This hummus recipe is blender based, tweaked from my first batch in June 2021 (YT video, blog article). It's thicker and smoother, very little of it getting runny by the next few days.
Reduced water from 1/3 C to 1/4 C.
Picked out more bean skins by using a slotted spoon and slotted spatula, in addition to strainers.
Used puree setting more often than pulse or liquefy, cautiously using rubber spatula for thorough mixing.
The "EZ Blender Hummus" article and video
pertain to the actual procedure for making a batch. I include info
about some substitutions of several online recipes' ingredients for
convenience. This article goes into more details and extra info about
hummus considerations.
Ever wonder about the two bean names? When shopping for the beans, I
had thought chickpeas and garbanzo beans were the same, but wasn't
sure. "Chickpeas vs Garbanzo Beans: What's the Difference?" explains:
A chickpea or garbanzo bean both refer to a plant in the
legume category with the scientific name Cicer arietinum. ... Garbanzo
happens to be the Spanish term while chickpea is the common English
term.
I became curious about "chickpea" as one word instead of two, and
also what chick had to do with the bean. I could not find etymological
reason for "chick". The chick relationship seems to be that chickens
really like chickpeas. "Can chickens eat chickpeas?"
states "Chickpeas are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and some
other key nutrients. Plus, chickens seem to go for crazy for them".
Blender or Food Processor?
I used a very old blender because it's what I have, and no intention
of buying a food processor. Turns out to be loads of recipes that use
either appliance, even though I did a Google search for "blender or food
processor for hummus"
"Blender vs Food Processor" dives deeply into contrasting the two appliances, not specifically for hummus, though.
a blender is a better option for items with a lot of liquid,
like smoothies and soups. A food processor is best suited for foods
that are mainly solid and require more labor intensive handling, such as
chopping and slicing. However, since the line between food processor
and blender has, well, blended, you can find high-end appliances that
handle both tasks admirably.
In deciding the order of ingredients to blend, I felt smooth hummus
was more likely if I blended liquids and powders first, then added the
skin-removed garbanzo beans. The steps in "How to Make Hummus That's Better Than Store-Bought - Easy Hummus Recipe" seemed sensible for starting with mixing the liquids and powders, then adding the beans. (She added water later.)
Removing Bean Skins or Not
Some recipes advocate removing the garbanzo bean skins. The "Do You Need To Peel The Chickpeas?" section of "Easy Hummus (Better Than Store-Bought)" compares both batches, with pix, leaning towards skipping removal.
You can see, even from this photo that the skinless
chickpeas made for a slightly smoother hummus, but in our opinion it
really wasn’t enough of a difference to warrant ten minutes of skinning
chickpeas.
Two sites make good cases for removing the skins for smoothness and also looks.
Using Bean Fluid or Rinsing Beans and Adding Fresh Water
A few commenters at "Homemade Hummus Dip"
mentioned using the canned bean fluid (aquafaba) instead of fresh
water. Retaining the bean fluid sounds good for enhanced flavor and
ingredient conservation. OTOH, "Aquafaba: The Good, the Bad, and the Gassy"
convinced me to, uh, start fresh—"aquafaba contains a compound known as
oligosaccharides. ... The result is bloating and gas, ...."
Vinegar or Lemon Juice
I used vinegar because it's handy. I don't use lemons or lemon juice
often so am hesitant to get them, then think about using up excess. In
any case,
"Substitutes for Lemon Juice" mentions white vinegar substitution is 1/2:1 ratio. If wanting to use lemon juice, "How Much Juice Is In One Lemon?" helps with lemon juice measurements: "if a recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, you’ll need to use about ½ a lemon".
Tahini or Sesame Oil
Tahini, a paste made with sesame seeds, is a main ingredient in
hummus recipes. Weirdly, tahini is near peanut butters at my
supermarket. Even though I bought some tahini, I decided to try subbing
sesame oil. Some commenters at "Homemade Hummus Dip" mention using sesame oil, but only half as much as tahini.
