Hummus Is The Key To Dreamy Pasta Sauce With Minimal Effort

One of the most popular dips in the world, hummus is also one of the most versatile. In its simplest and most authentic form, hummus consists of chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and lemon juice. Over its centuries-long history, hummus has become a dish served and loved around the world. Its trek around the globe has transformed hummus into a culinary chameleon, adapting to local ingredients from every cuisine.

While you can find every iteration of hummus, from beet to black bean, its versatility expands even further than ingredient swaps. Hummus can also transform from dip to pasta sauce. It's the perfect pre-made ingredient to add richness and a versatile flavor palate to pair with veggies, meat, spices, and aromatics. It's also a nutritious vegan option with plenty of protein and fiber. Plus, there are countless grocery store hummus brands to choose from, each with a wide variety of different flavors.

Creating a pasta sauce out of hummus will save you the time and effort of making sauce from scratch, and it's a great way to refresh a boring pasta rotation by offering something other than jarred marinara or alfredo sauces. You don't even have to buy an extra ingredient to thin hummus into a sauce. To make hummus pasta sauce, all it takes is 1 cup of reserved pasta water to make hummus into a creamy, nutty coating for your favorite type of pasta.

Just as hummus accommodates a long list of diverse ingredients, it will also work well with any pasta dish ingredient or flavor you have in mind. Of course, it's a perfect stand-alone sauce, too. A simple blend of hummus, miso paste, and salted pasta water over spaghetti with a hearty dusting of fresh cracked pepper, coarse salt, and a drizzle of olive oil is a worthy vegan alternative to cacio e pepe.

Hummus also pairs well with other Mediterranean ingredients, from sun-dried tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts to olives and roasted eggplant. If you don't have the time or money to incorporate other ingredients like these into your pasta dish, a simple solution is to buy different flavors of hummus. Roasted red hummus, olive hummus, and lemon garlic hummus are just a few of the options already elaborated with veggies, spices, and aromatics.

Hummus also makes a great filling for stuffed shells and ravioli: You can spoon artichoke and spinach hummus straight from the container for the pasta filling and top it with a roasted pine-nut hummus sauce! Hummus is reliable enough to pull off even the most bizarre culinary whimsies for your next pasta dinner.