The Best Hummus
Learn how to make the best homemade hummus! It's ultra creamy, dreamy and light. This hummus recipe is easy to make, too—no need to peel your chickpeas!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
The best hummus is lusciously creamy, yet somehow light and fluffy. It’s beautifully smooth and swirled, and begging to be scooped up onto a wedge of pita bread. It’s nutty and tangy, thanks to the tahini, with notes of bright, fresh lemon and mellow garlic.
I encountered the most delicious hummus at Aladdin Cafe, a local Mediterranean restaurant. That hummus met all of the above characteristics, and I was hoping the owner might enlighten me with his techniques. When I asked, though, he replied, “It’s a secret,” with a sly smile and walked away.
I went home determined to learn how to make magnificently creamy hummus. First, I took the fancy flavorings out of my other hummus recipes to make plain hummus. It was dense, a little gritty, and harshly garlicky. I was so disappointed.
Next, I went to Google and opened up a million tabs to learn everything about hummus. You know me. Ten hummus attempts later, I’m ready to share all of my hummus tips and tricks with you. Get ready to make the best hummus of your life!
The internet at large raves that an Israeli chef named Michael Solomonov makes the very best hummus. It’s so good that Bon Appetit named his hummus their 2015 Dish of the Year. That’s some serious hummus.
Solomonov’s secret? He uses chickpeas that have been cooked until they’re so tender, they’re mushy.
He cooks his chickpeas with some baking soda, too. According to Bon Appetit, baking soda “raises the pH of the water and helps the little guys break down to a soft, pulpy mass… perfect for an ultra-smooth purée.”
Overcooked chickpeas seemed like a promising idea to me. You see, I once tried to make hummus with canned chickpeas that were oddly undercooked, and they made terrible hummus. No matter how long I blended the hummus, those undercooked chickpeas never blended into creamy oblivion.
Plus, baking soda helps break down the chickpea skins, which means you do not need to peel off the skins individually. Who has time for that?! I bet you don’t have time to soak your chickpeas overnight and cook them from scratch like Solomonov, either.
Here’s my time-saving solution: Just boil canned or leftover cooked chickpeas with baking soda for twenty minutes.
You can see the difference that baking soda makes in the photo below. See how the chickpeas on the right are popping open more? They are significantly softer in texture as well.
The chickpeas are ready to go after a quick rinse under cool running water, which rinses off the baking soda flavor and cools the chickpeas so your hummus doesn’t develop a weird outer film.
Are you as excited about this as I am? You can have this incredible hummus now-ish, not tomorrow! No chickpea peeling required.
I have a few more tips and techniques to making great hummus, so read on or scroll down for the full recipe and variations.
How to Make the Best Hummus
1) Mushy chickpeas
Cook canned or leftover cooked chickpeas according to step 1 below. This only adds 20 minutes to your hummus-making time, and it’s my number one tip for making perfect hummus at home.
Want to cook your chickpeas from scratch? You sure can—see the recipe notes.
Can you over-cook your chickpeas in an Instant Pot? I don’t recommend it—you’ll end up with a mess of chickpea mash clogging your vent and a puddle of chickpea cooking water surrounding your Instant Pot. I speak from experience.
2) Great tahini
All tahini is not created equally. When I was in Israel, Israelis’s spoke of tahini, or “t’hina,” with reverence. I learned that the best tahini comes from Ethiopia. Store-bought tahini in the U.S. varies widely in flavor, with some of them so bad that they’ve ruined my hummus.
My favorite brands of tahini? I had to try Solomonov’s favorite, Soom. I found it on Amazon (affiliate link) and I have to say that it is worth it. Second favorite? Trader Joe’s organic tahini, which is made from Ethiopian sesame seeds like Soom’s. Whole Foods 365 used to be my go-to, but I encountered a few bad jars that tasted so bad, I’m afraid to try again.
Don’t skimp on the tahini, either—you need to use 1/2 cup tahini per can of chickpeas for rich and irresistible hummus. I once toured an enormous hummus production facility and learned that they often reduce the cost of producing store-bought hummus by using less tahini. Sneaky!
3) Ice-cold water
Why do you always want to mix ice-cold water with tahini? This is another trick that I learned on my trip. I can’t find a scientific explanation, but it seems to help make the hummus light and fluffy, and lightens the color of the tahini to a pale ivory color.
4) Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Store-bought lemon juice always tastes stale and sad, and it will make your hummus taste stale and sad. Buy lemons and your humus will taste fresh and delicious. I almost always add another tablespoon of lemon juice to my hummus for extra flavor before I plate it, but I’ll leave the tang factor up to you.
