Ah hummus! The classic Mediterranean staple dip (and staple of many vegan sandwich lovers). I usually always make my own hummus at home as the store-bought ones are #1 usually expensive for the amount you get, and #2 have a lot of oil and salt in them and make each tablespoon higher calorie than necessary.
Hummus is basically cooked chickpeas, pureed with tahini (sesame seed butter), garlic, lemon, salt and sometimes olive oil. Babaghanoush (Eggplant Hummus) is very similar but it has roasted eggplant in it for a slightly different flavour. If you’ve never seen tahini before it’s generally in the nut butter/peanut butter section of the health food store, or some grocery stores. Tahini also available at ethnic markets and Indian and Middle Eastern stores. You can also find tahini on Amazon.
If you’ve made your own homemade hummus before you probably use olive oil in it too, but I want to show you a way to make a much lower fat hummus that is great if you REALLY like hummus and put it on everything. This way you’ll cut out excess calories you won’t even miss and still get that delicious creamy hummus flavour.
So I got into the kitchen and made this chickpea hummus using canned chickpeas, as that’s what most of you are going to do. (I use the salt free variety.) BUT you are more than welcome to use fresh cooked chickpeas. I prefer them and cook them with some kombu (seaweed) and bay leaves to give them a delicious flavour.
If you’re into really decadent high fat dips, you should try switching to my hummus recipe to have a new better for you dip to serve to your friends and family with fresh pita, veggies or chips.
For this recipe you’re going to need a food processor. I use an 8 cup Cuisinart that I bought in Costa Rica (when I lived there) and it’s not a recent model or anything but it does the job. A hand crank food processor will probably not be good enough as this is quite a thick dip. You can get a basic Hamilton Beach food processor fairly cheap on Amazon like this one.
BTW this recipe is featured in my Vegan Comfort Foods From Around the World recipe ebook. So check it out! It’s got over 60 deliciously savory and satisfying recipes you’re going to love!
(Oil-Free) Low Fat Vegan Chickpea Hummus
From Comfort Foods From Around The World
Ingredients:
1 15 oz./425 g can chickpeas (no salt) or 1 3/4 cup of fresh cooked chickpeas
1-2 small cloves of garlic (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 1/2 tbsp filtered water (this is replacing the oil)
3-4 tbsp lemon juice (depending on how lemony you like it)
1 1/2 tbsp tahini (sesame seed butter)
1/4 tsp Herbamare (original) or salt (or none if you are using salted canned chickpeas)
Fresh ground pepper to taste *optional
Directions:
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas (only drain if fresh cooked) and set aside.
- Add the garlic clove(s) to the food processor and pulse until chopped up. Stop the food processor.
- Add the chickpeas, filtered water, lemon juice (start with less and add more if desired) and pulse the chickpeas until they are fairly broken up. Depending on how strong your food processor is when they are broken up you can let it run for a few seconds or just keep pulsing until it’s a little smooth. Stop the food processor. Taste test and add more lemon if desired.
- Add the tahini, Herbamare (if desired) and a little fresh ground pepper. Let it run until everything is creamed up. Taste test and adjust any additional salt, pepper, lemon or water (for consistency). Your hummus should be creamy with no chunks left.
- Serve with veggies, pita or baked chips if desired.
Generally people will not be able to tell there is no oil in this dip. It will be creamy and tangy, it will just seem lighter and fluffier to them. Skipping the oil in recipes is a great way to trim that waist line and satisfy your desire for savory dishes without the guilt!
Do you like hummus? What do you serve it with? Have you ever made oil free hummus before?
I made this hummus it was delicious I will never buy humus from the store again thank you for recipe
Devine!!!!!
I’ve been a vegan for 14 months but still have not used a blender or a food processor. But this is something that a single dad type cook like me can handle. Plus I guess the same idea can be applied to other types of beans. Blend them up with garlic and possibly for pinto’s add onions, etc. I could also experiment with different seeds or nuts too I suppose. I’m going shopping for a small food processor to start trying this blending technique. Thanks !!
