Homemade Hummus: Classic and Roasted Red Pepper

Short answer: Blend 1/4 cup tahini with 3 tablespoons lemon juice until pale, add a garlic clove, cumin and salt, then a drained 15-ounce can of chickpeas. Stream in 2 to 4 tablespoons of ice water until it's smooth. It takes about 10 minutes and makes roughly 1 3/4 cups. For roasted red pepper hummus, blend in 3/4 cup jarred peppers.

Homemade hummus is mostly a food processor job. There's no cooking if you start with canned chickpeas, and the whole thing is done in the time it takes to wash the processor bowl. Make the classic version first, then try the red pepper one, which is sweeter and a little smoky.

Like every recipe here, this one was developed by Michael Gonzales from standard ratios. The full ingredient list, steps and nutrition estimate are in the recipe card below.

What you need

A food processor gives the smoothest result. A standard-size bowl is plenty for one batch, and a mini one also works if you scrape it down often. A high-speed blender works too, but it usually needs a little more liquid to keep things moving.

The other thing worth getting right is the tahini, a paste of ground sesame seeds. Look for a jar that lists only sesame seeds, and stir it well before measuring, since the oil separates and rises to the top. A runny, well-stirred tahini blends far more easily than the thick stuff from the bottom of an old jar.

How do you make hummus smooth and creamy?

Blend the tahini and lemon juice first, then add the chickpeas, then thin it with ice water. That order matters. Whipping the tahini and lemon on their own turns them pale and thick, and the chickpeas blend into that base more evenly than they would into a dry bowl.

• Give it time. Two full minutes of blending after the chickpeas go in makes a bigger difference than any trick.
• Use ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until it looks creamy. Stop when it's slightly looser than you want; it firms up in the fridge.
• Peel the chickpeas if you want it extra smooth. Pinch each one and the skin slides off. It's slow, so it's optional.
• Scrape the bowl. Stop and push everything down at least twice.

Classic or roasted red pepper: what changes?

Only three things. For the red pepper version, add 3/4 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry, along with the chickpeas, and blend in 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika. Then cut the ice water to 1 tablespoon, because the peppers bring their own moisture.

The red pepper batch comes out at about 2 cups, so the same can stretches to about eight 1/4-cup servings.

Can you make hummus with dried chickpeas?

Yes. It takes longer, but you decide how soft the chickpeas get. You'll need about 3/4 cup of dried chickpeas to get the 1 1/2 cups of cooked ones this recipe uses, since USA Pulses says half a cup of dry makes about a cup cooked [2].

Soak them first, either overnight in 3 cups of cold water per cup of chickpeas, or with USA Pulses' quick soak: boil for 2 minutes, then cover and let them stand for an hour [2]. Simmer the drained chickpeas in fresh water, 3 cups per cup, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours [2]. For hummus, cook them until they're very soft and mash easily between two fingers.

In a pressure cooker, USA Pulses suggests 17 to 18 minutes at high pressure for soaked chickpeas you plan to turn into hummus, then a 15-minute natural release [2].

Save a little of the cooking liquid. It works in place of the ice water and adds more chickpea flavor.

How long does homemade hummus last?

Three to four days in the fridge, in a covered container. That's the window USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service gives for refrigerated leftovers, and FSIS also says not to leave perishable food at room temperature for more than 2 hours [3]. On a party table, put out a small bowl and refill it from the fridge rather than leaving the whole batch out all afternoon.

One allergy note: tahini is ground sesame. Sesame has been the ninth major food allergen in the U.S. since January 1, 2023, under the FASTER Act, FDA says [4], so mention it if you're bringing hummus to share.

What to eat with hummus

The obvious answers are good ones: warm pita, crackers, carrots, cucumber, bell pepper strips and snap peas. It also works as a spread in wraps and sandwiches, and a spoonful on a grain bowl doubles as a quick dressing.

If you like chickpeas as much as we do, try our chickpea salad sandwich or chickpea curry with coconut milk. There are more on our chickpea recipes page and our lunch recipes page.

Nutrition estimate

A 1/4-cup serving of the classic version comes out to about 140 calories, 4 g protein, 9 g fat, 11 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber and 250 mg sodium, including the olive oil drizzle. We worked that out from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient [1].

For the red pepper version, the peppers add only about 20 calories to the whole batch. Jarred peppers vary a lot in sodium, though. Using USDA's value for canned red peppers, 3/4 cup adds about 1,400 mg to the batch, or roughly 180 mg per 1/4 cup, so check the label on your jar if you track it.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy: chickpeas, mature seeds, canned, drained, rinsed in tap water (FDC ID 173801); tahini, from roasted and toasted kernels (170189); lemon juice, raw (167747); garlic, raw (169230); oil, olive, salad or cooking (171413); spices, cumin seed (170923); salt, table (173468); peppers, sweet, red, canned, solids and liquids (168546). Accessed October 20, 2026.
2. USA Pulses (USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council). How to Cook Dry Pulses. Accessed October 20, 2026.
3. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Leftovers and Food Safety.
4. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Allergies.

Photo: Delicious homemade hummus on cutting board by Lidya Kohen, via Pexels (Pexels license).