Hummus is a simple dip, often made using chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and garlic. Yet it’s also a delicious and practical ingredient. It’s also a healthy option, as the chickpeas provide plenty of nutrients and protein. This is much better than many other dips.
It’s also a recipe that can be easily adapted. Some recipes add extra ingredients for flavor, like black beans, beetroot, lemon, and even peanut butter. You can also make more creative versions, like paleo hummus, which aims for a similar flavor and texture profile while excluding chickpeas.
Regardless of the style, we have to consider what to serve with hummus. There are a variety of classic hummus sides to consider, including crunchy vegetables like carrot sticks, pretzels, and pita chips, along with many other options, like sandwiches, warm naan bread, and even salads.
Many of these ingredients shine because they contrast the creaminess of your hummus, often by providing a noticeable crunch. Some offer complementary flavors, while others simply allow the flavors of your hummus to truly shine. Why not experiment with a few options and see what you like the best?
What To Serve With Hummus (10 Sides To Try)
Crunchy Veggies
Let’s get the most obvious approach out of the way. Hummus is often served on a platter with a variety of cut, crunchy vegetables, including carrot sticks, cucumbers, and bell peppers. Raw cauliflower and raw broccoli sometimes feature as well, giving you some variety and extra nutrients.
This combo gives you a perfect texture contrast between your creamy hummus and the crunchy vegetables. It also works regardless of the style and flavor of your hummus.
You don’t need to stick with cut up pieces of raw vegetables here. You could also experiment with different seasonings or even slightly cooking your vegetables. Doing so can work well, as long as the texture and flavor of your veggies complement the hummus.
Crispy Zucchini Bites With Aioli Dip
These Crispy Zucchini Bites with Aioli Dip are a great example of using cooked vegetables instead of raw ones. The zucchini bites are made by slicing the zucchini, then dipping the pieces into a flour mixture, then beaten eggs, and then panko breadcrumbs.
Once dipped, the zucchini bites are fried in a skillet for roughly three minutes on each side. This is all that’s needed to cook the zucchini and create a crispy exterior.
The aioli dip featured in the recipe isn’t that relevant if you’re also serving hummus. Still… there’s no rule saying you can’t serve two types of dip. You could also make this aioli dip and use it later.
Pita Chips
Crisp pita chips are another common hummus side. They’re also logical, as you can use the pita chips to scoop up your hummus and get more of it with each bite.
Pita chips also provide you with a contrasting crunch, just like you get with raw vegetables. The style is also a little like chips and dip, which appeals to many people. You might even serve pita chips and raw vegetables as part of the same meal. Doing so offers a great balance of textures and flavors.
Garlic Rosemary Pita Chips
These Garlic Rosemary Pita Chips are much more interesting than plain pita chips. They’re also something you can make at home. The simplest approach is to purchase pita bread. Then you’ll just need butter, garlic, parsley, and rosemary to make the chips come to life.
You can also make the pita bread yourself. Doing so gives you more control over the ingredients and flavor of the bread. Plus, you could potentially make these chips using keto pita bread or gluten free pita bread.
Baked Potatoes
Pita chips and vegetables are obvious pairings with hummus. Baked potatoes? Not so much. Yet, while the idea might sound strange, hummus works well as a topping for baked potatoes.
This could be as simple as using hummus on top of your potato instead of butter. Doing so is certainly much healthier and tastes pretty good too. Hummus is good as a topping for loaded potatoes as well.
I’ve even seen recipes that mix hummus with the potato mixture when making twice-baked potatoes. This increases the protein content while also improving the flavor profile. Why not try this idea yourself?
Steakhouse Style Potatoes
This Steakhouse Style Potatoes recipe focuses on helping you make the best possible baked potatoes in the oven. You end up with delicious potatoes with a fluffy interior and perfectly crispy skin.
Once cooked, the potatoes can be served with whatever toppings you wish, including hummus. The recipe even includes a list of possible toppings and links for further information. You could easily try one or two of these toppings with your hummus.
Salads
Salads come with a few options. The first is to use hummus on your salad, perhaps as part of the dressing or even just on top. The hummus dressing idea requires more prep work but is worth every second of effort. Seriously, there are some amazing recipes out there.
You could also simply serve salad alongside hummus. This allows you to dip the various ingredients in hummus, creating that creamy/crunchy contrast we’ve been discussing. This pairing will work well with many types of salad, especially those with plenty of crunch.
Pomegranate Pear Salad With Walnuts
Why stick with a simple salad when you can make one that’s packed with flavor and color? This Pomegranate Pear Salad with Walnuts is a great example of the idea.
Along with the walnuts and pears, this salad includes parmesan cheese, pomegranate cheese, and mixed baby greens. The walnuts are also caramelized, which makes them even more exciting than normal.
There’s a vinaigrette dressing to tie everything together. The dressing flavors should complement your hummus, although you could skip the dressing if you really wanted to.
A Sandwich
As with salads, you can serve sandwiches alongside your hummus or as an ingredient. If the sandwiches were alongside, then you might dip your sandwich in the hummus every few bites.
As strange as it sounds, that style actually works well. You end up with a great contrast between the hummus and sandwich, but don’t need to taste the hummus with every bite.
Alternatively, you can treat hummus more like a condiment than a dip. This includes spreading it on your sandwiches. Doing so adds moisture and flavor, making the entire sandwich taste better. Besides, there are many delicious types of sandwich to choose from, most of which would taste fantastic with hummus.
Grilled Hummus Sandwich
This Grilled Hummus Sandwich was designed to be made with hummus, so you can be confident that the flavors will come together well. This is also an exciting sandwich, as it relies on some unusual flavors and has been grilled.
