*This post may contain affiliate links. Read more »
Is beet hummus better than regular hummus in general? Maybe. Is it the best possible condiment for a fancy avocado toast? Almost definitely. Plus this one takes very little skill and can be done in either a blender or food processor, so let's go!
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
Freshly toasted cumin and coriander seeds, a hit of Aleppo pepper, and enough lemon to keep the darned hummus as complex and alive tasting as possible. You have encountered the holy grail of pretty spreads.
When I first started working in restaurants as a teenager, I was working in the prep kitchen at the soon to open restaurant Ouest on the upper west side of Manhattan. Tom Valenti, the first chef I worked under tasked me with making the daily hummus that would go out on the tables with artisan breads.
As someone with almost no experience, I was amazed when he trusted me to make it without a recipe. He showed me how to make it, and would stop for us both to taste it along the way. He helped me understand that great hummus (and cooking in general) is a balancing act.
Here between the balance of sweetness from tahini, and acidity from lemon, fattiness from olive oil, and protein from the chickpeas, the delicate balance of seasonings and spices, he taught me how perfect food comes together when the ingredients are so well balanced by each other that they became truly invisible on their own. And a new flavor and experience was born that was greater than the sum of the hummus' parts.
That principle's deeply in play with this recipe, and so I recommend tasting this when it comes together, and seeing if because of the juiciness of your lemons, or quality of your tahini, or just how sweet the beets roasted up, if things need some small adjustments to be perfect for your taste.
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this red beet hummus recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like any normal hummus, there's no animal stuff of any kind to be found. It's one of the gluten-free vegan recipes that no one will think is even a little weird for containing no dairy or wheat.
🥫 Weeknight Friendly (Mostly): The beet needs about 50 minutes in the oven, which is about all you need to get the rest of dinner thrown together. Canned chickpeas handle the rest, so once the beet is roasted, the processor does the remaining work in about 3 minutes.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: All my Middle Eastern recipes are perfected with feedback from over 1,000 dedicated recipe testers from all around the world.
🤘Learn to make killer vegan Middle Eastern food
This guide to my most popular plant-based Middle Eastern recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🌶️ Red Beet Hummus Ingredients
Fresh Beet
Use red or orange beets for this. One medium beet, about 4 to 5 ounces, roasted until completely soft. If you can find pre-roasted beets, just use a medium sized one, and lightly sauté the garlic so that you can throw this whole thing together in under 10 mins without having to even turn on the oven.
Cumin Seeds
The wild mountain cumin from Burlap and Barrel is my desert-island pick for cumin seeds in pretty much any recipe. The seeds are slender and hit-yourself-over-the-head-with-a-frying-pan fragrant, and in even a crappy blender they disappear right into the hummus.
Regular cumin seeds work fine, and cumin powder gets the job done in a pinch. But the wild mountain variety is genuinely worth seeking out if you cook with cumin a lot.
Get my fave cumin seeds for free!
Using this link, add the wild mountain cumin to your cart, spend at least $15 on some of the other absurdly good spices from Burlap & Barrel (they all seriously slap) and the bottle of this bangin' wild mountain cumin becomes FREE, and you will love it so much.
Aleppo Pepper Flakes
Aleppo pepper flakes rock a mild, fruity heat that sits quietly underneath the sweetness of the beet without overpowering it. Smoked paprika swaps in with an obviously smokier taste, but gochugaru is probably my fave sub for Aleppo pepper.
Grab a whole bag of Aleppo pepper flakes and got no clue WTF they are for? It's a pretty essential seasoning for making acılı ezme, muhammara, and zaalouk- ALL of which you will friggin' adore if you are already looking at this hummus recipe anyway.
The Chickpeas
I recommend using chickpeas in a BPA free can. Drain and rinse them well to get rid of the aquafaba (or save that stuff for making vegan knishes).
If you want to use dried chickpeas- soak about ½ cup of chickpeas overnight. Drain them and simmer over medium heat for about 50 minutes with plenty of water and a pinch of baking soda to break down the skins. Drain them well once they are tender and use about 1 ⅓ cup of them in place of the canned chickpeas. I demonstrate the whole process for this in my Israeli hummus recipe.
Tahini
I am talking about tahini paste, not a flavored tahini sauce such as tarator here. I prefer a runnier tahini paste that is already nice and smooth, and slightly sweet tasting.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Harissa Hummus
Harissa hummus is smoky, spiced-just-enough (but not gonna kill anyone), and loaded with subtle citrus goodness. I make mine with homemade harissa paste, but feel free to use store-bought if you already have some.
Lemon Hummus
Lemon hummus cranks up the citrus until it's the most prominent dimension of the hummus flavor, without being obnoxious. I use plenty of lemon zest in mine too.
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
My roasted red pepper hummus is also pinkish, but nowhere near the Barbie zone as this beet one. Anyway, it's a recipe that disappears lightning fast at every potluck or party I've ever brought it to.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
📖How to make roasted beet hummus
The oven handles the hardest part while you handle doing absolutely nothing (ok maybe making the rest of your din din), and the food processor takes care of the rest. Follow the steps and tips below, or jump straight to the recipe card if you have done this before and just need the numbers.
Step One
Beet-le Juice:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Peel the beet and poke it all over with a fork so the heat can get in there.
