Pick up a copy of Best Lunch Box Ever and you’ll find an entirely from-scratch recipe for sweet potato hummus. It’s one I developed for the book and made dozens of times, until one day I was out of chick peas. I did, however, have a container of ready-made hummus in the fridge, which I whirled together with a cooked sweet potato and a few other goodies. Voila, a major shortcut for a family favorite was born.
Is Store-Bought Hummus Healthy?
Supermarket hummus tends to measure up pretty well in terms of ingredients, which is why it’s a store-bought swap I don’t mind making. Typically it’s little more than chick peas, tahini, oil, and seasonings, without a whole lot of funny business. This collectively adds up to a nutritious combination of fiber, folate, healthy fats, calcium, and protein. Good stuff. That said, some taste better than others, but even the lackluster ones can be remedied with this recipe.
How to Cook the Sweet Potato
All that’s required is cooking a sweet potato until tender. You can do that by poking it in several places with the tip of a knife and using one of three methods to cook it.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees. Figure about 45 minutes, give or take, until it’s tender.
- Cook in the microwave on high for about five minutes. If it’s not done, continue to cook in one minute internals.
- Use the Instant Pot. You’ll find a good method by heading here.
Simple Sweet Potato Hummus
From there, making the hummus is just a matter of running the sweet potato and other ingredients through a food processor until smooth. The combination makes a tasty dip that is a nutrition powerhouse. The flavor is a well balanced trifecta of sweet, spicy, and tangy. In a word, addictive. Nobody will care that you took one little shortcut.
For more hummus recipes, you might like …
Whipped Chick Pea Hummus by Heidi Swanson
Cilantro and Ginger Hummus from This Mess is Ours
Short-Cut Sweet Potato Hummus
Using store-bought hummus makes this wholesome dip a snap to pull together. Just add a tender, cooked sweet potato, a splash of lemon juice, and a squirt of sriracha. It's a tasty balance of sweet, tangy, with just a hint of heat that's delicious while still warm from the sweet potato or after chilling in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato
- 1 cup hummus
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon sriracha
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pierce the sweet potato with a sharp knife a few times. Cook the sweet potato until tender enough that a knife slides right in without resistance, about 40 minutes (time will vary depending on shape and size of sweet potato).
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Pull off the peel and put the flesh of the sweet potato into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the hummus, juice of the 1/2 lemon, and sriracha and run the food processor until the hummus is creamy and blended.
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Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with cut up vegetables and/or whole grain pita chips or crackers.