Fresh Garlic or Garlic Powder
I didn't want to buy an entire garlic when I'd use only three cloves.
Garlic would also need cutting up, chopping, slicing. or pulverizing.
Powder form is much more convenient. "Garlic Substitutes" informs—"For 1 clove garlic, substitute 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder."
Olive Oil or Not
I omitted olive oil because so many of the recipes showed it as an
after-recipe addition, which I've not seen at eateries. I used one less
ingredient and avoided adding extra calories. For using oils other than
olive, "These are the best substitutes for olive oil" lists the following substitutions and describes them.
Informative Website for Several Hummus Considerations
"The BEST Hummus Recipe"
covers four items I've floated: blender vs. food processor, removing
bean skins vs. not, bean fluid vs. added water, and freezing or not.
Another beany topic is soaked beans vs. canned. She used a blender,
which appealed to me. Note: The quantities called for seem to be for a
double recipe; 30 oz of beans is about two cans' worth of beans.
Additional Notable Hummus Websites
"THE BEST OIL FREE HUMMUS IN THE WORLD"
provides a vegan, oil-free recipe (process start time about 1:40). The
ingredients, which include the bean fluid, and blending procedure are
straight-forward. With using a high-speed blender; the outcome somewhat
resembles soft-serve ice cream, Storage in fridge is good for a week.
"Super Easy Hummus"
provides a straightforward food-processor recipe in text and also
embedded video link. The info is pleasingly compact. Excerpted: "I
usually end up using about half of the bean liquid, so be sure to
reserve it! ... Also, I like to let the flavors blend several hours or
overnight before serving this."
"3-Ingredient Hummus Recipe from Nazareth"
is a bit lengthy, and the ingredients amount to five. However, beans,
tahini, lemon juice, salt, and water are as minimalist for ingredients
as I've encountered in my recipe hunts.
"Easy Hummus (No Tahini)"
calls for natural, unsalted peanut butter as a replacement for tahini.
He uses a food processor that already contains chickpeas; thus, no
determination if the beans are skin-removed or not. The simple process
looks good, with ingredients captions, but is missing quantities.
A few weeks ago, I spotted a post on LinkedIn that pointed to "Homemade Hummus Dip".
Some comments gave me ideas for substitutions so I might avoid winding
up with excess, seldom-used ingredients. I needed to click "Read
Directions" button to see instructions, but was glad the website show both ingredient and instruction sections compactly.
My hummus recipe is blender based; numerous other recipes call for
using a food processor. Some replacements, considering ease of use or
longevity or both (varying ratios):
Vinegar (subbing for lemon juice)
Sesame oil (subbing for tahini)
Garlic powder (subbing for garlic cloves)
Vinegar
Most recipes call for lemon juice. One called for both vinegar and
lemon juice. I used vinegar because it's easy. I wanted to avoid
overtarting the hummus, so used less sour fluid than called for (2
tablespoons instead of 3). "Substitutes for Lemon Juice" lists the ratio of white vinegar to lemon juice at 1/2:1.
Sesame Oil
Two commenters at the "Homemade Hummus Dip"
website mentioned substituting the tahini with half the amount of
sesame oil. Besides using half the amount of sesame ingredient, fewer
calories and fluid.
Garlic Powder
Fresh garlic seems to show up in all hummus recipes I looked into.
Even though real garlic is more authentic flavor, I didn't want to buy
an entire garlic. I'd need to peel off three cloves, then hassle with
skinning them or smacking them with a blade to make skin removal easier.
Chunks would also need cutting up, chopping, slicing. or pulverizing.
Pouring garlic powder's easy—1/8 teaspoon per clove!
Omission: Olive Oil
I noticed that numerous recipes called for olive oil, added after
making the hummus. I omitted it as unnecessary and extra calories, even
if it is supposed to be healthy. (Eateries that I've gotten hummus at
don't pour it on.)