Just made this. I didn’t have any tahini, so I followed the advice of one of the commenters, and added 2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds. Food processor is broken, so I used my regular Oster blender and it did the job. Of course the texture isn’t as velvety as store bought, but it’ll do for dipping carrots and spreading on toasted sourdough bread (that’s why I came looking for a hummus recipe: Because of the bargain on the roasted garlic sourdough bread I brought home 😉 It’s in the fridge now, melding its flavors, but I of course tasted and it is DELICIOUS. Low on the garlic for me, and high on the lemon. Mmmmm! I’ll be having some of this for lunch today.
I find it ‘therapeutic’ to sit in front of the tv and take the skin off of each bean. They slide off easily and it doesn’t take long, but it adds to the creaminess of the humus to remove the skins. It reminds me of how my grandmother would sit with a pile of peapods in her lap and remove the peas!
Thank you! I aim for creamy chickpeas and will try this!
I made this yesterday, and it was really good. I hadn’t had hummus in a while, so I’m not sure how it compares to others. I gave some to my mom who eats a lot of hummus, and she said the flavor was spot on, but the texture was a little off. Not sure if that was because there was no oil in it or something, as I liked the texture. Thanks for a great low-fat solution.
I make my hummus with few tablespoons of soya yogurt, chickpeas, sea salt, garlic and lemon juice. I normally let it set in the fridge few hrs be4 eating it. It is really yummy without the tahini or the olive oil as the soya yogurt really makes the hummus creamy.
I love it over a baked sweet potato or a few toasted pitta breads. Enjoy.
That sounds really good, thanks for the tip!
The tahini is oil as far as I’m concerned. It just comes from sesame seeds.
ALL plant foods have naturally occurring oils in them, even leafy greens, fruits and vegetables. This is an added oil-free recipe. Small quantities of nuts and seeds used occasionally in recipes offer necessary health benefits.
I find that very few people enjoy “hummus” when it’s only chickpeas blended with water, lemon, garlic and salt. It’s not very appealing and so I use a small amount of tahini to cream it together and this recipe is still part of a low fat diet.
The entire recipe has 639 Kcal, 91 g carbs, 20 g fat, 30g protein
57% of calories from carbs, 28% from fat, 19% from protein (rough percentages)
2T has about 38 Kcal, 5 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fat, 2 grams of protein,
May I ask what the calorie count per serving is?
Thanks!
I also sometimes use vinegar instead of lemon I always have vinegar and don’t always have a lemon. different flavors of vinegar brighten the flavor and my family prefers vinegar over lemon. Vinegar also keeps it from spoiling as fast. I have had it for a week and it still tasted good one time when the kids went visiting. when they are all home I am lucky if it lasts a day and a half.
Hi Kathy. I talked to my other vegan blogger friend and she uses chickpea flour for her gluten free recipes and she cautioned against using raw chickpea flour like that. Its raw dried chickpeas ground up and is very hard to digest and not supposed to be eaten raw. I would suggest using chickpeas rather than flour for making hummus.
My recipe calls for cooking it. It is very bitter raw and gassy too if it is not cooked. If I have to mash chickpeas we won’t have hummus. I am on disability and cannot afford a blender. Chickpea flour is good for thickening soups and sauces too I use it the same way I would use wheat flour and I wouldn’t use that without cooking.
I use chickpea flour how much should I use. It is much easier on my sore joints to use . I cannot taste any difference. I am on a no added salt sugar or oil diet and it is working very well for me. do you know the amount of garbanzo flour I should use?
I’m sorry. I have no idea. I have never heard of using flour for hummus. I use whole foods like whole chickpeas and blend them. Wouldnt chickpea flour and lemon juice and water be more like a batter/paste consistency? I’m not sure how that would taste.
No it has the same consistency as regular hummus it is just easier on arthritic joints. The flour contains the whole chickpea it is just lacking waster which is added until the consistency is correct. I also love adding the juice from the pickles I made using no salt in recipe. It is such a strong vinegar.
Hi Kathy…yes I know just what you mean about chickpea flour. But I’m wandering if its supposed to be cooked to render the protein digestible? Ive heard it can be toxic if eaten raw???
It’s not toxic, but hard to digest raw
Love your recipes. This one looks great as well. Will try it soon. I often buy the roasted red pepper one at Costco.
