Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: An Inexpensive, Flavorful Snack

Serve this roasted red pepper hummus recipe with fresh vegetables and crackers as an appetizer or spread in on your favorite sandwich wrap for a burst of flavor. Here’s how to make it, with details on how to roast red peppers, too.

Try using it recipe on this hummus pizza for an extra peppery flavor!

If you’re buying hummus in those expensive plastic containers at the store, let me tell you a little secret: Making hummus is an easy — and very inexpensive — snack to make at home. 

Plus? You’ll eliminate the plastic container.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Homemade hummus is a favorite around here for its ability to fill bellies on a budget and accommodate the vegetarians among us. With its creamy texture and plenty of protein, it’s a great addition to a vegetable platter and hearty enough to make even the hungriest snacker feel fulfilled.

This delicious version uses roasted red bell peppers; the sweet and smoky taste of the peppers adds a new dimension to this chickpea-based spread. 

Ingredients:

Garbanzo beans — Dry garbanzo beans can be had for a couple of bucks a pound, and you’ll get a couple of batches of this roasted red pepper hummus from a single pound. Add in the cost of the other ingredients, and you’ll have a protein-rich snack on the table for way less than you’d pay for a pre-made batch of hummus at the store. Don’t want to use dry beans? You can totally start with canned chickpeas instead. Substitute the dry beans with three cups of canned beans and eliminate the cooking process. Drain the canned beans, reserving the liquid. If you’re purchasing canned beans at the store, look for a brand that comes in a BPA-free can.

Tahini — This sesame seed paste can be expensive to buy, though a jar does go a long way. It’s also a hummus ingredient that many households won’t have on hand. (Once you get in the habit of making this hummus recipe, you’ll make sure it’s in your pantry!) I know a woman who dislikes the flavor of tahini and uses ricotta cheese instead.

Red bell peppers — You can use jarred roasted peppers or make your own with a fresh red bell pepper. See below for how to to make your own. If you wanted to try to replicate this without the bell peppers, you could use 1-2 tablespoons of smoked paprika instead.

Lemon juice — Use fresh lemons if you have them. If not, bottled is fine. The amount on this is variable, depending on just how tangy you like your hummus spread. If you need more liquid for the recipe but don’t want to use the full amount of lemon, add some reserved water from the beans.

Garlic cloves — Definitely use fresh garlic for this — garlic powder just won’t cut it. I’m a fan of a very garlicky hummus recipe and often add a few extra cloves for extra kick.

Making Hummus

This is a recipe that will require a food processor for the best results. Can you use a blender? Sure, but you’ll need to add a little more liquid and make a thinner batch in order for this option to work. 

If you have neither, you could do like my son did when he was away at college and use the back of a heavy-duty wooden spoon to smash it all. It will not be a creamy hummus this way, though! 

Let’s go ahead and assume you’re making this with a food processor.

Start by placing the garbanzo beans in the bowl of the food processor. Turn the machine on and process until the beans are quite well smashed and smooth. 

Add the remaining ingredients and process further, blending until the mixture is quite creamy. Add more liquid — cooking liquid, water, or lemon juice if you like it tangy — to thin it if necessary.

 

Cooking Dry Beans

This recipe starts with dry garbanzo beans and is prepared in an Instant Pot. Don’t have an Instant Pot? No worries. You can cook them on the stove top, too. Here’s how to do it using both methods. (Once you’ve started using budget-friendly dry beans you’ll never go back to canned!) 

Soaking Dried Beans

While not entirely necessary, soaking beans for eight hours or overnight is a good idea when making most bean recipes. It can cut cooking time, plus soaking beans helps eliminate some of the phytic acid in beans. Phytic acid is considered an “anti-nutrient.” You can read more about that here.

In the Instant Pot

The Instant Pot makes quick work of dried beans. This electric pressure cooker can fully cook dry beans in about an hour, even if you opt not to soak them.

Combine dry chickpeas and chicken broth (or water) to the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Seal pressure valve and set manual pressure on high for 40 minutes. If you opt to soak your beans before cooking them, set the time to 15 minutes. Do a natural release when pressure time has finished, letting the rest of the pressure out after 15 minutes.

On the Stovetop

• Soak one cup of dry garbanzo beans overnight, making sure they’re covered by about 4″ of water.
• Drain and rinse beans.
• Put beans in a stock pot, again covering them with about 4″ of water.
• Gently boil for about an hour or until beans are soft.
• Drain.

How to Roast Peppers

Roasting fresh red peppers imparts a smoky flavor to the peppers and makes it easy to remove their skin. Remove stems from large peppers and slice each in half. Remove seeds. Smaller peppers can be roasted whole.

Place peppers or pepper halves, skin side up, on a baking sheet. Heat in an oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, until skin begins to blister and brown. Transfer peppers to a plate and cover with a damp cloth to help make peeling easier. Cool peppers slightly and use your fingers to pull the skin from the roasted red peppers. (Now that you know how to roast red peppers, you can skip the expensive jarred version!)

I hope it goes without saying that this method works for any kind of pepper, hot or sweet. (I used this method for making my smoky homemade hot sauce, too.)

Serving Ideas

• Serve this easy hummus dip with fresh veggies. 
• Spread on crackers or pita chips as an appetizer.
• Spread some on your favorite sandwich wrap for a burst of flavor.
• It’s a great choice for using in hummus bowls and it’s good on a fresh slice of crusty bread, too!
• Add a dollop to salads. 
• Stir some into your favorite vinaigrette salad dressing.

More Hummus Recipes

Our classic hummus recipe is a regular snack around here, and the spicy chipotle hummus version is well-loved, too. This roasted red pepper hummus is just one more flavorful version in our hummus repertoire.

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