An Easy Kale and Garlic Hummus Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why doesn't my homemade hummus taste good? ›

Watch the Salt

It's a simple fix, but a little salt is often the answer to the question "How can I make my hummus taste better?" On the flipside, if you end up with over salted hummus, make a quick second batch, unsalted, and combine the two batches, adjusting the seasoning as needed.

Next, enhance the blank slate of flavor with a few squeezes of lemon juice, a sprinkling of garlic salt, a turn of freshly cracked pepper, a heavy-handed sprinkle of paprika, and a generous drizzle of your nicest olive oil. Bonus points if you have an herby olive oil on hand with a little color to it.

If you've already made a batch and it's bitter, instead of throwing it out, just double the quantities of all of the other ingredients to dilute the flavour a bit… Don't worry you can freeze half if it's too much.

Freshness: The Homemade Advantage

By using freshly cooked chickpeas, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and top-notch tahini, you're guaranteed a hummus that bursts with flavor. On the other hand, store-bought hummus, while convenient, often lacks the same level of freshness.

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!

Dried chickpeas provide better flavor than canned. Overcooking the chickpeas in water with baking soda makes them easier to blend. Puréeing the chickpeas while they're still hot lets you use a blender instead of a food processor for smoother texture.

If you feel adventurous, try replacing the tahini with an equal amount of peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, Greek yogurt, chopped roasted peppers, pitted olives, roasted beets, steamed sweet potato, avocado, or thawed frozen peas, to name just a few possibilities.

If your Hummus tastes bland, start by adding more salt. You can also add more lemon juice or garlic, or stir in some fresh herbs, spices, roasted peppers, and more (see below for more tips).

Baking soda: Adding baking soda to the chickpeas helps make the legume easier to digest, softer, and makes them easy to peel. Don't skip this ingredient! Lemon juice: I never suggest using pre-bottled lemon juice, but I especially urge you not to in homemade hummus.

It tastes bad - the amount of lemon and tahini is off. It has preservatives and it has ingredients that are unnecessary (like salt), it uses soy bean oil, and other stuff like locust bean gum that I'm guessing is added for a smoother texture.

Does hummus need cumin? ›

But this dip is also flexible: cumin and pimentón are optional, as are herbs or blends like za'atar.

Spices mask bitter flavors, so don't be shy. Add some spicy peppers or powders to your cooking, or sprinkle some onto your dishes for a little bit of extra heat. Black pepper in particular has compounds that counteract bitterness. Some other great spices include cayenne, red pepper, paprika, and chili powder.

Hummus is cheaper and more delicious when it's homemade—and you don't need a recipe (or chickpeas!) to make it. All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. I've bought too many tubs of sub-par hummus and I've decided it's time to stop.

Once the dip is left open and unrefrigerated, it is exposed to various bacteria and microbes that may accelerate its spoilage, and it does go bad if left out for too long.. If you plan to store some for later, it is best to minimize the amount of time it spends unrefrigerated, and try to keep it free of contamination.

You may be using poor quality olive oil, compared to what they use in restaurants. You might be using a different variety of cumin. I have noticed a difference between Indian cumin and the cumin you usually get in typical western grocery stores. You might not be using enough oil.

A simple touch of fresh chopped green onions, chives, parsley, rosemary or dill is another brilliant way to add more flavor to your hummus.