Lately, I’ve been doing everything in my power to use up my garden vegetables.
Over the past week I’ve been enjoying Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto, Long Weekend Grilled Salad, Kale Chips, cucumbers and hummus, Weekend Glow Kale Salad, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. To balance out the vegetables of course.
This end of season bounty reminds me of the organic Plan B CSA that we had last summer. There is so much produce to use up!
I even started gathering “bouquets” of kale and giving it away to friends and neighbors as I beam with pride, “I brought this for you!”
“Oh, you shouldn’t have….really you shouldn’t have.”
I think I might be starting to lose friends.
We’ve been getting a lot of wet and humid weather lately and I realized if I leave the peppers on the plant too long the inside starts to grow mold. Never a good thing to discover when you slice one open!
I knew that I had to use up these beautiful peppers…or bust.
And because I seem to be obsessed with roasting and grilling things lately, I decided to roast my peppers. Roasting is a great way to “condense” a large amount of vegetables. Kale chips, I’m looking at you!
How To Roast Peppers
Ever roasted peppers before? I used to be scared to try because I thought it was really difficult. You want me to PEEL the skin off? How in the world…?
Turns out, it’s so easy Sketchie could do it! Although, he does have really long claws…
1. Start by preheating the broil setting on your oven (I used heat setting 4 out of a possible range of 5) and move the rack up to the top or second highest spot. Line a large baking sheet with tinfoil.
2. With a paring knife, carefully slice a circle around the top of the pepper. You can use any type of pepper you prefer! I used bell peppers and banana peppers, as that’s what I grew in my garden.
Discard the inner flesh and seeds as best as you can.
3. With the cut side down, slice down the middle of the pepper, creating two halves.
Like so. Remove rest of seeds.
4. With your hand, SQUASH each piece! Whee!
I’m sorry for this picture, I really am. I’m a one woman show, clearly.
Squashed!
5. Place all the flattened pieces onto your baking sheet. I roasted about 6 small peppers, but if using large ones, you could probably use 3?
P.S.- This baking sheet should be lined with tin foil not parchment– I changed this after I took the photo.
6. Broil for about 10-13 minutes, until blackened. My peppers were in there about 12-13 minutes at broil setting 4.
7. This is where your tin foil comes in handy! Carefully wrap up the peppers with the tin foil and let it steam for about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, you can prepare your hummus ingredients.
8. After 15-20 mins, gently peel off the blackened skin. This is why it’s important to really blacken your peppers; the more black the skin gets the easier it is to peel away. It really does come off easy.
Your discard pile on the left and your delicious roasted peppers on the right:
Now it’s time to make delicious, creamy roasted red pepper hummus. It’s just what you do!
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Ultra Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Yield
2 cups
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
This is one of the creamiest hummus recipes that has ever come out of my processor! It has a light sweetness with a lovely roasted flavour thanks to the roasted red peppers.
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove
- One 14-ounce/400ml can chickpeas (about 1 1/2 cups cooked)
- 3/4 cup roasted red peppers
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons reserved chickpea brine (or water)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- Smoked paprika, for garnish
Directions
- Open the can of chickpeas and spoon off 2 tablespoons of the brine (liquid). Reserve this for the recipe. Now, drain the rest of the can and rinse the chickpeas well.
- Add the garlic clove into a food processor and process until finely chopped.
- Add the drained chickpeas, roasted red peppers, tahini, lemon juice, and reserved chickpea brine into the food processor. Process until the hummus is silky smooth. Scrape down as necessary.
- Now add in salt and cayenne, to taste, and process again until combined.
- Scoop into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and garnish with paprika. This hummus will last about 4-5 days in the fridge in a sealed container.
Thanks to the delicious roasted peppers, this is the creamiest and silkiest hummus to come out of my processor!
I couldn’t get over how smooth it became once I put the roasted peppers in. It was as if I added a half cup of oil, only I didn’t. Yeehaw.
This counts as lunch, right?
This sounds delicious! I have a picnic to go to on Sunday and will def be making this to go with some crackers :)
I made this last night and it was my favourite hummus I have ever had, amazing! Even my hubby who doesn’t eat a lot of hummus gobbled it up. I doubled the cayenne to give it some extra kick. Soooo creamy, I want some now…
I’m happy you loved it!
