Is it cheaper to make or buy hummus, save 48% with homemade

How much does it cost to make a fluffy chickpea dish called hummus? I make it at home almost every week and want to find out if it’s cheaper to make hummus at home from scratch or buy it. 

The cost of homemade hummus for 8 servings is 3,41$. So, it’s cheaper to make hummus at home from scratch than buying it in a store. You can get a 20oz. Package of hummus in a store for 0.175 per oz. but on average, the hummus costs 0.31$ per oz. 

In general, cooking at home is cheaper than eating out. Check out how to save from 1720$ to 4303$ with homemade food.

Following are my discoveries about costs and savings if you make hummus at home from scratch.

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I’ve written a complete “is it cheaper” analysis of the most popular foods cooks make at home.

(BREAD, PIZZA, PASTA, FRIES, BEEF JERKY, LASAGNA, CHEESECAKE, GRANOLA BARS, GLUTEN-FREE BREAD, MAYONNAISE, GNOCCHI, GUACAMOLE, GROUND BEEF,  BROWNIES, HUMMUS)

I outlined the costs and buying guides for the ultimate savings.

How to make hummus at home in a food processor

Hummus can be made in a blender or food processor. Home cooks usually use a food processor as it mixes chickpeas better and fewer liquids are needed for making the hummus mix. You can check here if you are looking for a powerful food processor.

Authentic hummus is made by soaking dry chickpeas over nigh and cooking them until they are soft. But since home cooks are very busy, a lot of times nowadays hummus is also made with canned chickpeas. The difference is not big, but time save with canned chickpeas is significant.

Making hummus in a food processor is very easy. The only thing which you shouldn’t put directly in a food processor is garlic. Garlic must be crushed in a mortar with some salt. You can also make garlic paste on a chopping board with the edge of a knife. After you mash the garlic, you simply combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix them thoroughly.

Here are 5 essential steps if you want to make the smoothest hummus in a food processor:

1. Do not overfill the food processor bowl. If you are making a large batch, start with half of the chickpeas, begin mixing and add the rest through the feeding tube while everything is already mixing.
2. Always scrape the sides of the food processor in the mixing process.
3. Do not add too much liquid at the beginning, as it is always better to make a drier mixture at first and slowly add the tahini and water.
4. If you mix ingredients in a food processor for too long, the ingredients will start to warm up. Warm hummus is not as good as cold hummus. 
5. Add ice cubes. I discovered from a food blogger themediterraneandish.com, that putting ice cubes in the mixing process makes hummus even creamier.
6. Add yogurt or sour creme for an even smoother hummus.

How long does hummus last

Hummus is a fresh dip or spread that doesn’t have a long shelf life. You can extend the freshness of hummus if you put it in an airtight container and refrigerate it.

Hummus can last in the refrigerator for about seven days.

6 Best hummus add-ins

These are not add-ons but add-ins. The main ingredients of hummus are chickpeas, tahini, and lemon juice. But hummus has become more and more popular in the western world where home cooks are adding new flavors to this fluffy spread or dip. 

The best hummus add-ins you can try for yourself at home are:

1. Roasted red bell pepper hummus (you grill or roast the peppers, peel them and blend them with other hummus ingredients)
2. Lemon hummus (extra lemon juice and some lemon zest)
3. Jalapeno hummus (roasted jalapeno peppers are added for some heat)
4. Caramelized onions hummus (onions are roasted in olive oil until the completely caramelize and added to hummus mix)
5. Roasted garlic hummus (garlic is roasted in olive oil until it is completely caramelized and added to the hummus mix)
6. Olive hummus (olives, like kalamata olives, are added into the hummus mixture)

How to make hummus without tahini

Making hummus without tahini is basically the same except you don’t add in tahini. If you skip tahini in hummus, the taste won’t be the same, but you could get a similar consistency of the mix without the tahini.

Tahini makes hummus fluffy and oily sesame seeds from which tahini paste is made, contribute to the smoothness of the dip. 

Follow these 5 steps to achieve similar consistency of hummus without the tahini:

1. When you soak chickpeas add a bit of soda bicarbonate and soak them at least 24h
2. Cook chickpeas in a pressure cooker or if you don’t have one, cook them for at least 2 hours or longer, so they get mushy 
3. Don’t discard all the water in which chickpeas were cooked instead use this water for hummus mix. 
4. Make sure the blade in your food processor is as sharp as it could be. Sharpen it if necessary because the chickpeas will blend into smother paste if the blade is sharper. 
5. Add some yogurt or sour creme at the end to enhance the smoothness of the mix.

How much does it cost to make hummus, ingredient cost breakdown

The cost of homemade hummus is based on the original hummus recipe without any special flavors or add-ins like (roasted pepper, beets, carrot…) using the following criteria:

Measurement to grams: we calculated the measurement of each ingredient into grams to get the sum weight of ingredients for hummus.

Average product price: for each ingredient, we checked the latest prices in online stores and calculated the average price of ingredients per ounce, which are included in the hummus recipe.

Price per ingredient: the cost for each ingredient is calculated to match the amount used in the recipe. 

Sum weight of hummus: to get the total weight of hummus, we summed the weight of all ingredients in grams. 

Time, utensils, and cookware: We did not include time cost or the purchase of a food processor and utensils into the calculation. 

Hummus recipe cost breakdown

If you want to make hummus at home for 8 people, it will cost you 3,41$, which equals 0,16$ per ounce. Using this recipe, you can make 21.42 oz (607 g) of hummus.

Is it worth making hummus at home from scratch and total savings

If you always buy the cheapest hummus available in a family XXL pack, then you will not be able to save any money with homemade. The quality of ingredients and knowing what is in the blend can push the scale on the homemade version. If you only look from the money point of view, it is not worth making hummus from scratch.

But if you like a bit of variety and buy hummus in different flavors such as pepper or lemon flavor than the average price of hummus would be around 0.31$ per oz. If comparing this price to homemade hummus price, then the homemade price wins. It is much cheaper to make hummus at home from scratch if you compare it to an average store-bought price.

Savings can be significant if you make hummus at least twice a month, but if you only make it once every month that the savings are not that high. 

When comparing homemade hummus to store-bought hummus, the price of homemade hummus is always lower. Homemade is 9% cheaper from the lowest hummus price, and almost 60% less expensive from the average cost of store-bought hummus.

The following table shows savings for hummus if you make it at home forms scratch:

I’ve written a complete “is it cheaper” analysis of the most popular foods cooks make at home.

(BREAD, PIZZA, PASTA, FRIES, BEEF JERKY, LASAGNA, CHEESECAKE, GRANOLA BARS, GLUTEN-FREE BREAD, MAYONNAISE, GNOCCHI, GUACAMOLE, GROUND BEEF,  BROWNIES, HUMMUS)

I outlined the costs and buying guides for the ultimate savings.

* The prices for ingredients and products in our tables are average prices take from various websites. The prices are not taken directly from Amazon.
* Pro family chef utilizes affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of our product links, Pro family chef will receive a small commission at no cost to you. This helps support us, and allows us to keep providing tips, reviews, guides, and content for you.

Sources:

Ice cubes in hummus https://www.themediterraneandish.com/how-to-make-hummus/