Also check out my roasted red pepper hummus recipe, I prefer to make my own than buy them from a store.
I’ve made no oil hummus – recipe from True North – chef Bravo – he used some veg.stock. And used 2T of toasted sesame seeds instead of tahini – its good but I’ll try yours.
I prefer to still use tahini as the sesame seeds are pretty dry and fibrous and don’t cream together as well. When I use my tahini I pour off the excess oil from the jar so it’s lower in fat anyway.
Hi Veronica, Thanks for hummus recipe. I am so excited to make it. Is there substitute for sesame seed butter. Please let me know.
Hi Veronica,
I made this today! Thanks for the recipe! I flavored mine with 2 green chilies 2 pieces of sun dried tomato and fresh basil…YUMMMO 🙂 I will definately making this again! OOOO I also used a garlic scape instead of the garlic, as I got some fresh at the farmer market,
Thanks again
~Jenn
Hi V, love this recipe and make it all the time.
Was wondering…it’s almost impossible to get kombu where I am, as the stores stopped stocking it after Fukushima. Can I use another type of sea-veg when cooking the chick-peas? Which do you think is best and how much should I put in?
I love all the extra tips you give in your Comfort Soups ebook (like how to pressure-cook chickpeas) – do you have any plans to bring it out in real-book format? Would love to get that too:)
You could try wakame. For adding some salt and flavoring I don’t think it would be a big difference if you switched to another type of seaweed. It’s just to add some flavor and take out after cooking.
Vegan Comfort Foods is the first one I’m going to do in print. I want to redo Comfort Soups before considering doing that in print, also as it’s only about 33 recipes I don’t know if it’s big enough to warrant printing as is. I may include more recipes in a print version. Thanks for letting me know you like them so much!
If it is coming out comparitively chunky or grainy it is because the American store ones contain a MUCH higher amount of fat or tahini and processing with Vitamix or immersion blender will help. I make this with no tahini or a few drops of sesame oil; my ex who is Arabic makes it with extra lemon juice in just a blender and says that the real hummus comes that way like his mom’s. 😉
Made it. Absolutely delicious. Added a tsp of Braggs, and a dash of paprika just because. 🙂
Enjoying with yellow bell peppers. Yummy! Thanks Veronica.
P.s. next to make is the squash Mac and cheese.
Thanks for this recipe! I am going to try this in the Vitamix as I don’t have a food processor.
After finding your website, I have switched to a fat-free vegan lifestyle and I am so happy for your many and varied recipes. I just read the article with Chef AJ regarding nuts making vegans fat. Would the tahini fall in that bracked?
Thank you so much.
Hello,
I use very little nuts and tahini in my recipes. Using a little bit like 1-2 tbsp for a whole recipe is an appropriate amount. What is too much is adding cups of nuts or 1/2 cup oil or nut butter to a recipe, then that skews the fat % way too high.
Thanks for the recipe. I have found that roasted garlic adds a much better flavor to the hummus than straight cloves of garlic.
Sure you can do that too. Check out my recipe for oil free Roasted Garlic
made two batches of your Hummus receipe the other day. Both needed about twice the water you indicated to get them very smooth. One I added about a third of a large jalapeno chili andd the other I added more garlic. The one with the jalapeno was almost too hot to eat, but it went quickly on celery. The garlicy one I love to eat on lettuce leaves. Also, when I openned a new container of tahini I found it very separated and had to stir it for about 15 minutes to get it properly recombined…rather unexpected. All in all, I love your receipe and will make it often.
Hi Warren,
Perhaps your chickpeas were more firm for canned beans, or your food processor wasn’t as powerful. I usually don’t have a problem getting it smooth and creamy, add enough liquid to do so.
Also for the tahini and any other nut butter the oil does naturally separate out, honestly I always pour off the excess oil down into the drain so it makes my nut butters lower in fat. And then I just stir with a strong spoon. It’s still find for recipes as usually one does not use tahini on toast, but in recipes instead.
I have been trying to follow the no-oil whole foods approach. Inspired by your recipe above, I found another recipe that is truly oil free and it’s super good. I use Pacific’s Low Sodium Organic veggie broth and Braggs Liquid Amino. I love Bragg’s. U almost don’t even need salt, but Herbamare is awesome. I added some cumin and wow, really good stuff. Thanks for the inspiration!