OMG!! I just made the hummus this morning….I’ll say it again…OMG, it was the most creamy, smooth, delicious hummus EVER. Bless the roasted peppers!! Many thanks Angela!
I made this with fresh red peppers from our garden and it was DELICIOUS! Thanks for this recipe–I’ve been trying to make a good red pepper hummus for a while but kept getting ‘gritty’ recipes. Yours is perfect! :)
We thinned out the leftover with a little more olive oil and used it as a salad dressing–also delicious!
Hi Angela! I am a long-time lurker that had to pop in to say thanks for all the hard work you do for your readers! I am a pretty “by-the-book” cook, and rarely experiment with recipes. And sometimes it’s hard to visualize what a recipe wants, but the fact that you take step-by-step pictures is incredibly helpful! Thanks to you, I feel more ready and willing to tackle things I normally wouldn’t (not to mention the inspiration you’ve been while I struggle with my weight and depression). Thank you.
Hi Angela,
I was on leave for 3 weeks and the best part of my holiday has been to come back and enjoy reading your entries that I have missed so far. Thanks a lot for all these lovely food! ;)
Re: roasting, there is an easy peasy way of doing it: stove! It doesn’t matter if it is gas or electric stove. I roast anything on fire by simply placing 1-2 eggplants or red/green peppers on the stove and turn them around until their skin turn into black all around. Then place them inside of a closed lid, anything you name: plastic/glass jar or tupperware. I sometimes use plastic bag and tie it around tights. Leave them inside for a good 5-10 min. Then I quickly take them out and cool them down under running water for 5 sec. Sometimes I skip this last step if they are not super hot. You peel them and yayy it is ready!
Enjoy :)
OH MY. This is AMAZING!! It actually reminds me of this dip that is sold at Loblaws and Zhers, Roasted Red Pepper with Feta Dip. It was my favourite, high in calories and had dairy….but I loved it. So I am even more excited that this is so similar without the high calories and dairy. Way to go!
Just made this and I think I found my cooking groove again. I love your blog and your recipes never cease to inspire! I have a long list I want to try!!! My husband (hater of vegetables) said he wanted more CHUNKS of RED PEPPER!! Whaa?? So thanks for the new recipe and for sharing in such a easy way to understand. I actually had fun peeling the skin off the peppers! I’ve NEVER done this before!!! SO thanks! Keep glowing!! :0)
And as if this hummus weren’t good enough on it’s own, it also makes a wonderful pizza cheese substitute!
http://untilweeatagain.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/my-new-new-favorite-vegan-pizza-recipe/
I just made the recipe as directed, except i doubled the garlic! ( were garlic freaks!) I also substituted the tahini for a tbsp or so of seasame oil….more potent, so you use less, and I use seasame oil more than I would ever use tahini. Tastes FABULOUS!!!! thanks so much!!!
NOW I truly understand spoonfeeding…
This is my hummus that changed everything! Thank. You.
Love, M
Just so you know, peppers freeze very well. I chop them up so they are prepped, and then I can just toss them in whatever I’m making. (Usually chili or some kind of sauce.) Onions can be chopped up and frozen as well. :)
I just made this tonight to go with some quinoa cakes and it was delicious. Mmmm.
I tried this tonight! It is yummy but I must say the bitterness of the tahini is overwhelming.
I would really like to know if the kind of tahini in a can that I buy is different than the one I see in recipe. Because I NEVER like the hummus I make! And I have tried and tried.
Any tips for less bitterness?
Thanks
Delectable!! My husband is not very fond of hummus, BUT he loved this one! Thanks!
Just made this and I absolutely love it.
This.Is.Amazing.
I made this for a cooking class I taught and it was devoured between the participants and staff! New favorite hummus. Ran the nutrition facts, only about 100 Calories for a 1/4 cup serving! SCORE. No need for any olive oil at all :-)
Wow, the squashing of the peppers. Damn, if only I had read this before I didn’t squash the ones I roasted yesterday… hehe. Great tip!
I wondered if I could use a red & yellow pepper in this recipe? Wanted to make this but I don’t think I have enough red?
I used mini sweet peppers of different colors. The recipe was very very lemony so dropped to 5 teaspoons lemon and it was perfect. Maybe the 5 tablespoons in a typo?