5) Garlic, mellowed in lemon juice
This is another trick from Solomonov—if you mince the garlic in the food processor or blender with the lemon juice and let that mixture rest for a few minutes, the garlic will lose its harsh, raw bite and mellow out. I tried it before and after, and he’s right! Here’s Serious Eats’ scientific explanation for why this works.
6) Olive oil, blended into the hummus and drizzled on top
Solomonov doesn’t blend any olive oil into his hummus, but I think that one tablespoon makes the hummus taste even more luxurious and creamy. I recommend it!
7) Ground cumin
The cumin is subtle and offers some “Je ne sais quoi,” if you will. It’s a common ingredient in plain hummus recipes, and makes the hummus taste a little more special.
Hummus Variations
This hummus recipe is plain (and by plain, I mean delicious), but you can blend any of the following in with the chickpeas to make variations.
- Green goddess hummus: 3/4 cup loosely packed fresh, leafy herbs
- Kalamata olive hummus: 3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives
- Roasted garlic hummus: Cloves from 1 to 2 heads of roasted garlic
- Roasted red pepper hummus: 3/4 cup roasted red peppers, drained and sliced into strips
- Sun-dried tomato hummus: 3/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and drained (from one 6.7-ounce jar)
- Toasted sesame hummus: 1/2 teaspoon in the hummus, plus 1 teaspoon drizzled on top
Hummus Garnishes
- Drizzle of olive oil
- Sprinkle of ground sumac, which is gloriously sour and deep pink, or paprika, which is basically flavorless but offers a splash of color
- Sesame seeds or seeded spice blend, such as dukkah
- Middle Eastern hot sauce, such as zhoug or shatta
- Chopped fresh parsley
Ok, let’s make some hummus! I’m dying to hear how this hummus turns out for you. Please let me know in the comments and tell me if overcooking your chickpeas makes all the difference!
You can also share a photo of your results on Instagram with the hashtag #cookieandkate so we can all see your results.
Watch How to Make Hummus
Best Hummus
Learn how to make the best homemade hummus! It’s creamy, dreamy and light. This hummus recipe is easy to make—no peeling chickpeas or overnight soak required. Recipe yields about 2 cups.
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (if you’re using canned chickpeas)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (from 1 ½ to 2 lemons), more to taste
- 1 medium-to-large clove garlic, roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- ½ cup tahini
- 2 to 4 tablespoons ice water, more as needed
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Any of the following garnishes: drizzle of olive oil or zhoug sauce, sprinkle of ground sumac or paprika, chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place the chickpeas in a medium saucepan and add the baking soda. Cover the chickpeas by several inches of water, then bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Continue boiling, reducing heat if necessary to prevent overflow, for about 20 minutes, or until the chickpeas look bloated, their skins are falling off, and they’re quite soft. In a fine-mesh strainer, drain the chickpeas and run cool water over them for about 30 seconds. Set aside (no need to peel the chickpeas for this recipe!).
- Meanwhile, in a food processor or high-powered blender, combine the lemon juice, garlic and salt. Process until the garlic is very finely chopped, then let the mixture rest so the garlic flavor can mellow, ideally 10 minutes or longer.
- Add the tahini to the food processor and blend until the mixture is thick and creamy, stopping to scrape down any tahini stuck to the sides and bottom of the processor as necessary.
- While running the food processor, drizzle in 2 tablespoons ice water. Scrape down the food processor, and blend until the mixture is ultra smooth, pale and creamy. (If your tahini was extra-thick to begin with, you might need to add 1 to 2 tablespoons more ice water.)
- Add the cumin and the drained, over-cooked chickpeas to the food processor. While blending, drizzle in the olive oil. Blend until the mixture is super smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor as necessary, about 2 minutes. Add more ice water by the tablespoon if necessary to achieve a super creamy texture.
- Taste, and adjust as necessary—I almost always add another ¼ teaspoon salt for more overall flavor and another tablespoon of lemon juice for extra zing.
- Scrape the hummus into a serving bowl or platter, and use a spoon to create nice swooshes on top. Top with garnishes of your choice, and serve. Leftover hummus keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 1 week.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Michael Solomonov, via The New York Times and Bon Appetit, and Yotam Ottolenghi.
How to cook dry chickpeas in a hurry for this recipe: In a large saucepan, combine 5 ounces (¾ cup) dried chickpeas and ½ teaspoon baking soda, and fill the pot with water. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat and skim off the surface foam as needed. Continue boiling over medium-high, adding more water if you start running out, until the chickpeas are very mushy and falling apart, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Drain in a fine-mesh colander, rinse under cool running water, and drain well before using. Start the recipe at step 2.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Can’t believe how good this is – honestly the best hummus I’ve ever had! So so wonderfully creamy and perfect balance of flavours – can’t get enough.
