Easy roasted red pepper hummus made with sweet red bell peppers, chickpeas, garlic, and tahini. This recipe is simple to make and makes hummus that’s so much better than store-bought.
After falling in love with how easy it is to make hummus at home, we’ve been playing around with more of our favorite store-bought hummus flavors. I love roasted peppers, and am excited to share this roasted red pepper hummus recipe with you! It’s creamy, smooth, and so delicious.
Roasted bell peppers add a smoky sweetness to the hummus. We roast the peppers at home (it’s easy), but if you are short on time, you can use jarred roasted peppers. Serve in salads, sandwiches, with pita bread or flatbread.
How to make roasted red pepper hummus
You asked for more hummus recipes, so here we go. Adding roasted bell peppers to hummus is one of our favorite ways to spice up hummus. If you’ve seen our original hummus recipe, you know that making the best hummus at home is easy. This red pepper hummus recipe is simple. In fact, all we’ve done is add two roasted red peppers to our original recipe.
Here’s our best hummus tip: To make the smoothest hummus rivaling the tubs you buy at the store, it isn’t about what you add to your food processor. It’s the order in which you add ingredients to your food processor.
Seriously, it’s that easy. Tahini and lemon juice go in first. Then, before you add anything else, turn on the food processor and let it run for a minute or so. This step helps to cream the tahini and lemon juice, ensuring the creamiest homemade hummus. You can find tahini at the store, but for the best red pepper hummus, make your own tahini using our easy tahini recipe.
In addition to the lemon juice and tahini, you’ll need olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt, and chickpeas. Use canned chickpeas or dried chickpeas that you have cooked until soft. Here’s our recipe for cooking dried chickpeas.
How to roast peppers
Now that you know the secret to the best hummus, let’s talk about how to roast red peppers. Most stores sell roasted bell peppers, so if you don’t feel like roasting your own, feel free to use the jarred peppers.
When I roast peppers at home, I like removing the core and cutting them into a few flat pieces so they don’t roll around on me. Then I place them, skin-side up, onto a baking sheet, slide them under the broiler, and broil until the pepper skin has charred.
It only takes 10 minutes to roast the peppers. After that, I add the peppers to a resealable plastic bag or a bowl covered with plastic wrap and set the peppers aside. They steam a little, which helps the skin pull away from the pepper — making it extra easy to peel. See the photo below: See how charred the skin looks? It peels away easily.
How to serve red pepper hummus
- With veggies: Cut up carrots, celery, cucumber, radishes, snap peas, cauliflower, and even roasted broccoli for dipping.
- With bread or crackers: Warm pita bread, homemade flatbread, pretzel chips, bagel chips, crackers, and crostini are all great options for scooping up hummus.
- Make hummus bowls: Fill a bowl with hummus, then top it with your favorite toppings like roasted vegetables, chopped nuts, fresh herbs, labneh, and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
More easy recipes to try
- With tahini: Since you’ve got tahini on hand, try our tahini salad dressing or this creamy tahini sauce. I love them both. For another hummus recipe, see out hummus with spiced beef and feta.
- With chickpeas: If you are like us and love chickpeas, try this lemon chickpea salad or our cauliflower and chickpea salad — they are both so good. I also love making smashed chickpea sandwiches!
- With bell peppers: If you have leftover bell peppers, try our stuffed peppers with sausage and spinach. Or make these easy veggie quesadillas with bell peppers, onions, and kale.
Easy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
When we first figured out how to make hummus, we were shocked at how easy (and fast) it is. You can make creamy smooth hummus at home with just a few simple tricks. Plus, since it is so easy, we love adding sweet roasted red peppers. We have given instructions for roasting the peppers in the recipe below. Still, you can substitute them with jarred roasted peppers.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 red bell peppers or substitute 3/4 cup chopped jarred roasted peppers
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas or 1 ½ cups (250g) cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice, 1 large lemon
1/4 cup (60ml) tahini, see homemade tahini recipe
1 small garlic clove, minced or finely grated
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45ml) water or aquafaba, see notes
Salt to taste
Directions
- Roast Peppers
1Move an oven rack so that it is about 5 inches from the broiler. Turn the oven broiler on.
2Remove the core of the peppers, then cut them into large, flat pieces.
3Arrange pepper pieces, skin-side up, on a baking sheet. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes until the pepper skin has charred.
4Add peppers to a resealable plastic bag, seal it, and then wait 10 to 15 minutes until cool enough to handle. (Or, add the peppers to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.)
5Gently peel away the charred pepper skin and discard. Reserve 1 to 2 pieces of the peeled roasted pepper pieces to use as a garnish, then roughly chop the rest.
- Make Hummus
1In the bowl of a food processor, combine the tahini and lemon juice and process for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then process for 30 seconds more. This extra time helps “whip” or “cream” the tahini, making the hummus smooth and creamy.
2Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, cayenne, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then process for another 30 seconds or until well blended.
3Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor and process for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then add the remaining chickpeas and process them until thick and relatively smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
4Add the roughly chopped roasted peppers, saving 1 to 2 pieces for use as a garnish. Process until smooth.
5The hummus will likely be too thick and still have tiny bits of chickpea. To fix this, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of cold water or aquafaba with the food processor turned on until you reach the perfect consistency. Taste and adjust as needed.
6Finely chop the reserved peppers. Spoon hummus into a bowl, make a small well in the middle and add the chopped peppers.
7Store homemade hummus in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to one week. Freeze, covered with a thin layer of olive oil, for up to one month.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- How to cook dried chickpeas: Use canned or home-cooked chickpeas for this recipe. To see how we cook dried chickpeas, see our simple tutorial here. We have included three methods, including in the slow cooker.
- Aquafaba is the starchy liquid in a can of beans (or the bean cooking liquid). You can use this instead of water in the last step of the recipe. Before using, taste it to see how salty it is. If it is salty, hold some of the salt in the ingredient list back, and then season to taste after adding the aquafaba. See our deep dive into aquafaba here.
- Blender: A food processor is best for making hummus, but a high-powered blender will work. Be sure to scrape the sides down a few extra times as you make it.
- Tahini & lemon juice are not creaming: Depending on your food processor, the blade might not come into contact with the tahini and lemon juice. You need to increase the amount of liquid in the food processor, so add the olive oil. If they still do not cream, add a tablespoon of cold water.
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
Me and my daughter love this recipe! I struggle to find shop brought hummus that doesn’t have seed oils.
Made this and oh my lanta, amazing. Better than any store bought or restaurant bought red pepper hummus I’ve ever had. Fyi, I used ONLY your recipes to make it from scratch. Sesame seeds to the tahini to the roasted peppers to the dry garbanzo beans to the finished product. Wow…10 out of 10!
First time red pepper roaster, food processor user and hummus maker. I followed this recipe exactly with the exception that it was a little grainy so I added one more tablespoon of olive oil. Thanks so much for this recipe!!! It will be the dish I take to any party!
Absolutely delicious! We don’t eat garlic and even omitting it, the hummus was full of flavour. I did have to add a bit of chickpeas (we had cooked chickpeas and ended up needing about a half cup more) but I’m definitely printing this one out for my binder!
It seems the steps of spacing out blending does indeed help the texture become rich and creamy! I think a second roasted red pepper wouldn’t have hurt, if the reader happens to have on hand. I used 4 cloves garlic, so it turned into a garlic hummus with red pepper accent, which was enjoyed just as well. Thanks for sharing this.
I’ve made this red pepper hummus many times and it is delicious. It’s so much tastier and healthier than the store-bought (highly processed) kind. I just shared the link to the recipe with several friends. Thank you for making this recipe available!
Thanks for the recipe. I used canned chickpeas and rubbed the skin off. Super yummy with the red pepper.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for kind comment 🙂
This is delicious. Served it at a party and everyone love it, including my husband who does not like regular hummus! Question? Can this hummus be frozen. ??
Hi there, you can freeze hummus. Add to a freezer-safe container, add a thin layer of olive oil, and freeze.
This is the best Red Pepper Hummus I’ve ever had! It’s the perfect combination of tart lemon juice, tahini, earthy chickpeas, and smoky roasted peppers. I’ll be making it often.
I’m trying to eat healthier and this hummus is great served with fresh veggies. I made your traditional hummus yesterday and since I had some roasted red bell peppers on hand, I decided to make your red bell pepper hummus as well. I did add a little extra tahini to the red bell pepper hummus as I enjoy the taste of the tahini coming through. I also added a tiny bit more cumin as well. These are both great recipes and they will now take their place right beside your black bean burgers which I make every other week (and double the recipe). Doubling the recipe gives me 8 burgers — I freeze some and refrigerate the others. You have wonderful recipes and I really enjoy trying them.
I absolutely love this recipe! I made a couple tweeks for my taste. Since I use dried chickpeas I add 2 TSP of salt and I heat it up with a half a jar of red jalapenos 😄 Beautiful!
It’s a really good sign when you can’t stop yourself from using a rubber spatula to get every last bit of hummus out of the blender. This is a fantastic recipe and true to its title. This will be a regular at our house for sure. Thank you so much for sharing it.
I just made this. I think I got happy with the aquafaba, because it’s less thick than before. It is so delicious! Do you have a recipe for making hummus with sun dried tomatoes? I may try your flat bread next. BTW, I cooked my chickpeas, and made my own tahini from your recipes. Thanks – Big Fan
Hi Grace, So happy you enjoyed it. We do not have a recipe for sun dried tomato hummus, but you can blend them in (just like you do with the roasted peppers in this recipe).
Just made. The consistency is so smooth and creamy. Only thing I didn’t like was that I found the lemon juice a bit overpowering.
Lime juice fresh tastes better. Always keep lime on hand just to make hummus.