I noticed that numerous recipes called for olive oil, added after
making the hummus. I omitted it as unnecessary and extra calories, even
if it is supposed to be healthy. (Eateries that I've gotten hummus at
don't pour it on.)
Recipe Process
My video has the following sections in addition to overall info:
Ingredients
Implements
Bean processing (draining, rinsing, loosening and removing bean
skins, re-rinsing and re-draining). (Skinning the beans makes for
smoother hummus.)
Blending (liquids and powders first, then the beans)
Finishing up (pouring into server, sprinkling paprika, serving or storing, stats
Recipe Afterthoughts
The process for separating the beans from skins was more involved than I anticipated. Why remove the skins? "How I get the shells off cooked CHICKPEAS (easy) - Steven Heap" shows a method. The best reasons for skins removal is just before the 3-minute mark.
My bean skin removal process didn't go as quickly and thoroughly as
I'd hoped. For making hummus the next time, I'll use a deeper, bigger
bowl and strainer, and also use a slotted spoon and spatula.
The finished hummus (10 1/2 oz yield) poured out thinner than I
expected. Best to use less fluid at the onset. Be mindful of amount of
fluid called for and how substitutions might affect viscosity.
On the second day, water started to separate from the hummus. I
scooped the thicker stuff for consuming anyway. Ob the third day, I
poured the rest into my salad greens and tossed. Tasty!
Tried Whataburger pancakes? Yummy, quick, and economical! Know that you can buy Whataburger Pancake Mix at HEB? Have you tried making scratch pancakes? Also yummy, even more economical, but not quick! The scratch recipe, which I've used for many years (with slight occasional tweaks) comes from Pillsbury's Simply From Scratch Volume 2 booklet. This method of obtaining pancakes is yummy, slow, and economical, although surprisingly, more expensive that the Whataburger mix method.
Note: My article does not include info about other places that serve pancakes or other pancake mixes. (I do include a few links to scratch recipes farther down.)
Whataburger Pancakes—Buy at Restaurant
The least amount of effort for obtaining pancakes is going to Whataburger. The info doesn't state the diameter, but does state the calories as 720. Guessing the price might be less than $3, if available, as the pancake platter lists as $3.35. "Platter" indicates added sausage or bacon.
Whataburger Pancakes—Buy Powder and Make at Home
The next least effort for obtaining pancakes is making up a batch from Whataburger pancake powder. I bought a box (32 ounces) for $2.78. The batch had 2 cups of powder (~10 ounces) and 1 1/2 cup of water. One yield was 10 4" diameter cakes, another yield was 9 pancakes. OKaaaay. The box says that one serving is two 4" pancakes, totaling 180 calories—using 1/3 cup of powder.
The 32-ounce pancake mix uses the same ingredients and recipe used in Whataburger restaurants. Customers simply combine the mix with water and follow the instructions on the label to enjoy the light and fluffy Whataburger pancakes they love. Each package makes approximately 32 pancakes.
Um, the info conflicts with the package I bought, which claims 36 pancakes. Even weirder is the online two-package bundle info:
Two 1.75 lb (794g) pouches. Each pouch makes approximately 32 pancakes. ... Price: $14.99 (Yow! My one 32-oz box cost only $2.78.)
So now we have three stats for weight and estimated yield of pancakes:
2#, 32
2#, 36
1.75#, 32
Proportionally, the 2#/36 and 1.75#/32 match up for weight and yield.
By my calculations, a 3-pancake Whataburger restaurant stack (720 calories) equals 4—FOUR powder-mixed pancake servings. ¡Ay, caramba! But wait! If I used 4 as a multiplier for powder stats vs. restaurant stats, the sodium ratios look to be way out of whack—1650 for restaurant pancakes, and 2560 for the powder-made pancakes. In any case, those sodium stats are way high!