Liked your recipe, I do wonder though: I always have to add a lot of water for it to become creamy and I am not sure why.
I am using a hand blender btw. – could that be the problem?
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. Do you find the chickpeas are breaking up well and becoming smooth? Are you following the baking soda directions?
This was the BEST Hummus I have ever made!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe “)
Eating it off a spoon right from the food processor. So yummy and creamy!
The title doesn’t lie, this really is the best hummus I’ve ever had! I’ll never buy storebought again. Thanks so much Kate!
You’re welcome, Shannon!
A winner! Thank you for sharing.
This hummus recipe is EVERYTHING. Yes there are extra steps… but it’s worth it. The hummus came out better than I’ve had at any restaurant. So smooth and creamy, flavor was perfect. Thank you so much!
This is an amazing recipe! I have now made perfect hummus. Thank you so much for sharing!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Karen.
Thank you. It was delicious. Mine however came out runny. Did I add too much water? I followed the recipe both times. Maybe only 1-2 Tbs of water? Then I looked at the sieve. I have a sieve where the holes are a little smaller. I wonder if half my boiled hummus went down the drain. I am going to use the smaller sieve and 2 cans chickpeas.
I loved the taste. I’ll keep trying to get mine to desired consistency.
I added more sea salt and a small pinch of cayenne pepper in a double recipe. It’s creamy and delicious. It is fresher and better than any store bought for sure, I am now spoiled! Loved it! Thank you Cookie and Kate~
You’re welcome, Candace!
Cooking chick pees made all the difference !!!
Love the way the lemon toned down sharpness of garlic too! This is a 10!!!
This is Perfection. So subtle and creamy. Waaaaay better than the recipe I was using and absolutely no comparison to what’s available in the store. I used whatever tahini I had in my fridge and it was still fantastic. I look forward to trying it again with the good stuff! Thank you :-)
I’m happy you enjoyed it!
I went in thinking that it was gonna taste like every other hummus, too lemony, an after taste, boy was I wrong!!!! I recommend everyone to try this recipe. So smooth and creamy! Hands down the best hummus i have ever tasted, homemade and store bought!!
I added more sea salt and a small pinch of cayenne pepper in a double recipe. I decreased the tahini in 1/2. It’s creamy and delicious. It is fresher and better than any store bought for sure, I am now spoiled! Loved it! Thank you Cookie and Kate~
You’re welcome, Candace!
Oh my glorious happy day! This hummus is everything I ever wanted and my family lost their minds over it. Honestly THE BEST.
Thank you!
–Anne
Love, love, love this hummus!
Yeah, this is the winner. I’ve made it now 4-5 times and I just can’t get over how perfect it turns out. You are brilliant. Thank you for sharing this with us!
You’re welcome, Sarah!
About my 3rd or 4th time making this and every time in my Vitamix (it was one of the first things I made in it too) this hummus is so good! I’ll never eat store bought hummus again, for the extra few minutes of cooking the chickpeas it’s so worth it! Thanks for the recipe!
delicious
I work for an Israeli company and travel to Tel Aviv 1-2x per year. My first stop after landing is always the beach to have hummus. I have always been super apprehensive to make my own, as it is never as good as what I get in ISR. I am blown away by how easy and how authentic this recipe is! Thank you for sharing, it will definitely be my go-to recipe going forward!! .
Hooray! I’m excited you find this one authentic, Shelby. I appreciate your review!
From Selebi Phikwe in Botswana.
Just made your hummus and it is delicious, have some guests coming round (will comply with protocols) later and will serve it as a snack.
John
Not much impresses me at 60, but this recipe is the best hummus recipe I have ever tried. Thank you, thank you, ten thousand times!
Anyone doubting this recipe doesn’t deserve the simple pleasure it, and a warmer Pita, will bring to your life.
BTW, I doubled the lemon juice and salt as you suggested and I will never, ever need another hummus recipe.
I’m glad this one impressed you, Hugh!
WOW!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe is AMAZING even the middle schooler will eat it :)
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Lia. Thank you for your review.
Thank you for this recipe. It is SO good! Tempering the garlic with lemon juice makes a huge difference. And the mushy chickpeas come out so light an fluffy. I’ll be making this recipe often.
it turned out excellent! Thank you :))
I had been realizing that hummus is not as good as it should be. Went to a Lebanese cafe and their hummus was light soft and creamy.
Your recipe had exactly the tips to avoid the pasty and grainy dip that is ubiquitous.
