White Bean Hummus with Red Peppers and Artichokes

By Laura Mack
December 21, 2016

This silky-smooth, keto-friendly White Bean Hummus with Red Peppers and Artichokes is bursting with classic Mediterranean flavors. With pantry ingredients and a food processor, it comes together in about 10 minutes. Give it a 30-minute rest for the flavors to meld, and you’ll have a fantastic dip for snacking or easy entertaining. It also happens to be perfect for parties — it can be made ahead and is best served at room temperature, so no heating or chilling to worry about. Yay!

I love beans and legumes, but they are generally starchier than I can manage in my very low carb way of eating. I’ve tweaked this hummus recipe so that it’s a little lower in net carbs than traditional hummus. White beans have about 1/3 fewer net carbs than garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and adding low carb veggies such as roasted red peppers and artichokes to the mix bumps up the flavor and nutrition while reducing the proportion of beans. The beans, sesame seeds (from the tahini), red peppers, and artichokes make it a fiber-rich dip (nearly 40% fiber), which is great when you’re counting net carbs (digestible), as we do. I’m pleased with the health/nutrition profile of this dip, but it’s actually the flavors and smooth texture that have me hooked. It has a great lemony punch, with a hint of garlic and smokiness from the roasted red peppers and paprika. Not only are prepared hummus products often higher in net carbs, they usually contain industrial seed oils, such as canola, vegetable, or soybean, to keep the cost down. When you make it yourself, you can use a high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, which not only improves flavor but is much healthier as well.

This recipe is adapted from several versions of hummus from Cooks Illustrated (CI). Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I am a big fan of CI (I have been a subscriber for many years). Their technique for hummus yields a particularly smooth and silky texture, not the grainy, coarse consistency you’ll get from some hummus recipes. Their “secrets” are two-fold. First, heating the beans briefly in the microwave just before pureeing will help limit the crystallization of starch molecules that occurs after the beans cool, and will help prevent graininess. Second, the technique of slowly adding a blend of tahini and olive oil helps emulsify the hummus for an extra creamy texture. If you want an even smoother hummus, you could pass it through a fine-mesh strainer after processing, but I don’t bother with this step because I find it unnecessary.

As far as dippers are concerned, pita bread wedges are the traditional accompaniment, but they are hardly low carb or gluten/grain-free. There are a host of low carb veggies that are wonderful — celery, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and cauliflower, to name a few. My favorite dippers at the moment are my Crispy Low Carb Seed Crackers, which I find simply heavenly with this hummus.

You owe it to yourself to try this White Bean Hummus with Red Peppers and Artichokes. It’s a veritable trifecta of flavor, ease, and nutrition that makes it a winner in my book. Let us know what you think!

White Bean Hummus with Red Peppers and Artichokes

Author: Laura Mack
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Prep time:  10 mins
Total time:  10 mins
Serves: 24

Print the Recipe

This silky-smooth, keto-friendly White Bean Hummus with Red Peppers and Artichokes is bursting with classic Mediterranean flavors. With pantry ingredients and a food processor, it comes together in about 10 minutes. Serve with low carb veggies or low carb crackers for dipping.

Ingredients

1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated

¼ cup / 60 ml fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)

2 tbsp / 30 ml water

6 tbsp / 84 g tahini, well stirred

2 tbsp / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil

14-oz can / 392 g white beans, drained and rinsed

¾ cup / 132 g drained canned or jarred artichoke hearts packed in water, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels

¼ cup / 44 g drained jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels

1 clove / ½ tsp garlic, minced or pressed

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp fine sea salt

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling (optional)

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, and water; set aside. In a second small bowl, whisk together tahini and olive oil; set aside.
2. Place drained, rinsed beans in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 1 minute. Transfer the beans to a food processor bowl, and add artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, garlic, spices, and salt. Process until the mixture is almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the machine running, add lemon-water mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube. Scrap down bowl and process for 1 minute more. With machine running, add the tahini-oil mixture in a steady stream through feed tube; continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Transfer hummus to a serving dish, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes for flavors to meld. Just before serving, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle with parsley, if desired. If preparing ahead, cover tightly and refrigerate (without garnishes) for up to 5 days. When ready to serve, if the texture is too thick, stir in 1 tablespoon of warm water before garnishing with olive oil and parsley.

Notes

Nutritional info* per serving (2 tbsp): 47 cal, 3.1 g total fat (72%), 0.4 g sat fat, 3.9 g total carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 2.4 g net carbs, and 1.5 g protein.

*I use Living Cookbook 2015, along with package information and data from www.nutritiondata.self.com, to calculate the nutritional information for my recipes. Thus, I can make no guarantees as to the accuracy.