houmous recipe

Love smooth houmous? This is the houmous recipe you have been waiting for!

Have you tried following a houmous recipe, but found something not quite right about it? I tried making homemade houmous a couple of times but I didn’t like the texture. That was until I discovered this delicious, smooth and creamy zero waste houmous recipe.

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Why this houmous recipe will help you make houmous with the perfect texture

The secret to houmous with a great texture is to peel the chickpeas! I found this out after reading a houmous recipe on Smitten Kitchen. It does take a little bit of effort to peel chickpeas. But if you do it while watching TV, listening to your favourite podcast or chatting to a friend or family member then it can be quite therapeutic!

How is this a zero waste houmous recipe?

I hate food waste and try to use up leftovers wherever possible. What can you do with the leftover bits from this recipe? And what about the packaging waste? I’ll tell you what to do with them after the recipe.

Houmous recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 can cooked chickpeas
  • 4 tbsp water (can use the chickpea water if you want)
  • 1.5 unwaxed lemons
  • 1 medium sized clove of garlic
  • 3 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (make sure you get the real thing!)
  • 2 tbsp tahini paste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Open a tin of chickpeas, drain the water into a bowl and reserve for later
  2. Peel the chickpeas!  I promise you it makes all the difference and doesn’t take long – around 10-15 minutes. If you are watching your favourite TV programme at the time you will barely notice you are doing it!
  3. Blitz the peeled chickpeas in a food processor. I use a hand held blender with a small bowl attachment which does the job brilliantly.
  4. Once the chickpeas are completely blitzed add water and blend further (or at this point you can just mix with a spoon).  It is important to blitz the chickpeas dry as they don’t seem to grind up as well once wet and you could end up with lumpy bits (which is fine if you like it that way, but not if you want it to be smooth)
  5. Then one after the other (mixing well in between times) add the rest of the ingredients – I usually add the crushed garlic first, then the lemon juice, then the olive oil, then the tahini and then the salt, paprika and pepper.  Adding them gradually ensures that the texture stays smooth.
  6. Once made it can be eaten immediately or stored in the fridge. Use within a few days.

What to do with the leftover bits so that it is a zero waste houmous recipe

Chickpea peelings

Last time I made this houmous recipe I cut up the chickpea peelings with some herb scissors into small bits and added them to a tomato sauce that I made soon after. They are so small and thin that they just disappear. You can also hide them in soups, stews, pies, stock, cakes, bakes and loaves.

Chickpea water – also known as aquafaba

Chickpea water is pretty incredible. You can use it in place of egg whites. It whips up into stiff peaks just like egg whites do, so you can make things like meringue and chocolate mousse with it! It can also be used to make vegan mayonnaise. I would plan to make this houmous recipe with another recipe in mind that can make use of the chickpea water.

Lemon peel

Lots of recipes call for lemon zest, which is the finely grated outer part of the peel. You can save it for the next time you need it – I recommend freezing as you can grate it frozen. If you want to use it up straight away, pop it in hot water after squeezing out the last dregs of juice and have a lemon peel tea. You could also add it into some rice while it is cooking to give it a lemony flavour.

Garlic peel

Usually I would put the peel on the compost, but you can save the peels and mix with other vegetable peels to make stock. Again, freeze the peel until you are ready to use it.

Dealing with the packaging from the houmous recipe ingredients

Put the tin the chickpeas came in, in the recycling. Alternatively you could use it for something e.g. as a pencil tin, or a plant pot. Metal tins can leave rust marks on surfaces. So if you use it as a plant pot, put something underneath it to protect the surface.

Try to source loose lemons and garlic so that there isn’t any packaging. You could even grow your own garlic for next time if you have outside space.

The other ingredients will have come from larger containers and packets and there probably won’t be anything to deal with there. You can reduce costs and packaging by buying some things in bulk. Be careful though if you buy in bulk to avoid food waste. Another way to get products with less packaging is to shop at your local zero waste shop .

Comments

  1. Glad you've cracked it. After I read your post I read a suggestion to try putting apple juice in it instead of water. She said it made it more like shop bought houmous. Might be worth a try?

  2. Zoe

    Thanks Hazel. I'm trying to avoid fruit juices at the moment, but sounds interesting!

  3. Amy

    I have never seen the tip of peeling the chickpeas before and mine has never been the right consistency, so thanks for the tip I am going to give it another go!

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