Hummus from Garbanzo Bean Flour
Dec 17, 2010, Updated Oct 03, 2017
For Thanksgiving dinner my brother-in-law made some awesome Vegetarian “Chicken” Italian Sausages. They required a handful of ingredients he doesn’t normally stock, such as vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and garbanzo bean flour
. Since he has little no intention of making those sausages again (being from a traditional Italian family, he thought they were a failure; yet all the vegetarians in the house loved ’em), he gladly gave us the remaining “hippie” ingredients.
Not quite sure what to do with the garbanzo flour, I figured I’d try the recipe on the back of the bag: Hummus! I had no idea that one could make hummus from garbanzo flour (I’d always started with whole garbanzo beans), but if it’s a recipe on the back of a Bob’s Red Mill bag, it’s bound to be good.
Sure enough, it is! It came out creamier than my usual hummus. Then again, this was the first time I’ve used my new immersion blender
, so that might have something to do with it? (I still don’t have a proper food processor, or the counter space for one. My blender works reasonably well to make hummus, but it’s a bit of a hassle.)
The biggest advantage I see to making hummus from the flour instead of the bean is that it’s cost-effective. For 3/4 cup of hummus flour (which barely made a dent in the bag), I ended up with about a quart of hummus. Using canned garbanzos would be much more expensive. If you started with bulk, dried garbanzos, it might be a bit closer in price, but then again, you’d have to soak them overnight…
So, it’s my pleasure to present this recipe to you today — because nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a plate of garlic hummus!
A note for beginner cooks: I think hummus is a wonderful way to get a feel for cooking — it’s tough to mess up! Although you’ll want to get the water/flour proportions correct, beyond that most of the ingredients can — and should — be adjusted to taste. I like more tahini in my hummus, so I simply add more. You might like more garlic, dill, or other seasonings (try red bell peppers or red chili flakes!), so why not give it a try?
Garbanzo Bean Flour Hummus
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
- 2-3 large garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 1/2 cup tahini sesame seed paste
- Juice of one lemon, about 1/4 cup
- 1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce, optional
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, optional
- 1/2 tsp. dill, optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- dash of paprika powder, for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the water to boil. Whisk the garbanzo bean flour into the boiling water (don't worry if it gets a little clumpy). Cook on medium-high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook another 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Let cool.
- Transfer the garbanzo bean paste into the bowl of a food processor, pitcher of a blender, or a large bowl if using an immersion blender. Add the garlic, broth, tahini, lemon juice, and tabasco sauce. Blend or purée until smooth.
- Mix in the cumin, dill, salt, and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil while blending/processing/immersing until it's blended well. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more broth or olive oil.
- Scrape into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let set for at least an hour, then give it a taste. Add more lemon juice, salt, pepper, or herbs as desired.
- When serving, spoon onto a small plate, drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika... 'cause that's how they do it at Pita Inn.
Mine ended up being kind of gelatinous, flavor is good, but just an odd texture….
Mine did too
I just put a batch of this in the fridge and I have to say, in my fifteen years of making hummus… this is THE. BEST. BATCH. EVER. Thank you so much for posting this!
Great recipe! I used our immersion blender and it was creamy and flavorful. Easier to prepare than using dried chickpeas.
The Bob’s Red Mill site says the recipe is on the package, but the enlargements of the pictures do not show it. I think this is the recipe: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=866
I used chicken broth and various spices instead of the Tabasco (I don’t like vinegar in hummus).
Bill
I saw the garbanzo bean flour and picked it up on a whim, and came home & Googled “Hummus from garbanzo bean flour” and found this.
Ironically, there isn’t a hummus recipe on MY bag of Bob’s Red Mill GB flour.
Thanks for posting this.
my vote is DEFINITELY “thumbs down” 🙁
I was really excited to try this (I’ve been making hummus for years the right way – only from dried beans/soaked/cooked, never canned — although I’ve helped others using canned beans, so I’m familiar with the taste).
This has a VERY distinct strange taste, so I tested all my other ingredients for ‘freshnest’…then I tasted some of the garbanzo bean flour – BINGO! THAT is the strange taste – and it’s none too pleasant for someone that really likes/knows good hummus.
I was REALLY hoping this would be (at least) acceptable, as it’d save me tons of time. But hubby agrees – it’s a waste of the other ingredients.
‘Sorry to be a downer, but I hope I’ve saved someone some time & money.
Kristi, I wonder if your GF flour was old or rancid. My GF flour has almost no taste, very bland. And I am sitting here at the computer eating my batch of hummus made with this flour. It is fine and has no funny aftertaste. Bummer about your bad batch!
I do wonder if toasting the flour in a dry skillet prior to cooking would make much of a difference?? It might be worth a try…..
Michele – That Socca recipe sounds amazing. I had never heard of Socca before, so thanks for introducing me! I’ll have to give it a try, for sure.
Bonnie – I hadn’t thought of it, either! I credit Bob’s Red Mill’s good sense to put that recipe on the back of the package.
Kristy – Not sure how they do it in the Med… but I do think that the creaminess is likely from the flour instead of whole beans. Mine actually came out a little thinner than I would have liked — so you may want to go just a little heavier on the flour than the recipe calls, since it’s much easier to thin it than thicken it. Let us know how yours turns out!
*IF* you would like a reallllly creamy humus when cooking your beans from scratch, I suggest you put a pinch or more [depending on how big a batch of beans you are cooking] of baking soda into the beans when you cook them. When you do this, the beans cook VERY SOFT and when blended are super smooth…..
Is that how come the stuff in Medeterian places is so creamy, they use garbanzo flour? I always wondered why I can never seem to get it as creamy as they do there. I will have ot try this for sure, we love hummus and this will be a lot cheaper and probably healthier than buying it in the deli case to get the creamy hummus. Thanks!
To get a fairly creamy hummus from regular garbanzos you need to basically emulsify the oil, tahini and water into the beans after pureeing them in the food processor. Do this with the processor running and it will become very creamy – got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated – works very well and improves the flavor IMHO.
If you put a pinch of baking soda in the beans when you cook them, they cook up VERY soft and will blend up super smooth….
That is different. I wouldn’t have thought of using garbanzo beans flour. I will definitely try this.
Socca is another awesome use for garbanzo bean flour. This is Mark Bittman’s recipe for Socca, I use it for reference when I make mine. Since I am watching my calories, I only used 3 Tablespoons of olive oil and it’s still good but doesn’t melt in your mouth like the real thing. He’s not kidding about the pepper, the more the better. I usually skip the rosemary and onion in favor of a teaspoon of cumin, which is how I enjoyed it in Nice. Socca (Farinata) Time: 45 minutes 1 cup chickpea flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon, at least, ground black pepper 4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced, optional 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, optional. 1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a well-seasoned or nonstick 12-inch pizza pan or cast-iron skillet in oven. Sift chickpea flour into a bowl; add salt and… Read more »
Thanks for sharing, Michele. I originally bought garbanzo bean flour for hummus, but I have over half the package left even after two large batches. I can’t wait to put the flour to another use!