Thank you so much,
Another way to use the baking soda trick is to add it when doing the first soak. I’ve cooked chick peas with baking soda and found that it gets very, very foamy, but soaking the chick peas for a few hours, with baking soda, thoroughly rinsing and then cooking the chick peas until soft, worked well.
Otherwise I followed your recipe exactly and it was smooth and excellent! Bookmarked!
Thank you for your recipe, Kate!! Fantastic… really saved me from the cravings of my lovely 8 months pregnant wife.
Congratulations! I’m glad you loved it, Abe.
Muchas gracias se ve delicioso y claro que lo haré, me gusta cocinar y aprender. Bendiciones
Thank you for the recipe and helpful tips, the hummus was delicious! If cooking your own chick peas, another way to soften the skins is to cook them in a pot with a piece of potato.
The best hummus recipe I’ve ever made! Cooking the chickpeas makes it so much better! Thank you for sharing!!!!!
You’re welcome, Missy!
After boiling the canned chick peas, the skins peel away and are very soft….do you use the skins as well in the recipe?
Thank you!
Hi! You can use the skins.
Hi! Well I made the hummus BEFORE I received your reply….and, I did use the skins! The hummus was creamy and light….just fabulous!
I followed your instructions to the letter…letting the garlic and lemon juice sit, etc…added the ice cold water…
Best hummus ….
Thank you!
I don’t usully leave reviews but I had to let you know this is THE BEST hummus I have ever made, (had given up after all attempts were awful). I made with dried chickpeas and found I had to cook them a bit longer (about 1 3/4 hours). Love your recipes and have now subscribed to the newsletter. Keep up the good work!
I’m so glad you did, Felicity! Thank you for taking the time to review.
As good as advertised! Our first time, turned out great.
Hi there,
Just finished making your recipe for Hummus! Fabulous! Thanks SO MUCH! Super smooth, creamy and lovely!
Hi. Just a quick question. I am making the falafel recipe so I just added another cup of peas to that and soaked them. Where do I start off in this recipe.
Thanks.
Hi Sheri, I’m not sure your question. Send me an email to hello@cookieandkate.com with more detail and I will see if I can help!
Oh my goodness! So easy to make and came out ao delicious. Thank you for aharing your recipe.
Thank you, Roxanne!
This is the PERFECT hummus recipe! I never bothered making hummus at home because peeling chickpeas is very time-consuming. This recipe tastes so fresh and has the creamiest texture. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I agree – this is the BEST hummus I’ve ever eaten. Friends and family say the same!! One question on nutritional value listed – I can’t seem to get to the same numbers as you. When I input the ingredients into my calorie tracker, it’s coming up with 239 calories per serving. I’m entering in 8 servings for the recipe. Please advise! :-)
Hi Christine, thank you for your review! For the nutrition, you can find more information here in my Nutrition Disclaimer. They are estimates, although I do my best to get them accurate. Individual inputs can vary.
So smoooooth! Great recipe and thanks for the tip on tahini brands. Bought a Tahini brand at the grocery store which was fine. But, Soom was way better in taste test!
Thank you for your review, David!
Just made your hummus. It takes me back to my time in Sierra Leone, some of the best hummus I ever had. Love the recipe. Thank you!!
I am new to the world of chickpeas and always thought store-bought hummus was “meh”. I am that person who needs to dip my veggies in something and was looking for a healthy and tasty option. Thought I would try making my own hummus and came across this recipe. It turned out super creamy and totally delicious! I ate the whole batch in 5 days and am making another batch to share with my sister this week. I will NEVER eat store-bought hummus again. Thank you for changing my mind about hummus with this recipe!!
Hooray! I’m excited you enjoyed them, Amy.
WOW! This is seriously the best hummus I’ve ever made. It’s so creamy and delicious. It tastes like what you’d get at a really good restaurant.
My husband is Syrian and to say hummus is a dietary staple over there is an understatement. Your hummus is so close to the middle eastern version that you have made me one praised wife. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad it got his stamp of approval.
Love this recipe and your passion to find out how to make the best hummus! I am tempted not to share this with anyone lol!
Made this last night to have under a ground lamb recipe and it was perfection. So easy to com together and absolutely delicious consistency and flavor. This will be my go-to hummus recipe!
This was the best hummus recipe I have ever made. It’s the recipe that I’ve been searching for! Thank you Kate
You’re welcome, Susan!
great hummus! would like to mention that hummus is a middle eastern dish originating from the Levant or Egypt; although it is not evident who created it, it certainly isn’t Israeli. Israel has only adopted it as a common food when it stole the Palestinian land (Palestine – a country and part of the Levant) and occupied its entirety.
Ah-mazing!!!
this really is creamy