Pumpkin Hummus
This pumpkin hummus with butter beans, cumin, and dukkha will bring much colour and deliciousness to your table. Served warm or cold, it makes a beautiful, but edible, centrepiece your guests will love.
In This Article
Multi-Purpose Spread With Benefits
This recipe makes quite a generous sized pumpkin hummus, so any leftovers can become a spread to use on everything. It’s great on toast, in wraps, or even to spread over rice cakes. It’s absolutely perfect dolloped onto one of my nourishing bowls too.
And why not use it on everything? We get some wonderful nutrients from the ingredients here. Pumpkin is a rich source of beta-carotene (that the body converts to vitamin A) along with many B vitamins as well as smaller amounts of iron, magnesium, and manganese. Vitamin C is there too although that diminishes somewhat with cooking.
Butter beans give us plenty of fibre, along with minerals like zinc, calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium.
Tahini, I’ve spoken about before, and does olive oil – as a Mediterranean nutritional powerhouse – even need a mention? I didn’t think so.
Ingredients For Pumpkin Hummus
These are relatively simple pantry staples you’ll either have on hand or can pick up from your local supermarket. The dukkha may be the trickiest one depending on where you live. If you can’t find it though, simply sprinkle the hummus with your favourite combination of nuts and seeds. It also looks beautiful with some pomegranate arils in the mix too.
- Butternut pumpkin/squash – My preference for this recipe, as it’s so lovely and sweet.
- Butter beans – These are by far my new favourite beans to add to dips. Traditionally chickpeas are the legume used to make hummus. However, they can be pretty heavy and difficult to digest for some. Particularly when they’re not prepared properly. Butter beans are an excellent substitute in that scenario.
- Tahini – Another ingredient that makes this pumpkin hummus so rich and creamy. Tahini is also filled to the brim with vitamins and minerals, so it deserves a place in your pantry. Remember though, use hulled tahini for better taste and nutrient absorption. For more on that see the info in my tahini sauce recipe.
- Olive oil – Again adding richness and a host of vitamins, minerals and of course antioxidants. Where would we be without olive oil? I’ve said many times before the dishes you make will only be as good as the olive oil you choose – so if you splurge on one pantry item make it this.
- Lemon juice – The high acidity in the lemon juice helps to balance out the other, more robust flavours in this dip. It helps meld everything together.
- Cumin – Adds depth to this dip with its warmth and earthiness. An absolute staple in my spice cupboard.
- Smoked paprika – This brings a little smokiness making it taste like the pumpkin has come fresh off the flame.
- Salt – Enhances all the other beautiful flavours here. Add this to taste because you may like a little more or less than I’ve added.
- Garlic – There is only a whiff of it in this recipe, so if you’re not a big garlic fan no fear. The garlic simply infuses the olive oil to add a little more flavour.
- Thyme – This is absolutely delicious once gently fried in the olive oil! It’s so crispy. You can even crumble this over the top of the dish instead of using it as a garnish if you prefer.
- Dukkha and pumpkin seeds – These are optional extras to sprinkle over the top. If you don’t have any or can’t find dukkha easily, just replace with your topping of choice.
The only other thing you’ll need is a touch of cold water to help make the final product super smooth.
How To Make This Pumpkin Hummus
While this may seem a little involved it doesn’t require a lot of hands on time at all. Once you get the pumpkin in the oven you’re left with warming the oil very briefly, then just blending everything up. Quite easy in the end!
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F), peel and de-seed the pumpkin and chop into ~2cm/1-inch chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and toss to combine. Roast for 25-30 minutes until edges are slightly charred.
- Add 100ml of olive oil to a small saucepan and gently fry the smashed garlic and thyme for 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant, over medium heat. Once done, discard the garlic and set the thyme aside.
- Tip the oil into a food processor then add the butter beans, cooked pumpkin, tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, and paprika. Blitz until it starts to combine and has the consistency of hummus.
- Slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of cold water with the food processor on a medium speed. If the dip is still too thick you can add a little more cold water and blitz again.
- Dollop all of the pumpkin hummus into the middle of a large plate and spread it out with the back of a spoon in a circular motion. Leave a rim around the edge and make a couple of indents in the middle that will hold the extra drizzle of olive oil. Watch the video below if you’d like a visual how-to.
- Just before serving, generously drizzle over some olive oil, then sprinkle with the dukkha, and pumpkin seeds. Place the reserved thyme sprigs in the middle.
You can make this in advance if you’d like to save yourself a little time too. If doing this, save the olive oil, dukkha and pumpkin seed topping until later. Add them right before serving.
FAQ
This will truly go with just about anything savoury. To serve it’s a great match with vegetable chips, crackers of any sort, and fresh sourdough bread. The leftovers can be used as a spread for sandwiches and wraps too.
This really is about balancing flavours. If you think your hummus is not quite to your taste try adding in a touch more lemon juice, salt, a drizzle of oil, or perhaps even a little more tahini. Do this slowly though, so you have time to adjust to the flavour changes and ensure you like it.
Watch How To Make This Recipe
Pumpkin Hummus
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Small saucepan
Ingredients
- 500 g butternut pumpkin/squash
- 1 can butter beans drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup hulled tahini
- ¼ cup lemon juice (this was 1 large lemon for me)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 100 ml olive oil plus extra for drizzling
- 1/4-1/2 cup cold water
- 1 clove garlic smashed with the side of a knife
- A few sprigs of thyme
- Dukkha, pumpkin seeds, extra olive oil (optional toppings, or choose your own)
- Serve with vegetable chips, lavosh, crackers, or fresh sourdough.
Instructions
To Make The Pumpkin
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F)
- Cut the skin from the pumpkin, remove the seeds and chop into 2cm cubes (~1 inch). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and toss to combine.
- Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and roast for 25-30 minutes. You want the edges to be a little charred.
To Make The Hummus
- Just before the pumpkin is ready, add the 100ml of olive oil to a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the smashed garlic clove and the thyme and gently fry for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Once done, discard the garlic and set the thyme aside.
- Tip the warmed oil into a food processor along with the butter beans, cooked pumpkin, tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, and paprika. Blitz until the mix is well combined and starts to get the consistency of hummus.
- With the food processor on a medium speed, drizzle in 1/4 cup of water. If you find the dip is still too thick you can add a little more and blitz again. You want to be able to move crackers through it easily without them snapping.
- To serve – dollop all of the pumpkin hummus into the middle of a large plate and spread it out with the back of a spoon in a circular motion. Leave a rim around the edge and make a couple of indents in the middle that will hold the extra drizzle of olive oil.
- Just before serving, drizzle over some olive oil, then sprinkle with the dukkha, and pumpkin seeds. Place the reserved thyme sprigs in the middle.
- Serve with vegetable chips, crackers of any sort, or fresh sourdough bread.
Notes
Nutrition
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