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Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi's Basic Hummus

by:
July  7, 2021
4.6
37 Ratings
Photo by Julia Gartland. Prop Stylist: Veronica Olson. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog.
  • Prep time 24 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • Makes 6 servings
Author Notes

This recipe is simple and the results are perfect, but here's the real coup: Most from-scratch hummus recipes involve simmering the chickpeas for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Ottolenghi and Tamimi's are done in 20 to 40 minutes. How? See step 2. Briefly cooking the soaked chickpeas directly with baking soda scruffs up the skins and allows them to cook much faster and puree smoother. (Without having to peel the chickpeas by hand.)

Helpful tools for this recipe:
- Food52 x Dansk Kobenstyle Saucepan & Butter Warmer
- Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor
- Feast Serving Platter by Yotam Ottolenghi —Genius Recipes

Test Kitchen Notes

Recipe adapted slightly from Jerusalem (Ten Speed Press, 2013) —The Editors

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Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi's Basic Hummus
Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups dried chickpeas
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 6 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tahini (light roast)
  • 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 6 1/2 tablespoons ice cold water
  • 1 pinch salt, to taste
  • 1 dash good-quality olive oil, to serve (optional)
Directions
  1. The night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with cold water at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.
  2. The next day, drain the chickpeas. Place a medium saucepan over high heat and add the drained chickpeas and baking soda. Cook for about three minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas will need to cook for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the type and freshness, sometimes even longer. Once done, they should be very tender, breaking up easily when pressed between your thumb and finger, almost but not quite mushy.
  3. Drain the chickpeas. You should have roughly 3 2/3 cups now. Place the chickpeas in a food processor and process until you get a stiff paste. Then, with the machine sill running, add the tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Finally, slowly drizzle in the ice water and allow it to mix for about five minutes, until you get a very smooth and creamy paste.
  4. Transfer the hummus to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. If not using straightaway, refrigerate until needed. Make sure to take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. Optionally, to serve, top with a layer of good quality olive oil. This hummus will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.
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Recipe by: Genius Recipes

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224 Reviews

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Sam C. July 13, 2024
I made an account just to point two things, one of which is heinously wrong with this rendition. I have the Jerusalem cookbook by Ottelenghi.
1. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt to be added to the hummus, not a pinch. The itemized list is wrong. The text of the recipe is correct.
2. The second is, the recipe mentions optionally adding ground cumin (I add 1/2 - 1 teaspoon) and admits the amount of lemon juice and tahini to taste.
brushjl December 31, 2023
Amazing alchemy to get perfect chickpeas in 20 minutes. But it worked! So.smooth, delicious!
QT3.1416 November 2, 2023
P.S. I added about 1/2 tsp of cumin and 10 olives into the mixture.
QT3.1416 November 2, 2023
I’ve been making hummus for years. The latest recipe I used was from ATK. What intrigued me was the shorter time to cook the chickpeas. I let the chickpeas soak in water 24 hours. Normally, I do it overnight but something came up and I couldn’t make it until much later. I followed your recipe and cooked the chickpeas with baking soda for about 2 minutes. The sides of the pot were so soiled that I felt it was long enough. Ti boil the chickpeas, I set the timer for 25 minutes. I looked at the chickpeas at 23 minutes and they were done. I was amazed. Hummus did come out very smooth and creamy.
Juliet C. August 3, 2023
This is the best, most creamy hummus I’ve ever had!
Melanie M. March 9, 2023
Delicious! Here is a tip if you don't have time to make the chickpeas from scratch- Instead of dried chickpeas, get two cans of chickpeas. Drain, rinse. Simmer the chickpeas in water on the stove top for about 8 minutes WITH the baking soda. Drain and rinse. We will get the same luxurious, buttery texture in half the time.
Karen B. August 25, 2022
Excellent hummus. I did increase the lemon juice to 6 Tblsp.
Cooker April 21, 2022
Excellent recipe. The hummus freezes well. I find that at least twice the lemon juice is needed.
debplusthree March 17, 2022
This is such a luxurious hummus!
judy December 26, 2021
I'm allergic to chickpeas. I made with black beans, lentils or kidney beans. They all worked. Of course, slightly different flavor profile depending on the bean. But they certainly are good alternatives.

Letscook June 9, 2021
Lovely recipe but confusing with salt quantity. Ingredient list says pinch of salt, method instructs to add 1.5 teaspoons. I doubled the batch & unfortunately ended up too salty in taste.
Pamela_in_Tokyo June 9, 2021
The recipe doesn’t say what kind of salt to use but a lot of chefs use kosher salt which has a larger particle size than table salt. And if you use table salt you should use half the amount.

