Creamy Pesto Hummus
[I made this yummy Creamy Pesto Hummus for Earth Fare!]
I’m officially obsessed with pesto you guys. I usually gravitate towards it in the summer, but this year I’m full-fledged addicted.
I’m putting it in/on everything–chickpea pasta, spaghetti squash, deviled eggs…
And now hummus, duh. Hummus is the obvious pesto vehicle that I have yet to take for a spin.
But thankfully, pesto hummus is now very much a part of my life. And I’d like to suggest it be a part of yours too. π
Look at that basil π
Can’t you just smell it?? It’s the scent of summer, and combined with garlic, parm, lemon juice, and olive oil–it makes magic.
Tips for getting the perfect pesto hummus
- Peel the chickpeas! This is an ~optional~ step and I will admit it takes extra prep time. BUT, if you peel the outer layer off of your chickpeas your hummus will be bom-chicka-wah-wah creamy. Just pinch the chickpea and its little jacket layer will slide right off. (discard those, or compost!)
- Let your food processor or blender really have at it with the hummus. I like to turn it on, and do some other other kitcheny jobs while I wait for it to do its work for 6 minutes or so. You will just want to check in once or twice to scrape down the sides.
- Add enough water/olive oil to get a nice creamy texture. I actually like mine a little on the thin side. Taste and adjust everything with extra parm, salt, lemon juice, or basil leaves until you get it just right.
- This pesto hummus is KILLER scooped up with sweet potato chips. It’s also thebomb.com in bowl meals. (bowl meals = whatever combo of veggies, meat, grains, eggs, etc you like tossed into a bowl). OR you can thin leftover pesto hummus out with extra lemon juice/olive oil and have a super delicious salad dressing. π do that.
Hats off to pesto this year, man. It’s been the MVP of my summertime meal game.
And if you can resist those pesto swirls and sun-dried tomatoes, I can’t really relate to you at all.
JK. But that cucumber scoop πis about to be the most epic bite ever, just sayin’ π
Ingredients
- 1.5 cans Earth Fare organic garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
- 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice (Juice of 1 - 1.5 lemons)
- 1/4 cup olive oil cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup cashew butter (unsweetened)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon honey (optional)
- Salt to taste
- Sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil (for topping)
Instructions
- Peel the outer skin off of the garbanzo beans. Reserve the beans and discard the skins.*
- To a food processor, add the basil, chopped garlic, grated cheese, olive oil, and a 2 tablespoons of the of lemon juice. Process until smooth and reserve a tablespoon or so of the pesto for drizzling on the finished hummus.
- To the food processor, add the peeled chickpeas, cashew butter, generous pinch of salt, and water. Process until very smooth, adding more water if needed and scraping down the sides of the food processor. Taste, and adjust with additional lemon juice, optional honey, and salt.
- Add hummus to a bowl and drizzle with reserved pesto and top with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts, if desired. Serve with sliced veggies, pita, or sweet potato chips. I like to make a few hours ahead of time or the day before in order for the flavors to meld and to chill the hummus.
Notes
*Peeling the skins of the garbanzo beans will result in an ultra-creamy hummus. This step can be skipped, and will result in a hummus with a more rustic texture.
2 responses to “Creamy Pesto Hummus”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Can this recipe be frozen?
Hi Bryan, I’ve never tried freezing it (always eat it too fast π) it may affect the texture slightly