Want a beautiful and delicious hummus platter idea? Meet your new favorite hummus from canned garbanzo beans: creamy basil hummus. In 15 minutes, you can make homemade hummus with herbs, tahini and chickpeas. Let’s make it!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Finish Time2 minutesmins
Total Time17 minutesmins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: basil hummus, basil hummus recipe, Hummus with herbs
Prepare canned chickpeas for hummus. Drain and rinse the chickpeas from the can in cold water. If desired, pull off thin white skin on as many beans as possible. The hummus will be creamier without white skins from chickpeas.
Roast garlic for hummus. (This step of roasting garlic for hummus isn’t required but in my opinion, tastes better than using raw garlic which can be bitter.) Heat a small skillet on the stove to medium heat. Slowly add garlic and olive oil and stir regularly for about 3 minutes while garlic roasts in the pan. Remove from the heat and transfer to a small bowl before garlic starts to brown. Garlic will be translucent and fragrant. Reserve the garlic oil pan for the next step.
Toast walnuts. To the same pan the garlic roasted in, add the walnuts. Turn heat to medium and stir walnuts regularly as they toast for about 2 minutes, before they burn. Turn off heat and set aside.
Blend chickpeas. Set aside 1 tbsp of fresh chickpeas to garnish the hummus platter with later. Add drained chickpeas and garlic olive oil to bowl of a food processor and process for 2 minutes, pausing every 30 seconds to scrape down the hummus from the side of the food processor.
Blend all basil hummus ingredients. Add walnuts, tahini and lemon juice and zest then process for 30 seconds, scraping down the hummus, then process for another 30 seconds. Add to the food processor: basil leaves, water, salt and pepper. Blend 1-2 minutes more, scraping down the hummus from the sides every 30 seconds, until smooth. Taste test and check the consistency. If basil hummus is too thick, add ½ tbsp more water at a time and process again until it’s your desired consistency.
Plate and garnish hummus. Transfer to a large serving bowl and use a spoon to carve wells into hummus. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with extra chickpeas and sesame seeds, and top with lemon wedges and basil leaves.
Make toasts
Set a burner on the stove to medium or medium high heat. If using a large double grill pan, turn on two burners. Add grill pan or cast iron skillet or frying pan to burner(s).
Either brush the olive oil directly on the pan, then add toasts, or brush bread with olive oil on both sides then add toasts to the pan. Mix together garlic powder and salt and sprinkle on top of olive-oil coated toasts.
Every 1-2 minutes, flip toasts until they turn golden brown on both sides. Some will be done faster than others, so move them to a cooling plate. Continue flipping toasts until done grilling.
Assemble hummus platter
Add the bowl of hummus to the center of a large serving platter. Add celery and carrot sticks and finish plating with grilled bread. Serve with a large spoon and enjoy.