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Created on August 21, 2026
Allergens: Sesame seeds.From the ingredient list, against Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Always check the labels of the products you use.
Most hummus fails for the same reason: not enough tahini. Two spoonfuls go in, olive oil makes up the difference, and you end up with an oily chickpea purée instead of a cream. In the Levant, tahini accounts for between a quarter and a third of the weight of the chickpeas. That is the secret, and there is no other.
The two other details are temperature — chickpeas still warm blend infinitely better — and iced water, which whitens the paste and makes it swell at the end of the blending. Nothing complicated, but nothing obvious either.
Sesame, from the people who sell it
Hummus is chickpea and sesame. The chickpea provides the substance, the sesame provides the taste and the texture — it is close to half fat by weight, and that oil is what emulsifies the whole thing. Hummus without tahini is not a lighter hummus: it is something else.
Our sesame is whole, with its husk. It gives a darker tahini, slightly more bitter than the very pale industrial pastes made from hulled seeds. For hummus that faint bitterness is an asset: it is what keeps the dish from being flat, and the lemon balances it.
Make your own tahini if you can. The taste bears no relation to a jar opened three months ago, and it takes only ten minutes in a processor: see our homemade tahini recipe. A shop-bought jar works — stir it well first, the oil always rises.
Sesame is one of the fourteen allergens that must be declared. In a hummus, where it is invisible but massively present, that is worth mentioning to your guests.
The ingredients
For 500 g of hummus, 6 portions:
- 250 g cooked chickpeas, drained and still warm
- 80 g tahini, homemade for preference — made from organic sesame seeds
- 40 g freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 60 g iced water
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 g cumin seeds, ground
- 4 g salt
- 15 g extra virgin olive oil, to serve
The recipe, step by step
- Make the sauce first. Blend the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt on their own for thirty seconds. The mixture will thicken abruptly and turn pale: that is normal, and exactly what you want.
- Add the warm chickpeas and the cumin. Blend two minutes without stopping.
- Pour in the iced water in a thin stream with the machine running, and let it run three minutes more. The paste will lighten and gain volume. That is the cold doing its work.
- Taste and adjust. Too thick: a spoonful of water. Flat: salt first, then lemon, in that order.
- Rest for thirty minutes in the fridge before serving. Raw garlic needs that time to settle into the whole.
- Serve spread in a spiral with the back of a spoon, olive oil poured into the groove.
The little extra
Blend the tahini and lemon on their own, before anything else. This is the move that separates a decent hummus from a restaurant one, and almost nobody does it. Tahini alone, whipped with an acid, emulsifies and turns into a white, airy cream; thrown in at the same time as the chickpeas, it stays a heavy paste.
Second thing, if you want to go all the way: peel the chickpeas. It is tedious — ten minutes rubbing them in a cloth — and the result is incomparably fine. Save it for the occasions that deserve it.
What to swap
- The tahini → nothing. It is the ingredient that defines the dish. With almond butter you will make something good, but it will not be hummus.
- The lemon juice → cider vinegar, reduced by a third. Less fragrant, but the acidity is there, and that is what matters for the emulsion.
- Raw garlic → a confit or roasted clove, far gentler, for anyone who digests it badly.
- Jarred chickpeas → perfectly good, provided you reheat them. Rinse and give them two minutes in barely simmering water before blending.
Keeping and making ahead
In the fridge: 4 days in a sealed jar, with a film of olive oil on top to stop it crusting. It thickens on standing: loosen with a spoonful of water.
In the freezer: 3 months, and it copes very well. Thaw in the fridge, then whisk hard with a trickle of water to bring the texture back.
What can be done the day before: everything but the plating. Hummus is better the next day, once the garlic has calmed down.
Equipment
A processor with an S-blade, as for the tahini. A stick blender works but gives a coarser texture: the wide bowl lets the paste circulate, which is the whole question here.
Nutrition
Nutrition declaration
| Per 100 g | Per serving (76 g) | Total for 6 servings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 227 kcal | 173 kcal | 1,035 kcal |
| Fat | 14 g | 11 g | 66 g |
| of which saturates | 2.1 g | 1.6 g | 9.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g | 9.7 g | 58 g |
| of which sugars | 0.5 g | 0.4 g | 2.3 g |
| of which polyols * | 0.3 g | 0.2 g | 1.3 g |
| Fibre | 5.9 g | 4.5 g | 27 g |
| Protein | 7.8 g | 6.0 g | 36 g |
| Salt | 0.91 g | 0.69 g | 4.15 g |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
If you change the number of servings above, only the last column moves — and that is right: doubling the recipe doubles the cake, not the slice. The first two columns describe the cake itself; they do not depend on how many people are eating.
Values calculated from the ingredients, for 6 servings, allowing for about 0 % evaporation during cooking. They are no substitute for a laboratory analysis and vary with the brands used.
* The reference data do not give every value for Tahin ou purée de sésame, Jus de citron, fait maison. Rows marked with an asterisk are therefore minimums: the true figure is equal to or higher than the one shown. A low value declared as such beats a false zero.
Composition source: Ciqual 2025, ANSES (Licence Ouverte / Open Licence (Etalab)).
This composition qualifies as: Source of protein · Source of fibre · Low sugars · Sugars-free.
Wordings authorised by Regulation (EU) No 432/2012; thresholds from Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.
What these figures say. Hummus is a dish of pulse and oilseed: its fat comes almost entirely from the sesame, and is very largely unsaturated. That is what sets it apart from an industrial spread, where the fat is added as cheap oil and thickened water.
Frequently asked questions
My hummus is gritty, what can I do?
Two causes: cold chickpeas, or too short a blend. Five minutes in total is the minimum, and the chickpeas must be warm.
It is bitter, why?
The tahini. Either it has gone rancid, or the seeds were toasted too far. Taste it on its own before using it: bitter tahini will always give bitter hummus.
Can I use less oil?
The oil for serving, yes, with nothing lost. The tahini, no: that is not added oil, it is the structure of the dish.
Why iced water rather than tap water?
Cold, meeting a paste warmed by the machine, makes the emulsion swell. With lukewarm water the hummus stays dense and greyish. You can see it with the naked eye.
The products in this recipe
What to try next
- Homemade tahini — to make first, and it changes everything.
- Dried mango and ginger chutney — a spoonful beside the hummus, on the same plate.
- Cashew chicken with ginger and sesame — sesame with the seeds left whole.