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (Unsalted)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos or low-sodium tamari
3 tablespoons water or vegetable broth
1 tsp of Herbarmare – optional
Thanks for sharing this recipe Eric. I find that Bragg’s makes me feel very sick though and it does contain MSG so I prefer to use soy sauce or tamari instead of Braggs and don’t use it in recipes. Bragg’s does have sodium as well.
I guess I should read the label better 😉 Thanks for the info.
Well, I don’t have an MSG allergy, but they do say on the Bragg’s site they don’t add sodium or MSG, it’s naturally occurring in their ingredients. As Bragg’s is derived from soybeans, it has small amounts. But with so many things, I am sure people will debate one side or another. BTW, we made your Hearty Veggie Root Stew and loved that too. Thanks for the great recipes!
The author did not mean fat free, which is what I am striving for. Oil/fat in any form is best minimized for weight loss and health.
It is pretty hard to make fat free hummus. Even chickpeas have fat in it. You can make it lower fat with just chickpeas and no tahini, but very few things are truly “fat free” except for sugar.
Veronica,
I’ll add my praise to everyone’s already here. I’ve recently turned my vegan diet in the low/no oil direction (and having great results) – hummus was one of my staples and I thought it would become a delicacy.
Like you, I’ll forget/forgive a tablespoon of tahini in this recipe – even one 440g can will yield enough hummus for me for many days.
My one addition or comment is…. I only have an ‘old style’ upright blender. It works fine to make hummus, but is a bit hard to extract all the goodies and clean afterwards.
Just now, I made the batch in a round bowl and tried my (very cheap and basic) hand blender. I’m delighted by the results, the lack of waste and now almost non-existent clean up.
Thanks for everything on this site – I’m a regular here now, saying hi from sunny Sydney Australia.
I’ve made this and it’s perfect! I like to use it as a salad dressing…a little bit goes a long way.
Hello Veronica. As a Fuhrman fan, this is the recipe I have been looking for. The only problem I have had with making hummus in a food processor is that I cannot get it to come out as creamy as the store brands. Do you have any tips on making this recipe less chunky?
I am confused why your hummus would be chunky. You need to use cooked chickpeas, hopefully thats the case. Second you have to keep processing this recipe until it is creamy smoothe.
Perhaps you need more liquid or time or your processor is low powered and not able to cream it together.
I have made this many times. Add liquid and seasonings to taste and puree until very smoothe.
You can also peel chickpeas !
Thank you for this recipe, it looks fantastic. I’m excited to make it! I was wondering if you could tell me how long it keeps?
anything fresh i recommend eating within 3 days, raw garlic and lemon juice will spoil.
Thank you so much for this recipe Veronica.
I have resisted making hummus as I wanted
to make it with sprouted chickpeas.
With your recipe I will substitute the sprouted
Chickpeas for the cooked and see how it fares.
Warmest wishes,
Margaret (NZ)
Thank you, Veronica for sharing! I have been making oil free hummus for several years and it is awesome. I reserve some plain and then make fun and spicy variations with the rest so that my guests can choose what they like. It is also awesome as a side dish with rice, on a baked potato or in a wrap. I love using home cooked chick peas when I can because they are so tasty. I will use bay leaf and kombucha next time. I also want to try sprouting first…a cool idea.
Hi! Veronica,
Just a quick question. If I use organic canned chickpeas, do I drain them?
Thanks.
Jan
Yes please drain them.
Love this recipe! Sometimes I will add 1/2 of a seeded cucumber and fresh or dried dill. And I always add cayenne pepper – love the heat!!
This is great! Spread some on a brown rice cake and you’ve got the perfect healthy snack!
I just made this and it was delicious!! I ended up adding a little more water than you said, I don’t think my food processor was quite up to the task without it, but it made no difference taste-wise…..thank you!
how many calories are in a serving
just made this with a couple more spices (cumin !!!) and it is amazing ! thank you for this recipe. no need for added oils !