Alrighty then. Because I made the middle range number of pancakes, the total calories came to 1080, ~540 for each of two people. Feeling better already that those two plates have fewer calories than two restaurant pancake stacks. Of course, I'm ignoring the addition of calories because of butter-type spread and syrup. Comparison of price: ~$6 vs less than $1 ($2.78 divided by 3 batches) if you supply your own labor.
Now inching towards discussing scratch pancakes. I use a half recipe from the Pillsbury scratch booklet, and I tweak it with added vanilla and cinnamon. The table below shows ingredients (but not quantity) mapped to Whataburger's powder:
Ingredient
W
Scratch
Flour
y
y
Soy flour
y
n
Sugar
y
y
Dextrose
y
n
Whey
y
n
Sodium caseinate
y
n
Milk
n
y
Vinegar
n
y
Cooking oil (whatever's handy)
n
y
Palm oil
y
n
Sodium bi aka baking soda
y
y
Baking powder
n
y
Sodium acid pyrophosphate
y
n
Salt
y
y
Corn syrup solids
y
n
Monocalcium phosphate
y
n
Egg white
y
n
Egg
n
y
Dipotasium phosphate
y
n
Monglycerides
y
n
In light of the Whataburger powder having so many more ingredients than my scratch ingredients, I think when I finish off the powder, I'll not buy more. Instead, I'll consider experimenting with other brands' powders that have fewer ingredients.
Scratch Pancakes, Tweaked From Pillsbury's Simply From Scratch Volume 2 booklet
The following tables list the main ingredients for my batch of scratch pancakes for amounts, cost, calories, and sodium:
Dry Ingredient
Cost, Calories, Sodium
~1 cup flour
9¢ (1.68/5#, using 1/4#), 450, 3 mg
1 T sugar
2¢ (2.78/4#, using 1/128#), 50, 0 mg
1 t baking powder
2¢ (1.18/10oz, using 8/473 container), 0, 480 mg
1/2 t baking soda
0¢ (68/16oz, using 4/908 container), 0, 476 mg
1/2 t salt
0¢ (62/26oz, using 2/491 container), 0, 1180 mg
1 t cinnamon
6¢ (2.49/4oz, using 1/40 container), 6, 1 mg
Wet Ingredient
Cost, Calories, Sodium
1 cup nonfat milk
25¢ ($2/64oz, using 1/8 container), 80, 100 mg
1 T vinegar
1¢ (44/16oz, using 1/32 container), 0, 0 mg
2 T cooking oil
5¢ (2.38/48oz, using 1/48 container), 240, 0 mg
1 egg
17¢ ($2/dozen), 70, 70 mg
1 t vanilla extract
18¢ (2.67/1.5oz, using 1/15 container), 12, 0 mg
Main Recommended Instructions for Making Scratch Pancakes
Note that ingredients and quantities vary slightly from recipe to recipe.
Have a separate bowl for mixing dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients.
Grease or spray oil onto the pan or griddle.
Make sure the pan is hot enough before pouring batter into it.
For each pancake, watch for bubbles to emerge from the uncooked side before flipping it over.
I am unable to find the Pillsbury Simply From Scratch recipe that I use. If you are somewhat experienced in pancake making, you can glean my list of ingredients. The milk and vinegar substitutes for buttermilk. The actual measurement is 1 T vinegar and 1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon milk. Numerous scratch pancake recipes are available through Googling and YouTube searches. Visit the following sites for ideas:
Recipe that calls for nearly identical ingredients and amounts as mine (Scroll down about 1/3 of the screen for ingredients and instructions.) No Butter Homemade Pancakes
Clearly, the Whataburger mix, although more economical but requiring the less mixing effort than scratch pancakes, uses A LOT of sodium. Also, the powder includes more mystery ingredients than the scratch recipe does.
My profession had been technical writer/editor. Through TheWriteJob clublet (blog at http://thewritejob.blogspot.com), I have been exploring my inner creative writing, which includes mostly language enlightenment, entertainment, and a-muse-meant. Over time, I have become more active with images and my YouTube channel.
