This sun-dried tomato hummus takes just minutes to make, with only a few ingredients, and it tastes so much better than shop-bought hummus!
You could never call me a food snob – I’m just as happy with a frozen pizza as I am with something fancy (though I do insist on the pizza actually being cooked first, so I suppose I’m a snob about that). But when it comes to hummus, I only like homemade. I don’t know what it is – homemade hummus is just so much better than the shop-bought stuff, especially when it’s extra tasty like this sun-dried tomato hummus!
Homemade hummus
I never used to like hummus very much – I’m not sure why, I’m just not really a fan of the stuff you can buy in the shops. Worst vegetarian ever, I know.
But then I discovered homemade hummus, which is an entirely different story. I don’t know what makes it so different, but it’s delicious. It’s thick, it’s creamy, it’s silky, and you can make it exactly to your own taste.
This sun-dried tomato hummus is right up my street – it has a beautiful, rich sweetness, with plenty of garlic, and it’s topped with toasted pine nuts. So, so good.
How to make hummus
Homemade hummus is so easy to make. It only needs a few ingredients:
- chickpeas – I always use tinned chickpeas for convenience
- tahini (sesame seed paste)
- garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- and whatever extras you want to include (I added sun-dried tomatoes!)
You literally just need to chuck everything in a food processor, and blitz it up until it’s nice and smooth. I like to add a splash of water too, as it helps to thin it out a little, and makes it extra creamy.
Hummus toppings
If you enjoy making your food look as good as it tastes, a few toppings go a long way to making a beautiful dish!
I always serve hummus with a good drizzle of olive oil on top – this time I used some of the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, which worked so well! There’s so much flavour in that beautiful oil, so I didn’t want to waste it.
I also scattered some toasted pine nuts over my sun-dried tomato hummus – they look pretty, and they taste amazing.
Toasted pine nuts
If you’ve never toasted pine nuts before – please, please do it. Please. Just do it now. They’re so amazing.
Somehow, a frying pan can transform pine nuts from ‘fine, but nothing special’ to ‘oh my’ in about 5 minutes. They get beautifully toasty and nutty (as you might expect from toasted nuts).
If it wasn’t for the fact that nuts in general are pretty expensive, I would happily eat toasted pine nuts by the fistful.
Scatter them across your sun-dried tomato hummus, and you’ve got an incredible snack, lunch, or appetiser.
How to serve hummus
We usually have hummus as part of a snacky lunch, alongside all sorts of other tasty nibbles – cucumber, tomatoes, crackers or pitta bread, cheese, coleslaw… it’s probably the most common lunch in our household (and it helps that my daughters will both eat it all!).
A few other ideas for how to serve hummus:
- pack it up in your lunchbox
- serve it as an appetiser for a dinner party (don’t forget the toppings to make it look fancy!)
- spread it on toast or crackers
- use it as a pasta sauce
- dollop it into soup
(or just eat it with a spoon straight out of the tub)
How do you usually serve your hummus?
However you serve it, this sun-dried tomato hummus will definitely be your new favourite.
Sun-dried tomato hummus
Ingredients
- 400 g tin chickpeas, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 120 g (~ 1 cup) sun-dried tomatoes (I used the kind that are marinated in oil)
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp tomato puree / paste
- 1 tsp dried basil or Italian-style mixed herbs
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 125 ml (~ 1/2 cup) water (or as much as you like)
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
Instructions
- Add all of the hummus ingredients to a food processor, apart from the water and pine nuts. Blitz well, until almost entirely smooth. Add a splash of water, and blitz again. Continue adding water until the hummus reaches your desired consistency – I used about 125ml in total.
- Add the pine nuts to a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring very regularly, until golden brown. Be careful, as once they start to brown, they can burn very quickly.
- Serve the hummus topped with the toasted pine nuts, and a glug of extra virgin olive oil (or use the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes!).
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 of the recipe.
If you like easy dips, my quick black bean dip can be made in just a few minutes, with only 4 ingredients!
Renee
Sunday 2nd of May 2021
How long would this last for in the fridge?
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian
Wednesday 5th of May 2021
I'd probably try to eat it within 3 days :)
Mimi Smissen
Thursday 14th of May 2020
Love this recipe I made it earlier in the week just substituted the sun dried tomatoes for roasted peppers
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian
Tuesday 19th of May 2020
Sounds great, thanks Mimi!
Annabel Smyth
Wednesday 13th of May 2020
I find home-made hummus difficult to get quite right - and some shop-bought is very much nicer than others. I do, however, sometimes make a type of hummus (or is it a type of baba ganoush?) substituting a raw courgette for the chickpeas - it makes a wonderful salad dressing, or just nice to eat!
One way that hummus is very good is stirred through a batch of roast or slow-fried vegetables, especially if they are curried. As here.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian
Wednesday 13th of May 2020
Ooh will have to try your courgette version!
Mimi Smissen
Wednesday 11th of March 2020
Just made this again, had forgotten how good it tastes
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian
Friday 13th of March 2020
Thanks Mimi!
Mimi Smissen
Sunday 21st of July 2019
Made this today, perfect base, think I might just add more garlic next time.