Hummus is one of those dishes that is extremely versatile and is perfect to bring to summer BBQ's or take with you camping. It is very tasty and compliments many other appetizers from breads to veggies. Plus, it is both gluten free & vegan which accounts for many dietary restrictions.

I personally love this as an afternoon snack with some carrots, and often make double batches because it keeps well in the refrigerator.

This method uses a no fuss, one cup Magic Bullet or Nutribullet blender making it super quick and easy to whip up with very little mess or clean up.

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients and Tools

The ingredients are pretty simple, and you may find you already have them on hand!

Ingredients

1 cup dried OR 1 can of chickpeas
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
1 lemon (lemon zest and juice)
1-3 cloves garlic (depending on preference)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
Pepper, to taste

Tools

A Nutribullet or Magic Bullet blender (or food processor will also work)
A fine grater (or rasp) - (or a cheese grater could also work)

Step 2: Prepare Chickpeas - Optional If Using Dried Chickpeas

If you are using canned chickpeas - feel free to head to the next step!

If you plan to make this often, dried chickpeas can be more economical and have the advantage of avoiding added sodium.

How to prepare dried chickpeas:

Rinse 1 cup of dried chickpeas thoroughly with cold water.
Put rinsed chickpeas in a bowl, cover with cold water and soak overnight (if you have less time, you can soak for 2-4 hours with similar results).
Once soaked, put chickpeas in a saucepan and bring to a boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Watch it carefully, it will often try to boil over when unattended, leaving you with a mess!
After 10 minutes, cover and put heat on low to simmer for 60 minutes, or until tender.

Step 3: Combine Your Ingredients

Combine chickpeas, olive oil, and water in the small cup of your Nutribullet / Magic Bullet blender (or food processor).

Next, grate 1/2 a lemon rind (about 1-2 TBSP) into the cup and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.

Add the garlic cloves by grating them. Grating is optional, as the blender will take care of it, but I've found the flavour of garlic is often better when grated.

Incorporate the spices (cumin, salt, & pepper).

Step 4: Blend, Adjust to Your Tastes and Enjoy!

Once your ingredients are combined, put on the blade on and blend continously, stopping once you have a smooth consistency.

The best part about hummus is you can make it to your tastes. So, if you like your hummus with more zing, zip, spice you may want to adjust the flavour to suit you. See tips below to get you started.

A few tips:

If it is too thick, or having trouble blending, add a little more water
If it is not flavourful enough, add some salt and perhaps some more cumin
If you prefer zing, add more lemon (and even more zest)
If you prefer spicy, add some cayenne or even a dash of hot sauce!

Some of the spice amounts I've suggested are a good start, but are fairly conservative for me. I personally love garlic and lemon so I happily use a full lemon (zest and juice) and throw in another small clove of garlic! I would not however, serve so much garlic to guests, so keep that in mind too as you make your adjustments.

Taking this to a BBQ? try this:

If you are serving this to guests and want to go the extra mile for presentation you can put it in a nice bowl, drizzle a little more olive oil, put a small lemon slice on and sprinkle some paprika on it for a bit of colour. Serve with carrots, celery and other dip-able veggies and / or warm pita bread.

Want to take hummus camping? try this:

Put your hummus in a ziploc bag and in another container such as your pot set in order to avoid puncturing it. This makes it extremely easy to pack in and out with minimal garbage while taking up relatively little space. When you're ready to eat it, you can make a small cut off a corner in order to easily squeeze it onto your veggies or breads without any extra mess or waste. Mmm!