In response to some of the comments above about “oil-free” – oil free means no refined or extracted oil is added. These oils can go rancid very quickly and are not a “whole food” and thus not very healthy. Tahini can not be called an oil unless you extracted the oil from the sesame seeds and had sesame seed oil. This recipe is a great alternative and is indeed oil free. Looks tasty!
Melanie
Liferejuvenators.com
Thank you, I’m addicted to hummus (oil-free)!!! This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TY so much again! 🙂
Isn’t tahini made out of ground up sesame seeds? So any recipe made with it would not be oil free. You would be adding sesame seed oil, the amount depends on how much you use in the recipe..
Then basically with that logic its impossible to make 100% carb only hummus. Chickpeas contain a small amount of fat too, but so do fruits and vegetables. If you extract the oil from them you would get oil. Using tahini is not the same as adding straight oil. You can add whole sesame seeds if desired or pour off the little bit of oil from your tahini jar if you can. There is so little tahini in this recipe I dont see the point in arguing about this. There are no “fat police” nor am i teaching people that all fat is bad for you and to live fat free. I teach oil free lower and low fat recipes. If you prefer chickpeas only blended with water you can do that but hummus is hummus because of key ingredients like tahini chickpeas lemon juice and salt. This is an oil free hummus recipe not a blended chickpea only dip.
I was looking for one that was OLIVE OIL free as Olive oil contains 13.5 gm fat and 1.8 sat fat per tablespoon! So this recipe hit the money. To be technical this is an oil free recipe as no oil (olive, vegetable what have you) is added. Some ppl take things way too seriously and will always try to find something wrong. Thanks for the great recipe!
You’re welcome Lauren!
THIS MAY BE A SILLY QUESTION, BUT I HAVE A JAR OF ALMOND BUTTER, AND IF I DRAINED ALL OF THE OIL ON TOP, WOULD THIS WORK AS A TAHINI SUBSTITUTE?
Hi Nancy, Tahini is sesame seed butter, so it will definitely not taste the same, but since almond butter is very similar in consistency you can substitute if you want. I also pour off the oil on the top of all my nut butters too! lol.
Love Hummus!! I just wish my husband would throw ANYTHING together in the kitchen, but he is clueless; it makes it hard on me. The upside to that is that he will eat anything I make = ) My family is spoiled with my hummus. Every time they try one from the store, they gag and say, “Mom, your’s is better” I think it has to do with the citric acid or some other preservative because the ingredients are very similar. Wal-Mart’s Marketplace brand seems to be better than most. When I make it, I do use oil, and instead of water, I reserve some bean juice whether it’s from a can or homemade…Do you think I could do that with this recipe if I eliminate the oil?
Oh sure you can use bean juice. I just like to rinse my canned beans, i like fresh bean juice for flavour better, but that’s just me. I find hummus doesn’t really need oil, some water and tahini make it nice and creamy and lower calorie. 🙂
Just made this. Bravo.
Excellent! Enjoy it 🙂
Doesn’t Tahini contain oil by definition?
Nuts contain natural oils. All plants do. The ingredients on my Organic Fair Trade Sesame Tahini says: Mechanically hulled, dry roasted organic, certified fair trade sesame seeds.
That’s it. It doesn’t have any added oils. The recipe contains ONLY 1 1/2 tbsp of tahini and for a whole recipe it is a very small amount of concentrated fat.
Check your tahini. I only buy products that have no added oils to them and that are as whole food based as possible.
I love this recipe and used it as a base for something I wanted to try. I had a lovely cilantro hummus at a restaurant and wanted to replicate the taste. I used the base recipe you have an added 1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro and whizzed it all together. It was awesome and such a pretty colour. For those that don’t like cilantro you can substitute fresh parsley.
That sounds great.
I make my hummus exactly the same but add quite a bit ofcumin as well. If I feel like a small change I add fresh chopped parsley. During the summer I occasionally change out the lemon for lime and add freshly chopped coriander leaves. If a full meal is wanted/needed it goes with baked potatoe and pepperata – party on your tongue…yum yum!
I love hummus and eat a lot of it. I always cook my own chickpeas and usually sprout the chickpeas before cooking them – saves on the cooking time and makes it healthier and easier to digest. I prefer to make a larger quantity (say 1 kg) and then freeze it in small boxes, which I thaw when I want to make the hummus.
