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Hummus from Lebanon

Hummus

Silky chickpea and tahini dip pooled with olive oil. · Lebanon

📍 Nationwide ★ 4.6
Last updated Jul 21, 2026 · Reviewed by the WhatWhereVacay editorial team

Silky chickpea and tahini dip pooled with olive oil.

About Hummus

Hummus is a smooth, savoury purée of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic and salt, then loosened with a little of the bean cooking water until it turns pale and silky. Served in a shallow bowl, it is swirled into a well, flooded with fruity olive oil, and dusted with paprika, cumin or a scatter of whole chickpeas and chopped parsley. Warm pita is torn and used as the spoon, each scoop dragging up a ridge of oil-slicked purée.

Though it now travels the world as a supermarket dip, in the Levant hummus is a proper dish rather than a garnish — the anchor of the mezze table alongside tabbouleh, baba ganoush and crisp falafel, and a common breakfast when topped with warm chickpeas, browned pine nuts or spiced minced lamb. Its appeal is texture as much as flavour: the best versions are almost pourable, achieved by peeling the chickpeas or blending them while still hot. It pairs naturally with a shawarma wrap or simply a plate of pickles and raw onion.

🏛️ History & Culture

Chickpeas have been cultivated across the eastern Mediterranean and Fertile Crescent for thousands of years, and dishes of mashed pulses are ancient. The precise origin of hummus bi tahina — the specific pairing of chickpea purée with sesame paste — is unknown and warmly disputed among Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel and beyond. What is documented is that cookbooks compiled in 13th-century Cairo already describe cold chickpea purées seasoned with vinegar, herbs, nuts and spices, showing the idea circulated widely in the medieval Arab world.

In modern times hummus has become a point of national pride and even culinary rivalry — the so-called "hummus wars," in which Lebanese and Israeli cooks have competed to prepare record-breaking batches, with Lebanon claiming a multi-tonne bowl in 2010. Behind the headlines is a simpler truth: hummus is everyday food shared across the whole region, made a little differently in every home and hummusiya (a specialist hummus diner), where regulars debate the right ratio of tahini to lemon and whether garlic should be raw or mellowed.

As part of the mezze tradition, hummus carries the Levantine value of generous, communal eating — many small plates set out at once, meant to be lingered over and shared. Its global spread since the late 20th century has turned it into one of the most successful culinary exports of the Arab world, even as its heartland keeps treating it as honest, unpretentious daily fare.

🍳 How to make Hummus

AI-assisted, not kitchen-tested

Hummus bi Tahini (Lebanese Hummus)

A silky, pale purée of chickpeas and tahini — the cornerstone of the Lebanese mezze table. The secret lies in blending the beans while hot and loosening with their cooking water until it turns almost pourable.

Prep
15 min
Cook
90 min
Total
105 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy

Recipe ingredients

  • 250 g (9 oz (about 1½ cups)) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight; canned may be used but will be less silky
  • 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), for softening the chickpeas
  • 120 g (½ cup) good tahini, well-stirred; Lebanese or Palestinian style, not the dry, separated kind
  • 1 whole lemon, juiced, about 45 ml / 3 tbsp juice
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
  • 1 pinch ground cumin, optional, traditional in some Lebanese homes
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) ice water, to help the tahini emulsify and lighten
  • 60–120 ml (¼–½ cup) reserved chickpea cooking water, hot; this is the key to pourable texture
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) fruity extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika or ground cumin, for dusting
  • 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped, optional garnish
  • 4 whole warm pita breads, to serve

Steps

  1. 1 Place the soaked chickpeas in a large pot, cover with plenty of cold water, add the baking soda, and bring to a boil. Boil hard for 2 minutes, then drain and rinse well. This step is a traditional softening trick — discard the cloudy water.
  2. 2 Return the chickpeas to the pot, cover with fresh cold water by about 5 cm (2 inches), and simmer gently, partially covered, for 1 to 1½ hours, until the chickpeas are very tender and beginning to fall apart. Skim any foam. Do not add salt yet — it toughens the skins.
  3. 3 Reserve about 250 ml (1 cup) of the cooking water, then drain the chickpeas. For the silkiest texture, pinch each chickpea and slip off the loose skins; this is tedious but the traditional route to a velvety purée. A shortcut is to rub the drained chickpeas between clean tea towels.
  4. 4 While the chickpeas are still hot, blend the tahini, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt, and cumin in a food processor for 30 seconds until thick and pale. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the ice water and blend until the tahini loosens into a light, whipped cream.
  5. 5 Add the hot chickpeas and half the reserved cooking water to the processor. Blend for a full 2–3 minutes, stopping to scrape down, until completely smooth. Add more hot cooking water, a tablespoon at a time, until the hummus is almost pourable — it should ribbon off a spoon rather than mound.
  6. 6 Taste and adjust with more salt, lemon, or garlic. The hummus should taste bright, nutty, and savoury, not flat. Blend another 30 seconds to re-emulsify after any adjustment.
  7. 7 To serve: spread onto a shallow plate, using the back of a spoon to swirl a well in the centre. Pool the olive oil in the well, dust generously with paprika or cumin, and scatter parsley and a few whole chickpeas if you like.
  8. 8 Serve immediately with warm pita torn into pieces. Hummus is best eaten fresh and warm; leftovers keep 2 days in the fridge — loosen with a splash of water before serving.
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Ingredients
Steps

Hummus — frequently asked questions

What is Hummus?

Hummus is a smooth, savoury purée of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic and salt, then loosened with a little of the bean cooking water until it turns pale and silky. Served in a shallow bowl, it is swirled into a well, flooded with fruity olive oil, and dusted with paprika, cumin…

What is Hummus made of?

Hummus is made with chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic and olive oil.

Where does Hummus come from?

Hummus comes from Lebanon, and is especially associated with Nationwide. Chickpeas have been cultivated across the eastern Mediterranean and Fertile Crescent for thousands of years, and dishes of mashed pulses are ancient.

Where can I eat Hummus?

A Lebanese mezze spread, scooped with warm pita.

How do you make Hummus?

Making Hummus at home takes about 15 minutes of prep and 90 minutes of cooking. The recipe on this page serves 4 and is rated easy. Full ingredient list and step-by-step method are in the recipe section above.

→ More traditional dishes from Lebanon

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