For The Creamiest Hummus, Get Earthy Sweet Potatoes Involved

As a gluten-, dairy-, and nut-free dip, hummus appeals to many different diets, and its cool, creamy texture is the perfect accompaniment to pita bread, chips, chicken, meats, and crunchy veggies. Plus it's a delicious spread on sandwiches and wraps. Thankfully, this delicious dip is easy to whip up at home with just a handful of ingredients, but if you really want to make a hummus that wows — and that means the creamier it is, the better — you'll have to stray a little from standard hummus recipes. 

There are lots of tips and hacks floating around out there on how to achieve super creamy hummus. You know, the kind you get at a great Mediterranean restaurant that you can never quite replicate at home? Recipes call for adding melted butter, extra tahini, or boiling your chickpeas with baking soda, but this time we recommend adding sweet potatoes to your recipe to make your hummus feel silky smooth and taste pleasantly unique.

Roasting cubes of sweet potatoes does two things: it caramelizes the outside, bringing out and concentrating the natural sugars in the root vegetable, and it changes the texture from super hard and crunchy to soft and velvety. It's perfect for incorporating into prepared hummus because the textures mimic each other. After you've roasted your sweet potato, puree it until it's smooth and then mix it into your hummus, which can be either homemade or store-bought. The vegetable will add some earthy-sweetness to the hummus, giving it another layer of interesting flavor plus a nice color.

If sweet potatoes aren't your favorite, roasted butternut squash is a great alternative, as is canned pumpkin which is already pureed for you (just be careful not to use canned pumpkin pie filling). Although hummus is already pretty nutritious on its own with loads of fiber, protein, magnesium, and potassium, adding sweet potato will add an extra boost of nutrients in the form of vitamins A and C. A great-tasting snack that's actually good for you – it's always been possible and this version of hummus just provides another great option to try.