This bright pink Beetroot Hummus is a fun and vibrant dip that is full of flavour. Scroll down for the recipe.
Growing beetroot
For the last 6 months or so, Jon and I have been busy working away on our garden. When we bought our house the outside space was a huge draw. It was big, but not too big. It came with established raspberry and blackcurrant bushes, as well as two miniature apple trees. And, despite being overgrown, it had ample space for two long vegetable patches to be dug on either side of the lawn.
By the end of [April] we had dug the first patch. Brussells, broccoli and leeks were planted along with lots and lots of beetroot. Initially it didn’t look like the plants had taken. There was very little sign of growth and then when they did they grew on top of the soil. Not quite what we had expected but at least we could see how big they were getting.
Beetroot is actually incredibly easy to grow and provided you have removed any large stones and keep them well watered you should have beetroot somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball within 3 months of planting.
Ours have taken a teeny bit longer than that but I’ll admit we didn’t water them quite as often as we should! That being said, just this weekend I picked our first crop of this colourful root vegetable.
Cooking beetroot
One of the best things about beetroot is undoubtedly it’s colour. But, when preparing and cooking beetroot it can be an absolute pain. I love beetroot boiled, roasted and even eaten raw but the colour transfers on to EVERYTHING!
For this recipe I both boil AND roast them. Simplt twist the leaves to remove them from the root and chuck into a pan. By not chopping off the tops or bottom you should avoid getting pink all over your hands (at this stage anyway).
You could skip the roasting part and just boil them until tender but I think you’re missing out on extra flavour if you do this. Par-boiling them just gives ou a helping hand in peeling them and ultimately saves you time.
So, once they are cooked peel them and roast them. You’re going to get messy doing this but it’s worth it.
Hummus
The first thing I made with our home grown beetroot was actually a roasted beetroot and chickpea sheet pan meal. It had sumac, aubergines, onions and halloumi. The roasted beetroot and chickpea went so well together I knew they’d make a fantastic beetroot hummus.
I’m sure most of you know that hummus as well as being a staple food in my diet, is normally made with chickpeas that are blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.
I used to leave out tahini when making hummus as I wasn’t a huge fan of it on its own. But a hummus without tahini is often distinctly lacking something and so beetroot hummus or regalr hummus, I have to include just a little of this sesame sauce in my recipe.
Cumin and paprika are also slightly unusual additions but work really well with the earthiness of the beetroot. A drizzle of pomegranate molasses over the top also works wonders to bring out the sweetness in the beetroot.
The recipe
Ingredients
- 250-300g beetroot (about 2 medium to large), left whole, skins scrubbed
- 400g tin cooked chickpeas, rinsed & drained
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 2 lemons (see notes)
- Pinch ground paprika
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- Olive oil, about 2-3 tbsp
- Salt & pepper
- Pomegranate molasses, toasted sesame seeds and mint leaves to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Boil the beetroot whole until just tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Drain and leave to cool.
- Once cool enought to touch enough to handle, then rub off the skins (they should come away quite easily).
- Drizzle with a little olive oil, place in a pre-heated oven at 180C and roast for 30 minutes.
- Once soft, leave to cool completely before roughly chopping and placing in a food blender along with the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, juice of 1 lemon, the paprika and cumin.
- Blitz to a coarse paste, then gradually add the olive oil (keeping the food processor blitzing slowly) until a thick, smooth dip has formed.
- Add salt and pepper to taste along with a little more lemon juice if you prefer.
- Finally, stir through the greek yogurt and add the garnish.
Serve with…
I like to serve my Beetroot Hummus with a warm, wholemeal pitta. I’ve not quite mastered making them myself yet so they will be store bought – please forgive me!
It also tastes fantastic smeared in a falafel wrap or simply as a dip for crudite.
How will you eat yours?
Pin it for later!
Only just planted your beetroot? Make sure you pin the recipe for my Hummus Beetroot now! You’ve only got 90 more days to wait…
Just over the colour of this hummus Emma! I spotted it on IG earlier and had to come and get the recipe. I got a bunch of fresh beetroot for 25 p yesterday so now I know what I’ll be making with it!! Will definitely try the technique of boiling then roasting, thanks for the great top.
WOW! Bargain beetroot or what! Enjoy 😀 we managed to eat our batch in just 2 sittings lol. Didn’t last long at all 🙂
I love adding beetroot to hummus – the earthy flavour it gives is unique!
Isn’t it just Heidi! I’m obsessed at the mo.
Used to grow my own stuff but never root vegetables because the soil was like clay. I would love to try homegrown beetroot, bet the flavour is so much better than store-bought that can sometimes be tasteless.
Ah yes, clay like soil is not ideal! The side we grew ours on was not as soft as we would have liked. Turns out when we dug our second vegetable patch it was much more suited to root veggies. You live and learn!
Oh wow! The colour is just amazing! It looks so appealing.
I love beetroot and I love hummus! What could go wrong?!?! I am definitely going to add the pomegranate on top for the garnish! Thanks for this recipe lovely x
Hummus is one of my favorite side dishes and this beetroot recipe seems so delicious. Excellent combination of ingredients, Emma! How long can I keep it in the fridge?
We kept ours for 5 days but it’s best used within 3 days 🙂