I love hummus for so many reasons, but one reason is that it can be flavored with so many different things. Adding a dollop of pesto to your hummus is an easy way to change up your hummus game and add a little variety to your routine. You can make this easy herby pesto hummus from scratch, as directed below, or simply stir some pesto into your favorite store bought hummus!
How to Use Pesto Hummus
The herbal flavor that the pesto imparts makes this hummus perfect for dipping vegetables or for spreading onto sandwiches. I’ve already used it in place of cheese in my breakfast egg “quesadilla” and it was a HUGE hit. Hummus and eggs always go great together and pesto jumps right into that party seamlessly. I keep imagining this hummus slathered thick onto two slices of artisan whole wheat bread and then topped with an assortment of delicious vegetables… and maybe a slice of havarti. Okay, enough food fantasy for today. I’m content with my vegetable sticks. 😉
Do You Need a Food Processor?
I find that food processors work best for making hummus because it’s usually too thick for blenders (unless you have a super-duper fancy blender that will blend anything short of concrete).
I use this Hamilton Beach model, which was about $50 when I got it (it’s more expensive on Amazon now, but I think that’s because it’s out of production). Here is newer, similar food processor. It’s too bad if they did stop manufacturing mine, because I LOVE it. Small, inexpensive, but a total workhorse!
Hummus Shortcut
As mentioned in the intro, if you don’t want to make your own hummus, you can definitely just stir ¼ cup pesto into a 16oz. container of store-bought hummus. No shame. Besides, Aldi’s hummus is so good and affordable, it’s almost as good as homemade.
Pesto Hummus
from votes Spiking a basic hummus recipe with a dollop of basil hummus adds big flavor. Use this herby pesto hummus for sandwiches, dipping, on pasta, and more! 
Servings 8 ¼ cup each Prep 10 minutes Total 10 minutes Save RecipeSaved! Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($1.15)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice ($0.18)
- 1/4 cup olive oil ($0.48)
- 1/4 cup tahini ($0.85)
- 1/4 cup basil pesto ($1.33)
- 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder (or 1 clove fresh)* ($0.02)
Instructions
- Drain the chickpeas and add them to a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Process the ingredients until smooth, adding a little water, olive oil, or drained liquid from the chickpeas to thin out the mixture if needed.
- Garnish with a few whole chickpeas, a drizzle of olive oil, or a dollop of pesto, if desired.
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Equipment
Notes
*I used garlic powder this time instead of fresh garlic because it’s a bit easier on the stomach. The pesto also contains garlic, so I didn’t find I needed to add much. One clove of fresh garlic can be used in place of the powdered garlic.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.25cupCalories: 212.78kcalCarbohydrates: 14.7gProtein: 6gFat: 15.35gSodium: 335.98mgFiber: 4.78g Read our full nutrition disclaimer here. 
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How to Make Pesto Hummus – Step by Step Photos
Drain one 15oz. can of chickpeas and add it to a food processor along with 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup tahini, 1/4 cup basil pesto, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp garlic powder (or one clove fresh garlic).
This is the little jar of basil pesto that I bought. It contains about 3/4 cup and was $3.99, which isn’t bad if you don’t have access to fresh basil to make it yourself! 🙂 Basil pesto is very potent, so you really don’t need a lot of it to really pump up a recipe. This little jar will probably end up being utilized in three recipes or so.
Process the ingredients until the hummus is smooth. You may need to add more liquid to thin it out a bit and to get it really smooth. You can add water, olive oil, or some of the liquid from the can of beans. Just add a tablespoon or two at a time until the mixture processes smoothly.
And that’s all it takes to make Pesto Hummus! Super easy, right? #snacktime