Making Hummus With a Hand Held Blender

Asked by Unknown. Answered on 25th October 2010

Full question

I love hummus and would like to start making my own (both traditional and white bean). However, I do not have a food processor, nor do I have room in my kitchen for one. Is there anything else I could use to mash up the beans. Perhaps a hand-held blender? Thanks.

Our answer

Home-made hummus is a satisfying alternative to the store-bought version and you can flavour it in many different ways, as well as controlling the fat content yourself. Whilst a food processor is the best piece of equipment to blend the chickpeas (garbanzo beans), a hand blender will do the job, though your hummus may not be quite as smooth. Put the drained chickpeas in a narrow, deep beaker or container to prevent them from spreading out too much and keep them in contact with the blade of the hand blender. Also try to use a hand blender with a powerful motor as the humus can be a little thick so needs some extra power to work through the chickpeas. Before blending also add any liquids from your recipe, such as olive oil or water.

Tahini (sesame paste) can sometimes thicken the hummus a little so blend the chickpeas and oil to a rough puree before adding the tahini. Also reserve a little of the drained liquid from the canned chickpeas (or cooking liquid if you have cooked your own) and add this, a little at a time, if the hummus is still too thick to blend easily. Kitchen has a delicious recipe for hummus, made with peanut butter instead of tahini - well worth a try!