Hummus is a unique dip that many, many people enjoy adding to their daily diets. It is far healthier than a lot of store-bought dips that people can purchase and it is a common component in a lot of vegan and vegetarian snacks. Its interesting taste is one that a lot of people can appreciate.
With that being said, not everyone wants to settle for store-bought food. A lot of stores cut corners on products, leaving you with foods that don’t taste quite right or don’t have the texture that you are looking for.
Instead of wasting time and money at the store, there are many people out there who appreciate a dish of homemade hummus.
The problem with this is that hummus can be a bit of a tricky dish to make as getting the texture exactly where you want it to be can take a lot of work and effort. For some people, it is easy to see the solution.
For instance, if the hummus you made was too thick, adding water to it can help give it a bit of an easier texture while still keeping the unique taste.
However, if you come to notice that the hummus you made was a little bit too thin, you may not be so sure about what ingredients to add or where you should put the hummus to try and help it thicken up a little bit.
If you find yourself lost in trying to remedy your runny hummus recipe, then here are some tips that you will want to consider and look at if you are looking for a thick, satisfying hummus dip.
Figuring Out What Went Wrong
The first step to fixing something that went wrong in any cooking recipe is to figure out where exactly things went wrong.
Knowing what happened to the recipe can often make it much, much easier to find a solution as you know what the problem is. It is a lot harder to fix a mystery problem than it is to simply add an ingredient that you forgot.
You should always look back on the recipe you are working with to check reviews and to see if anyone else had the same issue. If people do have the same issue as you, then there’s a good chance that there may be solutions in the comments of the recipe.
This should be your first step in trying to fix what went wrong with your hummus recipe.
From here, you should then think about what ingredients you used, what the quality of those ingredients was, and if there was anything that you may have forgotten.
For instance, the quality of the tahini used in most hummus recipes makes a massive impact on how the hummus will turn out and skimping on the tahini can easily result in runny hummus.
When you are making the hummus yourself, you should always err on the more conservative side of things. What this means is that it is much easier to add more ingredients to hummus to thin it out if it is practically rock-solid.
You can’t really take out liquid that you have already added without altering the recipe drastically.
Knowing where you went wrong, or at least having a good idea of what the problem is, will help you take a major step in the right direction when it comes to thickening your hummus recipe to where you want it to be.
Fixing the Problem
Now that you know what you should be looking for and you should hopefully have an idea of what happened to the hummus, you can now begin trying to fix it.
There are two ways to thicken hummus up properly. You can either use even more tahini or you can add more chickpeas to it.
Both solutions will take a little bit of guesswork as it can be hard to determine exactly how much of another ingredient you will need to thicken the hummus up; however, it is possible to get the job done.
Even if you don’t have chickpeas, there are many other things that you can use.
The crux of fixing a runny hummus dip is to simply add more solids to help take in that moisture. Commonly, this is going to be chickpeas. If you really want to add more flavor to the dish as well, you can even consider using other ingredients.
Almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, just about any toasted nuts, and chickpeas can all add to the hummus’s thickness, leaving you not only with a hummus of the right consistency but a richer and creamier dip as well.
If you do not have any toasted nuts to use or you are unable to add nuts due to dietary reasons, you can also consider using more beans. Many people will often use black beans in their hummus to add more consistency and texture to it if it is already too runny.
Just keep in mind that using black beans exclusively may change the appearance and that is something you will need to be prepared for as you won’t want to worry about altering the recipe too much.
While you are doing this, you can also consider using white beans to add more substance to the hummus. However, for these there is going to be a ratio of exactly how many beans you can add to the hummus without overpowering the taste of it.
For every two cups of chickpeas that you soaked overnight, you should soak about half a cup of white beans in another container. You should aim for a total 4:1 ratio.
Not only will this cut down on the amount of chickpeas that you need to use but if you are out of chickpeas, white beans can add the perfect solution for your runny hummus problem. They become creamy easily, they do not have a vastly different flavor profile than the chickpeas, and they can make your dish much thicker than it already was.
And finally, you can work with the tahini. Tahini is a major part of most hummus dishes and you can use a considerable amount of it to thicken a runny hummus dish.
You will want to be careful with this, however, because if you are working with store-bought tahini, using it as a thickener for your hummus can become expensive quite fast.
Do keep in mind that tahini is actually quite easy to make, meaning that if you really want to keep things natural and homemade and you have a lot of sesame seeds to go through, you can make your own tahini to add to the hummus, thickening it up without wasting your time and money going to the store as much as using store-bought tahini will.
And the final solution you can work with may be considered unorthodox by some standards but if you need to thicken your hummus up, then you can rest assured that this will get the job done.
You will want to search for mashed potato flakes. If you are worried about the “flakes” being too much of a texture hindrance, you will want to mix up the flakes so they become mashed potatoes again.
Doing this will add a fair amount of flavor to the dish and it will also be a useful way to add thickness to the hummus as well, leaving you with the perfect dish of hummus that you can use for whatever occasion you need it for.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
Ian
Sunday 24th of April 2022
I resolved the problem by simply adding chickpea flour a teaspoon at a time
Beachbabecb
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
You could also use chia seeds to thicken up hummus.