Step Two
Curses, Foiled Again:
Set the beet and 5 peeled garlic cloves on a piece of foil, rub everything with olive oil and salt, and wrap it up tightly.
Step Three
Roast Ghost
Roast the foil packet for 50-55 minutes until the beet is completely tender when you slide a knife through it. Let it cool enough to handle, then quarter the beet so your blender or food processor has an easier time dealing with it.
Step Four
I'm Cumin Up, I Want the World to Know:
While the beet roasts, toss the cumin and coriander seeds into a dry skillet over low-medium heat. Stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes, just until they smell warm and toasty. Move them to a small bowl immediately so they do not keep cooking in the hot pan.
Step Five
Blend Times:
Drop the roasted beet into a food processor or blender along with the roasted garlic, chickpeas, toasted spices, Aleppo pepper flakes, lemon juice, tahini olive oil and salt. Run it for 2 minutes until it pulls together and gets super-smooth.
If your blender struggles add in up to 3 tablespoons of water until it reaches the consistency you like.
Step Six
Purple Reign:
Spoon it into a serving bowl, swoosh the surface, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil, a few torn mint leaves, a sprinkle of za'atar, and chopped parsley.
💡Serving Ideas
Warm pita, homemade kuboos, or bolani straight off the frying is the first thing reaching for this bowl other than your 200-year old jewel bedazzled boney finger, your wild-ass Crypt Keeper hummus freak.
A few other mezze dippy things that couple go great serve with this hummus and sour pita chips are: toum (the Lebanese garlic dip), mutabal (or its more well-known cousin baba ganoush), matbucha (the Jewish Moroccan tomato salad), or zhoug (the spicy parsley sauce that it kinda amazing on TOP of any hummus you pair it with).
👉Top tips
- Poke the Beet Deeply: Pricking the beet at least a few millimeters deep all over with a fork lets heat penetrate evenly and speeds up the roasting. Skip this and it takes too damn long to cook through for no good reason at all.
- If the Beet's Still Warm: Use ice cubes in place of water also aerates the hummus and whips it into a lighter, fluffier texture while cooling the hummus quickly.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
The food processor handles them. Once the seeds are toasted, toss them straight into the processor with everything else, and the blending takes care of grinding them down. No extra equipment needed.
It probably needs more time in the processor, especially if the beet wasn't exactly perfectly tender when you got impatient and started blending.
Give it a full 2 to 3 minutes, scraping the sides as you go, or switch to a high speed blender to get it a little nicer. Beet fibers can be stubborn, so if it is still gritty, a splash more water and another minute of blending usually sorts it out.
Probably. Beets are committed to leaving their mark. Wear something you do not care about, and wipe down your cutting board and processor quickly after blending. A little lemon juice or white vinegar on a cloth helps lift fresh beet stains from surfaces.
Add more Aleppo pepper flakes, stir in a spoon of harissa paste, or blend in a spoonful of fermented shatta sauce.
If you aren't super-hung-up on being "authentic" another good move would be plending in a spoonful of chipotles in adobo.
🧊 In the Fridge
Sealed in an airtight container, it keeps for up to 5 days. The color actually deepens as it sits, so day 2 somehow looks even more dramatic than day 1. Stir in a splash of water if it firms up.
❄️ In the Freezer
It freezes well for up to 3 months. Leave a little room for expansion, smooth a thin layer of olive oil over the surface, and seal it tight.
🌡️ Bringing It Back
Thaw overnight in the fridge, then stir well and add a splash of water or lemon juice if it needs loosening. IF the texture no longer looks super-sexy, just re-blend it briefly again.
✌️You'll also love these vegan Middle Eastern recipes:
Learn the secrets to perfect falafel in this fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Beet Hummus Recipe
Equipment
- blender (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 fresh beet (medium size- 4-5 oz.), scrubbed and dried
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes (or smoked paprika)
- 15 oz canned chickpeas drained
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ⅓ cup tahini paste
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
- 3 tablespoons water optional
Optional Garnishes:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 6 mint leaves
- 1 teaspoon za'atar
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Peel the beet and prick it all around with the tines of a sharp fork to make it easier for heat to penetrate.
- Place the beet and garlic cloves on a small sheet of foil, rub all over with olive oil and salt. Wrap tightly and roast for 50-55 minutes until the beet is completely tender when pierced with a knife. Once cool enough to handle, peel the beet and roughly chop it.
- While the beet roasts, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry skillet over low-medium heat, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes just until fragrant. Transfer immediately to a small bowl to stop the cooking.
- Cut the roasted beet into quarters and add it along with the roasted garlic to a food processor. Add the chickpeas, toasted spices, Aleppo pepper flakes, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil and salt. Process for about 2 minutes, scraping down the inside of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula until the hummus is smooth.
- If your blender is struggling, add up to 3 tablespoons of water while blending until the hummus reaches consistency you like.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and top with a drizzle of olive oil, mint leaves, a sprinkle of za'atar, and chopped parsley.
Notes
Prick the beet as deep as a centimeter, or at least few millimeters all over with a fork before roasting. This lets the heat penetrate evenly and speeds things along considerably. 🧊 Ice Cold Hummus
If the beet is still warm when you're ready to blend, swap the water for ice cubes instead. The ice cools the hummus down fast while also aerating it, giving you a lighter, fluffier texture in the same step.
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
Leave a Reply