Tomato-Pesto Hummus - Gluten-and-Dairy-Free
Tart tomato paste and rich, savory basil pesto blend with chickpeas and tahini for a tangy, addictive hummus appetizer. Easy, tasty, gluten and dairy free. Make it for your next snack offering!
Servings 2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas or one 15 ounce can, drained and liquid (aquafaba) reserved
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 teaspoon pink sea salt
- ⅓ cup tahini
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 ½ tablespoons pesto or chopped fresh basil, see note
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Chopped fresh tomatoes and pesto for garnish about 2 tablespoons each
Instructions
- Blend chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, and sea salt in a food processor until the chickpeas and garlic are chopped fine, about 20 seconds.
- Add tahini, tomato paste, pesto or basil, and nutritional yeast.
- Blend again while drizzling olive oil into the mixture until smooth, about 20-30 seconds more depending on your food processor (a small immersion style food processor may need more time).
- The hummus will not be as smooth as if you used a blender, but you won’t get a bubble around the hummus as often happens around the blade of a blender.
- If the hummus is thicker than you prefer, add some of the aquafaba to thin it. The hummus will thicken slightly when refrigerated. Hummus will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days.
Notes
If you don’t want to make a whole batch of pesto to get the ¼ cup or so to add to this hummus, you can achieve nearly as much flavor by using 2-3 tablespoonfuls (packed) of fresh basil, which is about 2-3 stems in a grocery-store pack. Using basil instead of prepared pesto also ensures a nut-free recipe.
We enjoy tomato-pesto hummus with some pesto blended in and some drizzled on top. If you want to make your own pesto, my dairy-free pesto recipe is soon to be published separately, but the short version is to blend these ingredients in your food processor: this will yield two cups.
- 2 cups packed fresh basil (large stems removed)
- 3 tablespoons macadamias, pine nuts or walnuts (if you need a nut-free pesto, use sunflower or hemp seeds)
- 3 large cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
- 3-4 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (plus more to taste)
- 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil