The Edgy Veg

Hummus Recipe

Homemade Abu Hassan Hummus Recipe

I’m obsessed with hummus, specifically Abu Hassan’s hummus, which I discovered during my trip to Israel. The best & smoothest hummus I have ever had was in Jaffa and I learned how to replicate it at home with a special ingredient: baking soda.

Abu Hassan Hummus

During my beautiful trip to Israel in 2019, I learned new things every day. What always gets my attention while traveling is the traditional ways that my favourite foods are made. I promise you, this is a labour of love and makes the most beautifully soft, velvety, creamy hummus, the way I had it with every meal in Jaffa, which is the ancient town in Tel Aviv, Israel.

I based my recipe on the way I learned about hummus at Abu Hassan’s in Jaffa. Abu Hassan serves hummus a bit different by offering it with or without ful (a popular fava bean dish), massabha (very similar ingredients to hummus, completely different in texture), or a combination of all three which is called meshuleshet.

Abu Hassan always has people lined up out front, but don’t let that discourage you from visiting. After you order, it takes literal seconds for the food to arrive. They serve this and only this, which is where the efficiency comes from. There is no coffee, no extras, and no dessert.

Louis and I would come here for lunch, and get one for takeout. Then we would walk our hummus and a huge bag of pita to the pier and enjoy our lunch by the water. We literally sat on the ground, as tourists walked passed us. It is a memory I will always cherish.

If you can make it to Abu Hassan’s in your lifetime, go! If you don’t have plans to get over to Israel (yet) then making this at home is the second-best way to indulge on the best that chickpeas have to offer.

Related Recipe: Vegan Challah Bread

Israel Hummus

DAIRY-FREE | VEGAN | GLUTEN-FREE

Abu Hassan claims there is no secret to his hummus, but it definitely tastes very different than any other hummus I have ever tried. So, I tried to come up with what I think is a very close contender with baking soda as my secret ingredient!

If you love tahini, you should also try my tahini dressing recipe!
Hummus Recipe

ISRAEL HUMMUS INGREDIENTS

This recipe has the following ingredients:

Related Recipe: Israeli Tahini Toast

Tips on making Israeli-Style Hummus:

  1. Make-Ahead: Soak dry chickpeas overnight by placing dried chickpeas, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 4 cups of water in a large container. Stir to help the salt and baking soda dissolve and allow the chickpeas to soak in the fridge overnight.
  2. Use dry chickpeas and soak them with baking soda. Soaking the chickpeas with baking soda, and cooking them with baking soda, will make the environment more basic, making the chickpeas more water-soluble. When they become more water-soluble, they soak up more water, cut down on cook time, and becomes a creamy hummus when blended. They literally melt in your mouth whole.
  3. No pressure cooker? Just boil the chickpeas for about 30-40 mins and check to see if they’re ready by taking one out and squishing it between your fingers. Alternatively, you could cover with water in a dutch oven or le cruset and bake with the lid on for 30-40 mins at about 350 in the oven.
  4. Blending the garlic with the lemon juice and allowing it to sit. This will mellow the astringent, pungent flavour of raw garlic.
  5. Blending the tahini with lemon juice (and garlic) and a bit of the cooking liquid in the food processor, before adding the remaining ingredients will turn the tahini into a creamy, rich sauce, and will make incorporating it with the chickpeas a lot easier.

Israeli-style Hummus Recipe

4.8 from 30 reviews
Authentic Israel Hummus | Abu Hassan Hummus Recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
I'm obsessed with Israeli hummus, specifically Abu Hassan's hummus, which I discovered during my trip to Israel. The best & smoothest hummus I have ever had was in Jaffa and I learned how to replicate it at home with a special ingredient: baking soda.
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Serves: approx. 3 cups
Ingredients
Instructions
Make Ahead:
  1. Soak chickpeas overnight by placing dried chickpeas, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 4 cups of water in a large container.
  2. Stir to help salt and baking soda dissolve and allow the chickpeas to soak in the fridge overnight.
Next Day:
  1. Rinse soaked chickpeas with cold water and be sure to remove any stones, stick or other harvesting debris. Place them into a pressure cooker.
  2. Add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 bay leaf, 1 garlic clove, and ½ onion to the pressure cooker and cover completely with water, covering 2 inches above the chickpeas.
  3. Set the pressure cooker to high and 10 minutes. After it beeps allow it to release naturally for 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, puree 4 garlic cloves, lemon juice and salt in a food processor. Scrape down the sides, to ensure all the garlic is sitting in the lemon juice and allow it to soak while the chickpeas are cooking.
  5. When chickpeas are done cooking, remove the onion and bay leaves.
  6. Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Set aside the chickpeas and chickpea liquid.
  7. To the food processor, add the tahini and start to blend. Add the reserved chickpea water, one tablespoon at time until the tahini is smooth.
  8. Add the chickpeas and 1 cooked clove garlic, cumin and to the food processor.
  9. Blend adding 1 tbsp of chickpea liquid at a time until desired smoothness is reached. This could take 5-8 mins of blending. The hummus should be very smooth, and light. Taste, and adjust salt accordingly.
  10. Scoop the hummus into a serving bowl and top with a drizzle of olive oil, chopped fresh parsley, ful (optional), Meshabha (optional) and served with sliced onion and pita.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: ¼ cup Calories: 149 Fat: 8.3g Saturated fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 15g Sugar: 1.7g Sodium: 812mg Fiber: 5g Protein: 6.1g Cholesterol: 0mg

Vegan Hummus RecipeHey, I’m Candice & welcome to The Edgy Veg! I veganize popular food recipes for vegans, plant-based diets, eco-conscious eaters & people who are trying to eat more plants over… y’know animals or by-products of animals. I hope you enjoy this tasty vegan recipe!

LOOKING FOR MORE VEGAN ISRAELI RECIPES?

If you guys try my Abu Hassan Israel Hummus recipe, let me know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating & comment below. It truly helps me & I really appreciate any support! Feel free to share your food creation on social and tag me @edgyveg on your photo so I don’t miss it!

Share My Recipe on Pinterest!Authentic Vegan Israel Hummus

Order Edgy Veg Cookbook

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

  • This an Arab dish, not Israeli. Culinary and land appropriation all together and thus an appalling lack of respect for a legendary hummus joint.

  • Leslie says:

    How much salt do you add to the lemon juice and garlic? You’ve already used the 1 T + 1t in the recipe. Is it another 1t?

  • Best hummus recipe I’ve ever used! Will no longer be buying hummus at the grocery store.

  • How much salt? I get it’s 1 tbl in the soak and 1 tsp in the pressure cooker as listed in the ingredients. However, you then add salt to the garlic and lemon juice as well. That salt isn’t accounted for in the ingredients?

    • the extra salt at the end is just to taste and not counted in the previous steps. I hope this clarifies!

  • The best hummus ever!

  • maria johnson says:

    Hi Candice, I just made your delicious Abu Hassan Hummus and it was so delicious! Thank you for the little tips with the baking soda, and mellowing the garlic. I wondered if I placed some hummus into a small jar, would it keep in the freezer? I wanted to bring some to my daughter as she loves hummus?
    Maria

    • EdgyVeg says:

      Hey Maria,

      Thank you so much for the positive review! I don’t recommend freezing the hummus as it will change the texture. I hope this helps. I would say you can pack it to go in an ice cooler to keep it fresh. Hope this helps!

  • So good! Do you by any chance have a recipe for the ful or massabha you’d be willing to share?

  • I tried several hummus recipes over the past couple of years. This is by far the best. I usually double the recipe since my family really enjoys it.

  • This is the best hummus recipe I have ever made. The only bad part is that i cook my own chickpeas and can’t use the aquafaba….or can I?? I figured with the spices and soda in it, it wouldn’ have the same texture when whipped.
    Anyway, LOVE the recipe! Thank you!

  • Hi,
    I’ve followed this recipe several times now and there is one point that is just confusing to me. In the ingredients list Salt has two measurements. 1st is for soaking the chickpeas, 2nd is for the pressure cooking. However in the steps it also tells me to add salt (a third time) to the lemon/garlic mixture but I never know how much.

    BR,
    Tomas

  • Super! Nailed it on the first try. Thanks for all the details, these really helped. For meat eaters, its perfect with Shuwarma on the side. One tweak – Next time I will make extra tahini blend (lemon & garlic blend) and will add 1 spoon on top of the hummus for an extra layer. Its a keeper!

  • Ziporina says:

    Do we have to get into all that!
    We are cooking for goodness sake!
    I was thinking cooking and not who where what and when !

  • FINALLY an amazing hummus recipe. Let’s say I wanted to double this recipe (because I do), would I double all the ingredient amounts, including the baking soda and salt soak?

  • Hi Joey,
    Abu Hassan (Ali Karawan) lived in Jaffa, and his family had lived there for generations. He was Arab-Israeli, not Palestinian.
    David

    • Just FYI: ‘Arab Israeli’ is a rather problematic term that seeks to erase Palestinian identity. ‘Arab Israelis’ are Palestinians who remained in their towns (I.e. weren’t forcibly evacuated) in 1948, and would later gain Israeli citizenship. So, yes, of course Ali Karawan’s family had lived in Yafa/Jaffa for generations – prior to Israel’s establishment. Great recipe, but I agree with Joey. It may seem insignificant, but what you’re doing is contributing to the erasure of Palestinian identity.
      Sam

      • Sam, I don’t think you get to decide what his identity was. There are plenty of Arabs in Israel who identify as Israeli and not as Palestinian. “Palestinian” almost certainly didn’t exist as a concept or identity when his ancestors first lived in the region. It is a more recent, political, creation they not everyone buys into. So it is not erasure to decline to assume that he did.

  • Russell ONeal says:

    I searched everywhere for the best Hummus recipe and found one that is the best we have ever eaten. Don’t hate on me, but I use Goya Garbanzos from the can. We pinch off the clear membrane from each chickpea which is what they are doing when are cooked with baking soda, this is what gives your hummus the creamy texture. I used the traditional ingredients such as garlic cloves, fresh lemon juice, cumin, tsp of salt, good quality olive oil, fluid from the can of chickpeas (chilled), and the most important ingredient is “Soom Sisters”Tahini which comes from Israel. (I order ours from Amazon) It comes out creamy and delicious. I got this recipe from somewhere online from a lady who eats Hummus at a famous restaurant in New York and was able to get it from them. Peeling chickpeas is time consuming but easier than having to cook dry chickpeas and I think the result is very similar. Give it a try!

  • What is the brown mixture in the hummus bowl? Is that eggplant? Thanks. I want to also make this.

    • EdgyVeg says:

      It’s ful, I used a simple online recipe I found. It definitely pairs well!

  • Richard says:

    By far the best hummus recipe I have ever made! This recipe is a staple in our kitchen now. Big key is running it for a long time in the food processor and adding enough liquid so it is silky smooth.

  • Sandy Kelston says:

    I tried this recipe when you first posted it and I don’t know what I did wrong but I wasn’t impressed
    I just made it for a second time and OMG!
    It’s sooo good!!!

  • Ingrid Tottenham says:

    This is by far the best hummus recipe ever. It takes me back to the first time I tried hummus and that was Israel. Nothing has ever come close to the ones I had there but this one rocks. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.

  • This recipe is devine! Thanks for sharing!
    Does anyone know how long this should keep in the fridge?

  • Collette says:

    This is exceptional hummus. One question someone might know tha answer too….I use the liquid from the chickpeas for making aquafaba mayonaise. wondering if the soda changes it’s ability to “peak” like egg whites ????

  • Chris Larkin says:

    Eaten many times at Abu Hassan. It is so good because it is all they make. Your recipe comes as close as you can get but it is not possible to recreate precisely as they use witchcraft.

  • Love Abu Hassan hummus. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Is the 1/2 onion just for flavoring while in the instant pot?

  • Nicola says:

    This is incredible, thank you Edgy Veg. I have a very good blender – a Vitamix – and it whizzes this to a creamy hummus in less than a minute. I don’t have a pressure cooker, so boil the chickpeas for about 30 mins first. It comes out perfect every time. Authentic and delicious.

  • Keeley Stubbs says:

    i’ve tried to make this recipe twice now and both times the chickpeas turned into complete mush.

    • EdgyVeg says:

      try cooking the chickpeas at a lower temperature or for a shorter amount of time

  • Neekayla McGimpsey says:

    I ate at Abu Hassans just over a year ago and every time I’ve had Hummus since it just doesn’t cut it… Israel gave me a new appreciation for a good hummus.
    Thank you so so much for cracking it and sharing with us! Can’t wait to final get a proper hummus fix!

  • It really is the creamiest and best hummus I’ve ever tried (both homemade and store-bought) and the only recipe I am gonna use from now on!
    Thank you so much!! <3

  • When I cook my chickpeas in the instant pot and then do a manual release after 15 minutes, chickpea foam comes frothing out the nozzle. The chickpeas are basically disintegrated. Is that how this should be?

    • EdgyVeg says:

      maybe your instant pot is cooking them too powerfully, I would suggest trying to cook the chickpeas over the stove to balance the power

  • This truly is the greatest hummus I’ve ever had, thank you 🙂

  • John Thomas says:

    I think you mean Palestinian hummus, but otherwise good recipe

    • Robert says:

      She meant Israeli hummus and it is Israeli hummus. Abu Hassan and Jaffa are in Israel. You don’t need to politicize everything

      • This is hilarious. I knew Ali’s family when I lived in Jaffa. They’re Palestinian Israelis, i.e. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. He’s not politicizing anything, let’s not get defensive and deny the existence of Palestinians as a people with a unique cultural heritage. And let’s not make any false claims that Abu Hassan wasn’t Palestinian. He was 🙂

        Side note, thanks for this awesome recipe! I made it for a dinner party and it was a hit!!

    • No.
      She means what she says .
      Stick to cooking.

  • Thank you! This recipe is the bomb…so creamy. I drizzled some EVOO. And some chunky chickpeas like you suggested. I made some Z’atar chips and had pickled veggies. I bought fresh frozen fava beans and will make the ful next time. I am definitely making this my go to hummus recipe.

  • Fabulous! I need to freeze half as it made a lot for just me 🙂 I used a stovetop pressure cooker and they only required 5 mins on high, then a natural release. I would be careful about adding too much water in the tahini mixing phase, mine came out a little too watery.

  • made it last night! best ever. picky vegan family approved! Thank you!

    • ‘Abu Hassan’ is without a doubt Palestinian. As Palestinian as hummus one might say. But yes, otherwise, great recipe. 5 stars.

      • Robert says:

        Abu Hassan is Israeli. In case you are not aware, Israelis come in all colors, ethnicities and religions. Hummus is not Palestinian, certainly not exclusively Palestinian. It can be found everywhere in the Levant and its origins are Egyptian or Turkish

        • Well said , goodness knows why people have to try to politicise this site… we are not interested!

        • Misleading statement, Robert. Abu Hassan was a Palestinian who was actually born in Jaffa before Israel was even established. His family were one of the lucky ones who remained in Jaffa, by which I mean were not kicked out, in 1948. They are Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. In case you are not aware, the Arab citizens of Israel are just Palestinians who remained in their towns after the nakba, and later became Israeli citizens. It baffles me that people make these assertions when they don’t know what they’re talking about…

      • Do stop it , you are the only one going on.
        If you not interested in cooking go elsewhere.

  • Samantha Baxter says:

    So smooth! Love this recipe!!

  • How much salt is to be added to the lemon juice and garlic? The recipe calls for 1 tbsp (for the soaking) and 1 tsp (for cooking the chickpeas), but I can’t find how much to add to the actual recipe. Thanks!

    • EdgyVeg says:

      It’s up to you how much salt to add because everyone’s taste is different. Just taste it and season as desired

  • Excellent recipe!!! I will never buy store bought hummus again, I have always wanted to make Hummus, and your video came at the right time. It screamed at me to Make it now! DELICIOUSNESS.
    Thank you for sharing about your adventures in Israel.

  • I rarely bother to write a review for a recipe but I had to, because this really levelled up my hummus game! Best. Texture. Ever. I have generally not bothered to cook dry chickpeas, but I will definitely do it again. I don’t have an instant pot, so I soaked overnight (actually closer to 24 hours) and then cooked in a regular pot until they were done… I have no idea how long it took because I was doing other things in the kitchen and not paying attention. Didn’t seem like that long, and they were much tastier than using canned. Cheaper too! Thanks for sharing this!

  • Wow! I just made this.. smoothest hummus I’ve ever made! Amazing!

  • Is it possible to make this without a pressure cooker?

    • EdgyVeg says:

      Without a pressure cooker, just cover chickpeas with water and boil, covered with a lid for about 30-40 mins. Check to see if they are ready by squishing one between your fingers. When it is soft, they are ready.

  • If u don’t have a pressure cooker, how would u cook it? 😊

  • Candice do you have stovetop directions for this recipe? I REALLY want to make it but I don’t have an instant pot. xxo

  • HOLY MOTHER EFF, unreal. I am seriously speechless, Candice! I’ve never in my my life had such amazing hummus. This must be some kind of sorcery!

  • Jacqueline says:

    Is there an alternative to cooking the chickpeas if I don’t have a pressure cooker? Thank you!

  • Excellent recipe!!

  • You have to fill your pressure cooker up with water! Sorry I’ve added this to the recipe! Thanks for bringing this to my attention ❤️

    • Excellent recipe!!! I will never buy store bought hummus again, I have always wanted to make Hummus, and your video came at the right time. It screamed at me to Make it now! DELICIOUSNESS.
      Thank you for sharing about your adventures in Israel.

  • This looks amazing but I don’t have a pressure cooker. How long do I need to cook them on the stove?

    • EdgyVeg says:

      I would cook them about 30-40 minutes, or until they are soft enough to be squished between your fingers.

  • Hi Candace! Thanks for the recipe. What is the name of the Israeli tahini brand you brought back with you from Israel? Trying to see if I can find it in an import store here.

    • EdgyVeg says:

      I picked up my tahini from the tahini factory when I visited. The brand is Al Arz

  • Holly Kennedy says:

    Any tips on making this without a pressure cooker? Can I just simmer them on the stove like usual?

    • I use 2 cans rinsed and drained chickpeas if I don’t have the time to cook them.

  • Lauren Grulke says:

    I’m so excited to try this! What if you don’t have an instant pot or pressure cooker? What method would you recommend?

logo

Cookbook on sale now

cook book

Easy Eats
Cookbook