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How to Make Really Creamy Hummus Without Peeling the Chickpeas

Is there a trick to achieving really creamy hummus without having to peel the chickpeas?

Chickpeas, like all beans, have skins. When beans are fully cooked, the skins slip off easily (although it’s still tedious to peel them all). in the test kitchen, we’ve found that processing cooked (or canned) chickpeas first with garlic and spices and then adding our wet ingredients helps pulverize the skins for maximum smoothness. Once the chickpeas are very smooth, we add water and lemon juice to the food processor. Finally, with the appliance still running, we slowly add olive oil and tahini, emulsifying the chickpea mixture with the oil, a step that makes our hummus extra-creamy. admittedly, our version isn’t quite as smooth as hummus made with skinned chickpeas, but it’s an awful lot easier and the difference between the two is pretty negligible. if you must have absolutely 110 percent smooth hummus without all the work of peeling the chickpeas, instead pass the finished hummus through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing it through the holes with a rubber spatula or bowl scraper.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Pulverizing unpeeled chickpeas in the food processor before adding the wet ingredients will yield smooth hummus with less hassle. For extra-smooth hummus, press it through a fine-mesh strainer.

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