Last fall, my friend Danielle came into town for the weekend and we had a girls’ wine tasting day in Temecula. We had a picnic at one of the wineries, and I had brought apples, cheese, pretzels, almonds, pumpkin bread, and a new flavor of hummus from Sabra called Lemon Twist:
We pretty much housed the entire container of delicious hummus into our wine-filled bellies, and I made a mental note to try to recreate lemon twist hummus at home.
Last week, my favorite HIIT studio, The Fit Mill, hosted a membership event where we worked out, then enjoyed snacks & wine afterwards. I recently began partnering with The Fit Mill with my health coaching biz, and for the occasion I whipped up a few of my recipes. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a copycat lemon twist hummus. 
But first, I had to figure out the secret to super creamy hummus. I’ve posted a few hummus recipes on the blog before, and while I obviously love them, have always found that homemade hummus doesn’t have as creamy of a texture as store-bought or restaurant style hummus. Why is that?! I scoured the Internet to found out.
Besides using a ton of tahini, it turns out that one of the tricks to creamy hummus lies not within adding anything in, but taking something out: the chickpeas skins!
It seems laborious, but removing the skins off a can of garbanzo beans takes about 10 minutes. You gently squeeze the bean and the skin just pops off. And ooh la la, it is worth the effort! My hummus experiments resulted in super smooth, creamy, lemon twist hummus. Trust me, I will be doing this with every batch of hummus I make from now on! You simply must try it.
So what’s in this hummus? We’ve got good old chickpeas, some tahini, lemon juice + lemon zest, fresh parsley from my herb garden, a bit of sea salt and pepper, water added to thin out the consistency, and optional olive oil for drizzling on top at the end if you’d like. 
Once your beans have been de-skinned (I might be making up words here), you just throw all of the ingredients into the food processor, and turn that baby on until the mixture transforms into a creamy dream of hummus. I love the Mediterranean flair of fresh lemon and parsley in the mix!
Hummus is great as a healthy dip for house parties, especially for football watching (Helloooo Superbowl in 2 weeks!). I also like to throw some in my wraps or spread it on toast for an extra veggie + flavor boost.
My favorite dippers for this hummus are Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips or Lundberg Farms Sea Salt Rice Chips. So good! Baby carrots are a good low calorie dipper option.
Copycat Lemon Twist Hummus
Ingredients
- 1-15 oz can chickpeas
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Juice from 1/2 medium lemon
- Zest from 1/2 medium lemon
- 5 TBSP water
- 1 TBSP fresh parsley roughly chopped
- 1/4 TSP sea salt
- 1/8 TSP pepper
- Olive oil for drizzling optional
Instructions
- Remove the skins from the chickpeas by gently squeezing each bean so that the skin pops off. This takes about 10 minutes, but is worth the effort! It makes the hummus creamier.
- Discard the skins, and place the chickpeas in a food processor. Add in the remaining ingredients, and pulse on high for 15 seconds. Scrape down the mixture from the bowl, and pulse again until the mixture forms a smooth, creamy hummus.
- Pour into a bowl, and serve with your favorite dippers!
- Optional: Drizzle olive oil on top of the hummus before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
Tell me… Hummus – love it, like it, hate it, never tried it? Have you ever removed the skins from the chickpeas when making hummus?
MMM…this does look super creamy!! I’ve tried popping the skins off and it does make a big difference. It’s tedious but I agree that it’s worth it!
YES, I’m totally going to pop the skins off every single time I make hummus from now on!
Love hummus! My favorite is roasted red pepper with chiles added in for a kick so good!
Roasted red pepper hummus is one of my favorites too! Don’t think I’ve ever tried hummus with chiles, but I’m a spice baby so my mouth would probably be on fire 😉
I really CANNOT be left alone with a vat of hummus. NOpe. NOOOO!!! HA! I mean, unless the goal is for me to EAT IT ALL.
You and me both! I can’t be trusted with pita chips either… They are just so addictive!
I love any kind of hummus, but especially hummus that is bursting with lemon. The more lemon the better!
I agree, fresh lemon is the best! My favorite homemade salad dressing is simply fresh lemon + olive oil + white balsamic + mixed up salt… so easy and fresh!
Simply delicious!
I totally agree on removing the skins. It makes a HUGE difference. I love all the lemon in this – I always add extra to mine too. 🙂
It’s such an interesting little trick right! I’m just wondering why I didn’t know about popping off the skins years ago…
I’m in awe of those bean skins! This looks UNREAL! Well done.
Thanks lady! There really is an art to popping off the bean skins 😉
This is such a simple recipe but it looks so delicious. I love hummus so much and I have not made it in ages. I need to get on that asap!
You should totally give this one a try then, Britt! Hummus is the bomb!
This looks like the perfect recipe for me to learn to make hummus. Sabra Lemon Twist is my favorite. I am wondering if you can double the recipe with the same results.. … Thanks so much for posting this.
Absolutely, double away! 🙂 You may just need to scrape down the sides of the food processor a few more times since it will be fuller if you double it.
I was so happy to find this copycat recipe – exactly like the Sabra version.
Removing the skins is the only way I’ll make hummus now!
Thanks so much for commenting, Ellie! So happy to hear that you enjoy this recipe. Removing the skins is definitely worth the effort!