And for something a bit different – if the chickpeas are sprouted “enough”‘ then I can make raw hummus if I put it in my Vitamix – but this can be harder to digest for some people/
Yay for oil free hummus!! I’m always looking for no oil hummus as some of my family members (and myself) are a little on the heavy side. I’m trying to introduce vegan recipes that are low in fat and healthy. Thanks so much for this, I’m definitely bookmarking this recipe 🙂
Whole Foods is great at labelling things now 100% oil free. So that’s a good option if you’re on the go and don’t have time to make hummus.
But we still prefer to make it at home so it can be oil free and lower in salt and fresh too.
thanks, V.
yes, i use the cooked raw organic chick peas – thanks for the tip on cooking them in kombu & bay leaf!! i find cooking them in a pressure cooker is fantastic. The taste is fantastic as many commercial brands of canned peas & beans contain EDTA preservative; my diabetic dad loves this snack; i think its great for him & an amazing choice for sustaining bloodsugar levels.
sometimes i make mine mediterreanean style adding fresh basil & a bit of cayenne. still delicious.
cheers,
M.
Yes i cook my chickpeas in a pressure cooker too, it makes them cook so much faster. 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful recipe. Would you be willing share the amount of chickpeas you cook and the amount of kombu and bay lease you would use when you make the peas to get a sense of how much is being made at a time. So, in my case, I would probably only make 1/2 or 1/4 of that amount for a single person.
When I cook chickpeas I usually add 2 bay leaves and a strip of kombu seaweed to them. My bean cooking instructions and suggestions are in my Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm recipe book as well. Usually I will cook 1-2 cups of dried chickpeas at once. If you’re only going to cook 1/2 -2/3 of a cup at a time it can be more tedious. You can always store soaked chickpeas in the freezer in bags (drain the liquid and dry them a bit) and/or store cooked chickpeas in the freezer in bags as well. I like to soak them for 4-6 hours only (8 hours or overnight is too long if going to be cooked in a pressure cooker and used for soup, but should be ok for hummus) and cook in a pressure cooker for a few minutes until cooked. It can be anywhere for 4-10 minutes depending on how hot the stove is, how full the pressure cooker is and how long you soaked the chickpeas. When cooking in a pressure cooker you only cover the chickpeas with water with an inch or two and not too much or else they will overcook faster. Or you can boil on the stove in a little more water until desired tenderness.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I am struggling with a husband who is a ‘typical American eater (meat and potatoes, etc.)” and it can be very frustrating for me, as I prefer a basic raw diet with a bit of cooked in the evenings sometimes, but I want to please my husband’s ‘taste buddies’. Veronica – just this morning we were talking about what we could do to make us both ‘happier in the kitchen’! Replacing the mayonnaise with the Hummus – SUPER great idea for my husband’s lunches I pack every day! Your recipe was very timely! Can’t wait to make it – and I have an awesome Cuisanart Food Processor that just sits in my cupboard – time to get it out! Love you! God bless you and keep on being the lovely person you are!! P.S. I love your name, ‘Veronic Grace’ – beautiful!
Hummus is a great replacer for mayo as it’s creamy and tangy and helps the sandwich have some moisture. Guacamole or smashed avocado with some salt and pepper is great as well.
Thanks so much for the feedback. I’m glad you’re enjoying all the recipes we make. 🙂
It’s missing the ethnic trademark spice: cumin. This makes it pop. Also I use 1/3 of a red pepper instead of water for vitamin C and enzymes, and some chives or green onion. Great also with roasted garlic, but use more. You really enjoy your cooking, and are very clear in your instructions. Thanx!
Hi Barbara. For the book I wanted a classic hummus recipe. Everyone is free to add something else to it. Many of my recipes have cumin in it, and not everyone likes it, so it’s helpful to have a standard recipe that people can start with and adjust to their tastes. I am also putting in a roasted red pepper hummus in the book as well.
I had never tried with out olive oil , I make hummus from scratch at home allth time I keep reducing oil but never without. I like your idea of making with eggplant/aubergine how much to add I have it with unleavened whole wheat or millet [jawar] bread or chapatti as also known. thanks for your fat free idea this time I made with out any oil and you r absolutely right.