easy & sooo much cheaper than 7.00 in the grocery store! Can’t wait to try it.

    1. Delicious and so dang easy! I’m kicking myself for not trying this recipe sooner. Like YEARS sooner. Still, better late to the party than never, I guess. ;-)

  3. These recipes sound amazing I’ve never tried to make hummus before but I’m definitely going to have to try it now.

  4. I made it with dried chicken peas that I soaked over night, cooked, cooled and removed casing. Was good but alot of work with the method I dìd

    1. I always soak my dry peas overnight with whole spices and boil it the next day with salt for about 2-3hours in my pressure cooker. The extra I bottle and justake it out of the fridge when needed. It’s much tastier than the tins ☺️

  5. I made jalapeño cilantro it came out great my friends at work loved thank you this is my go to hummus
    Thank you

  6. I’ve started making this hummus every week and it’s great! I put it on my sandwiches and folks have complimented me on it more than once. Thanks!

  7. I just made your humus recipe and it turned out fantastic! Thank you for posting this recipe! I added a little too much water at the start so I added a little whey protein and a little almond protein powder. Next time I’m going to completely drain the garbanzos.

  8. I used the perfectly simple hummus recipe here. Any add ins, any extra Mediterrean spkces for how I used the hummus would not have worked.

    Hummus
    Pico de gallo
    Jicama slices

    Perfecto. Vegetarian no-grain nachos.

  9. Made the basic recipe and it was so delicious. I tweaked it a little to get it to the perfect consistency/flavor (bit of water, more lemon juice & cumin). It was meant for lunch tomorrow but oops, it was so good I had some of it as a dip with veggie sticks straight away. Looking forward to trying some other variations.