The standout ingredient is grilled onions, which add a fantastic depth of flavor. These onions are complemented by the hummus, tomato, arugula, and a little seasoning.
Because this is such a simple sandwich, you can really go to town with the hummus. Instead of sticking to plain hummus, why not try a flavored version instead?
Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are great if you’re trying to cut down on carbs. They’re also somewhere between a wrap and a salad, making them an easy fit with hummus. Here too, you could dip your wrap in hummus directly or spread hummus on it instead.
What’s more, lettuce wraps can be easily varied. You can make them using traditional salad ingredients, like tomato and ham, or get more creative. For example, many recipes incorporate Chinese flavors, which are an excellent contrast to the lettuce.
You could easily try a different flavor profile entirely, like making Mediterranean lettuce wraps. There are even recipes for Philly cheesesteak versions.
Easy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
These Easy Chicken Lettuce Wraps follow an Asian style and are incredibly flavorful. This isn’t surprising, as the recipe features plenty of ingredients for flavor, including hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and garlic.
Chicken is the protein of choice, although you could easily sub this out for a different type of meat or even a vegan protein option. The recipe creator also includes details about variations, like how you can make the meal even spicier or different types of lettuce you can use.
Pretzels
Along with veggies and pita chips, pretzels are another classic ingredient for dipping in hummus. You can even buy them in a pretzel of the month club, which is perfect if you’re bored with the local options.
Pretzels are also interesting because there are two styles to consider. The first is the small hard pretzels, which provide the same texture contrast you get with pita chips.
Then there are the larger soft pretzels instead. While these don’t provide a texture contrast, they’re still delicious. They may be better in some ways, especially if you manage to find some fresh soft pretzels.
Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Bites
These Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Bites really bring pretzels up to the next level. They’re made using pretzel dough, so you get all the traditional flavors of soft pretzels and some of the texture as well.
Yet, the dough is wrapped around cheddar cheese, which gives it this amazing cheesy filling. You can easily experiment with the size of the bites. Just make sure they’re large enough to keep all the cheese in the middle. You don’t want the cheese leaking out as the bites are cooking.
It’s easy to see how these little treats work well with hummus. You could dip them in the hummus directly or perhaps slice them open and then spread hummus on them.
Buddha Bowl
Buddha bowls go by a few names, including harvest bowls, protein bowls, and nourish bowls. The basic idea is that you’re incorporating a variety of fresh and healthy ingredients, often with a grain base and some sources of protein as toppings.
The bowls are popular ways to eat well, especially as you can easily tweak the topping ingredients based on your preferences and what you have on hand. As such, you can quickly create vegan versions, low carb bowls, or whatever else you’re in the mood for.
These bowls are often best when you have some type of dressing or sauce on top. So, why not add a dollop of hummus? Doing so tastes amazing and also provides extra flavor. You could take this approach with regular hummus or flavored hummus. Both styles will work well.
Warm Tahini Harvest Bowl
This Warm Tahini Harvest Bowl would be especially delicious on cool days when you want something warm and comforting. One unusual feature is the use of farro as a base grain. Farro is a chewy ancient grain with a slightly nutty flavor. It’s a fantastic alternative to regular grains and might even be healthier.
The farro works well with the other ingredients, but it isn’t essential at all. You could easily swap it out for quinoa, rice, or sorghum. The bowl will work well regardless of the base carb you choose.
The bowl already has one topping ingredient – tahini. However, tahini and hummus work well together, so you can easily include both in the harvest bowl. After all, tahini is an ingredient in hummus.
Seasoned Beef
What about serving beef with hummus? After all, the creaminess of hummus is a fantastic contrast to the flavor and texture of your beef.
Here, you might actually serve a dish of hummus and with slices of seasoned beef on top. Or, you might simply dip the beef into hummus. There isn’t a right or wrong way of doing this. It’s all about finding what works for you.
Cajun Butter Steak Bites
These Cajun Butter Steak Bites are second to none if you’re looking for flavor. As the name suggests, they rely on Cajun seasoning, which really brings them to life.
You can use store-bought Cajun seasoning if you wish or make your own using the instructions in the recipe. Making your own allows you to play with the exact flavor profile and level of spice. You can then use the homemade spice blend in a variety of recipes.
The bites will be tastiest when prepared in the skillet. This helps to brown them and provide the best possible depth of flavor. You could cook them a different way, like with an air fryer, but they mightn’t taste as good.
Warm Naan Bread
Finally, we have naan bread, particularly warm naan bread. You can cut the bread into pieces and dip it into the hummus or perhaps spread the hummus onto the bread itself.
For something more complex, try making a wrap using naan bread. Such wraps are always delicious and can easily be topped with hummus one the other ingredients have been added.
If you don’t have naan bread, try using a different type of bread instead. Most types of bread will be perfect. That’s not too surprising considering how well hummus works with sandwiches.
Greek Yogurt Garlic Naan Bread
This Greek Yogurt Garlic Naan Bread recipe is ideal if you want to make naan bread yourself. It uses Greek yogurt as part of the batter, making this a healthy version of naan bread.
The rest of the ingredients are basic, including baking powder, flour, butter, salt, and garlic. There’s only a tiny amount of butter used, so you get a decadent flavor without many extra calories.
Make Hummus The Star
There’s one other approach to consider with hummus – you can make it the star of your dish. This is seen in the traditional way of serving hummus, where the hummus is served in a bowl, often just with spices, oil, and perhaps some bread for dipping.
The video at the start of the post showed that idea as well. Serving hummus like this makes its amazing flavors much more obvious. Doing so is powerful if you’re serving homemade hummus or have found one with an exciting flavor profile. Serving such hummus with too many sides would be a waste, as you’d lose much of the amazing taste.
