Houmous is a great food to eat if you’re watching your cholesterol. I love the plain houmous you get from the supermarket, but make my own whenever I can to make it healthier, and it also means I can add extra cholesterol-reducing ingredients.

Chickpeas contain cholesterol-reducing soluble fibre, so the more you add to your diet the better. Houmous also contains garlic, which research suggests can help lower cholesterol. Adding flaxseeds can increase its cholesterol-lowering benefits even more, and if you use olive oil, which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, you’ll increase the health benefits further. I love eating it with pitta bread, carrot sticks or slices of pepper.

It’s so easy to make homemade houmous in a food processor. You basically just bung all the ingredients in together and blend it until you’re happy with the consistency. I would recommend adding a little bit of the garlic and lemon juice to start with, then blend it, taste it and add more depending on your personal taste.

Here’s the recipe:-

Information

Serves: 4-6

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 0 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1-2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tbsp ground flaxseeds (optional)

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil (see notes)

1 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp tahini (sesame seed paste)

Salt to taste

Water

Carrots, sliced peppers or pitta bread to serve it with.

Oil, Chilli flakes or pine nuts to sprinkle on top (optional)

Method

Put the chickpeas, 1 garlic clove, flaxseeds, 1 tbsp lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, 1 tsp tahini and a pinch of salt into your food processor. Blend to desired consistency. Add water and blend again until you get the consistency you want. Add more garlic, lemon juice, tahini and salt to suit your personal taste. Spoon it into a dish, and sprinkle chilli flakes, pine nuts or extra chickpeas on top with a drizzle of oil.

Notes

You can add all sorts of additional ingredients for different flavours, such as paprika, chilli flakes or chopped basil leaves.

Chopped up sundried tomatoes make a great topping (or mixed into the houmous).

Sometimes I replace the olive oil with an infused olive oil, like these ones from Tesco (the chilli one gives it a really nice kick):-

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