Beetroot Hummus with tahini

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

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Beetroot Hummus with tahini

Got a glut of beetroot from your kitchen garden? Use them to make this vibrant beetroot and tahini hummus!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Keyword beetroot, chickpeas, cumin, garlic, lemon, paprika, tahini, yogurt

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Emma Walton

Ingredients

• 300 grams beetroot about 2 medium to large, left whole, skins scrubbed
• 400 grams chickpeas in water rinsed & drained, roughly 240 grams drained weight
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon juice only
• pinch ground paprika
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil about 2-3 tbsp
• salt to taste
• pepper to toaste
• sesame seeds toasted, to garnish
• mint leaves to garnish
• pomegranate molasses optional

Instructions

1. Boil the beetroot whole until just tender, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Drain and leave to cool.
3. Once cool enought to touch enough to handle, then rub off the skins (they should come away quite easily).
4. Drizzle with a little olive oil, place in a pre-heated oven at 180C and roast for 30 minutes.
5. 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.
6. Blitz to a coarse paste, then gradually add the olive oil (keeping the food processor blitzing slowly) until a thick, smooth dip has formed.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste along with a little more lemon juice if you prefer.
8. 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…