About the saltiness : What I would recommend doing is make another batch of hummus but don’t add any salt and mix it together with your salty version to calm it down salt-wise! :-)
Sam C. August 27, 2024
The amount in the text is correct. 1.5 teaspoon per recipe (so 3 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon if doubled). I agree that this is probably referring to kosher salt and to decrease if using table salt.
Butterfield B. October 4, 2020
Probably sacrilege to say this but I found this hummus a bit dry. Anyone experience that?? Am on a life long quest to match the deliciousness of the Lebanese Taverna (in DC) hummus.
julie October 5, 2020
When you say dry do you mean thick ? So many factors in making hummus. I'm still on quest to replicate the taste of a hummus without garlic that I once tried in a small restaurant in France. I use the juice of the cooked hummus to add to my hummus if it too thick.
Km September 3, 2021
where in France & what restaurant? :)
Cooker April 21, 2022
I suggest adding lemon juice, I use at least twice. If it’s too tart for you, use a small amount of water
belby0 July 13, 2020
So good. So smooth. Just heaven. Used less tahini (2/3-3/4c) and it was plenty. Thank you!
Sam C. August 27, 2024
I would never decrease the tahini.
Carolyn June 30, 2020
What a great recipe! i tried it last week but forgot the baking soda bit. It was amazing just the same. Tried it again today with the soda. Hard to believe that total yumminess gets better with the soda but it does. I love how the chickpeas taste just after cooking this way. Now looking for other ways to serve chickpeas from scratch. Your video and the one i saw on instagram were both very encouraging. Thanks so much!
Carolyn
julie August 12, 2020
Hi, Baking soda does wonders. The first time I cooked chickpeas without baking soda, it took like 4 hours for the chickpeas to get soft. With baking soda, all done it less than an hour.

I love the taste of the chick peas in my hummus. I put less tahini and adjust to taste. I suggest trying the recipe without garlic. I ran out one day and did my hummus that way. It was very good also.
I tried all kind of experiments and also added lemon zest.

By accident as I was finishing boiling chickpeas I discovered a very simple recipe. My son was son hungry, I took cooked chick peas, added cumin and olive oil and he loved it.
NapaCook June 18, 2020
Delicious as written..just make sure to use the amount of salt listed in the steps (1.5tsp) and not the amount in the list of ingredients (a pinch). It had a really balanced flavor, not too bitter or garlic-laden, and the smooth texture is really lovely.
Annalaura S. March 29, 2020
I need a recipe for the pita bread shown in the image! PLEASE! Not greek pita, but chewy stretchy pita I used to get from bakeries in Dearborn, MI. Food 52 is a trusted resource, please help!
Peg March 29, 2020
Try using a high gluten flour:
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/103408/making-pita-more-chewy-rubbery

Here's another chewy pita bread recipe:
http://bigskyfarmhouse.com/2017/04/17/soft-chewy-homemade-pita-bread-big-sky-farmhouse/
Km September 3, 2021
do you have one for greek pita too?
Yasin July 12, 2019
From the moment I saw it an YouTube this became my favorite and go-to hummus recipe. Now, for the people commenting on the amoun of tahini, please note that the recipe calls for light roast. Unfortunately, it seems that in most places that kind of tahini is not available, as is the case with the place 5I live. However, tahini not only adds to the flavor, but its fat content plays an important role in texture, so cutting down on it will not give you the same rich and decadently smooth mouthfeel. To avoid troubles with too strong tahini, simply dilute it with some neutral-flavor oil. I use sunflower oil. The ratio I found to work best is 2/3 cup of tahini + 1/3 cup of oil for a total of 1 cup. Additionally, I always add a tsp of freshly ground black pepper and additional 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice so I never had any issues with the final product tasting bland. I hope this helps. Cheers!
Frank R. June 8, 2019
Exactly how does this cut hummus making time in half?
julie July 12, 2019
From my experience there's all kind of tahini quality and products that give you different tastes and flavors. I'm still searching for the taste I once tried in a fast food restaurant many moons ago. The amount of tahini was small but the secret the person told me was to boil those chickpeas forever they would more than 15 hours. I dn't have that time and the baking soda trick is miracle. And yet altoough everyone like my hummus I'm still looking to replicate that taste I once had. Hummus taste will evolve and I notice it is the best for me when it has spoent a night in the fridge.
Courtney T. September 1, 2019
Less time simmering the chickpeas. See the first few sentences of the description.
Joan -. May 30, 2019
This is my go-to recipe for hummus and I'm very happy with it, but I am so happy to see so many ideas for flavor additions in the comments.
I'd like to add one more idea. So many people bemoaned the expense of tahini. Over on 101 Cookbooks, Heidi has a recipe for hummus that swaps walnuts for the tahini in traditional hummus. Someone here suggested using peanut b utter for a completely different flavor and it's great. I like the nut swap idea so much I'll be testing out various options. Pistachios come to mind immediately. Can't wait to get back into the kitchen with a bag of chickpeas.
Jamie July 13, 2023
Was going to share my similar tip, too. Tahini can be expensive. I make a substitute that's delicious and cheap. I add a few tablespoons of olive oil to my Cuisinart and throw in a handful of salted sunflower seeds, the garlic I'd use anyway, and puree to a paste (no measuring; just eyeball); then I just add all the other ingredients so no extra bowl or mess. Many people have told me that they prefer the taste of my hummus to that made with Tahini...it's very mild yet flavorful and much less expensive.
Eileen May 29, 2019
Processing the hummus in a Vitamix makes it incredibly silky-smooth. Yes, you have to blend a little water into the emptied blender container to remove the last bit of hummus that you can't remove any other way, so you lose a few tablespoons of hummus, but then you have made a delicious sauce or mug of soup.

I have frozen hummus with no effect on quality. It's no more work if I double this recipe, so I always do, and freeze the hummus in 2-cup glass containers.
Whitney July 30, 2022
With the Vitamix, I've found I can mix the lemon juice and the ice water that the recipe calls for with the chick peas and garlic and salt first. Then add Tahini. This helps the issue I've had in the past of difficulty mixing. Thanks for the freezing tip!