Hummus with Roasted Beets

I mean, come on. Is this Hot Pink Hummus not the most fun thing you've ever seen? And you know what's so cool? That color is totally natural.

The color comes from the inclusion of a very small roasted beet, but I couldn't call this recipe beet hummus because it doesn't taste one bit like beets.

Which is a good thing, if you ask me!

Luke and I don't like beets very much (they basically just taste like fresh dirt...). But as we were coming up on Valentine's Day, I wanted to try a fun twist on our favorite homemade hummus! I knew that the beet would impart a crazy color into the chickpeas, which was exactly what I wanted... but I needed to cover up that dirt flavor (not sexy).

So with a boatload of lemon zest, lemon juice, a bit of thyme and a good dose of cayenne, we have Hot Pink Hummus—named such because no other name would suffice.

It's lip-smackingly tart from the lemon, but balances out with the herby thyme and the little kick at the end of cayenne. The color and flavor don't match one bit, which makes it even more fun!

This alarmingly pink snack would be awesome to serve at a themed evening—Valentine's Day, Galentine's Day, a Barbie-themed event or a girl's night in! I love all hummus with pretzel things, pita chips or big plate of crunchy fresh veggies

Print Pin

Hot Pink Hummus

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Roasting 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 1 cups

Ingredients

• 1 small beet
• 1 15- oz can chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

• Roast beet: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Rinse the beet and wrap in foil. Roast for 1 hour, then remove and let cool.
  
• Cut the cooled beet into inch size pieces and add to a food processor with the chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt, black pepper, cumin and cayenne. Pulse until combined, scrape down the sides and run on high for 2 minutes.
  
• Scrape down the sides again and turn back on high. Slowly drizzle the ice water into the running food processor until the hummus becomes smooth. Dig in!