How do I love thee, hummus? Let me count the ways:
I love my zucchini hummus. I love my digestive-friendly hummus. I love hummus in wraps, on salads, and served up with veggies for dipping. I love it almost as much as I love my guac, and sometimes more. No matter how you slice or dice it, I’m a hummus fiend.
My friend Caroline is a hummus fiend, too. And as it turns out, she’s also a lover of broccoli (in fact, that most beloved of crucifers is nestled snugly in her blog title). Recently, as I was reading Caroline’s blog, I thought, “Hmm. Broccoli+hummus. Broccoli hummus?” Heck, if I could make it out of raw zucchini, then surely I could make it out of broccoli, too?
The problem was that I worried about the bitterness of raw broccoli. Dearly though I love that veggie in any shape or form, it tends to pack a spicy (and not always pleasing) bite when we’re lovin’ it in the raw. Still, recent experiments with a broccoli-tahini pate had given me encouragement that raw broccoli can, with the right balance of flavors, be perfectly mellow. And so, with Miss Caroline in mind, I set out to concoct a recipe for a raw hummus that’s simple, tasty, and that tempers the bitterness of raw broc.
The key, it turned out, was to mix broccoli and zucchini together in equal parts. The rest was predictable: tahini, a little nooch (that’s nutritional yeast for you non-vegans), some salt, pepper, and even a squirt of mustard, and my perfect broccoli hummus–all raw and vegan–came to be. I spent the better part of my weekend doing away with the stuff, but graciously saved a photo for you all from today’s lunch, at work:
Caroline, this baby’s for you.
Gena’s (Raw) Broccoli Hummus (yields about 1 1/2 – 2 cups)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups raw broccoli, chopped
1 1/2 cups raw zucchini, chopped
1/3 cup raw sesame tahini (substitute regular tahini if that’s what you have)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp organic mustard (totally optional)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
Place the veggies into your processor and process till finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients, and blend till smooth. This will mean stopping a few times to scrape your bowl!
If the mix is too thick — which it may well be — add a thin stream of water or more lemon juice to thin it out. I like my hummus very thick, and the zucchini adds liquid, so I only added a few tablespoons of water as I went along.
What’s a better way to pack nutrition into your lunch than to infuse your hummus with green power? This is a great way to get kids to eat their broccoli (or, if you’re a broccoli fanatic like Caroline, to find ways to eat more of the stuff). And it’s also just a darn tasty recipe, which I think you’ll all love. It’s great on its own, but I’ve already enjoyed it in raw wraps and scooped atop salads, as pictured in this post.
So next time you whip up a batch of chickpea crack hummus, keep this variety in mind. Your body will thank you for the boost of calcium and protien, and your palate will thank you, period.
Before I go, a note to people who use Google Reader: last night, a few of you let me know that my posts were just showing up as blurbs. This was not intentional–I was fiddling with some techie stuff for the blog and changed it by accident–so no need to, um, freak out at me, as a few of you did! My settings are back to normal, and my posts should show up in full next time.
xo
I'm a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a former book editor, and a post-baccalaureate pre-med student at Georgetown University. I'm passionate about helping people to discover and enjoy plant based foods in a simple and healthy way. My name is pronounced like "Jenna." 
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Broccoli is probably my favorite veggie. I can’t go a day without it! Great recipe; I’ll definitely be trying it out!
Have a lovely day!
xox
This looks great!! I’m a hummus fiend too…although I discovered that it’s actually the tahini that I love
I too am guilty of being a Hummus fiend! I recently got onto the sweet Hummus bandwagon, yummo! (Its so weird typing Hummus, in Australia we generally call it Hommus)
Awwwwwwww I love hummus, I love broccoli hut Caroline, and I love Gena!! This post is perfecT!
Wow, a whole hummus dedicated to the dear Caroline! Lucky lady!
I’m actually not the biggest hummus fan, but loving the color in this one!
I just made this right now! I was looking for a way to use up my broccoli. How perfect
And delicious!
i have to admit i’m a little scared but maybe i will give it a shot.
I am all over this as I really dont do well with chickpeas, despite trying, it just never works well for the ole GI tract, even with kombu. Anyway, love me some brock and love zuke, so this is perfect for me…and another way to use up random veggies…blend baby, blend! Great job, Gena!
This looks and sounds so yummy!
I love hummus, so I bet I would like this!
My little guy has recently decided to shun green veggies so I’ve had to get more sneaky, err, creative with meal preparation. This looks like a winner!
What a coincidence…I was craving some hummus yesterday and I didn’t have zucchini on hand to make your zucchini version, so I thought, why not try it with broccoli instead…and I liked it even better (I’m a huge broccoli fan)! Other than tahini and broccoli, I put some carrots in there as well for sweetness, cumin and garlic (which I love!), dulse granules, lemon juice and nutritional yeast and I used it as a filler for my sushi rolls instead of rice….so delicious, even my carnivorous hubby loved it!
I have a question about nutritional yeast (which I only recently discovered and I absolutely love it and add it to everything): Do you need to store it in the fridge or not? I noticed some stores have it in the fridge and others don’t.
Thanks.
Broccoli hummus?!?! You can count me in on this recipe, it looks incredible! I am a hummus fiend too
xo
K
Great recipe! The term ‘hummus’ is so open for interpretation nowadays. Although garbanzo beans are still my #1 love, I’m always open to freestyle play.
HUUUUGE hummus fan here!
Great recipe! I have got to try it out!
yum! I love broccoli WITH hummus, so I bet this would be great.
that looks and sounds great! I’m off to make hummus in a couple minutes. going to make a 1/2 raw version.
This is such a great idea! I woke up this am and made this, but I can’t eat raw broccoli (I know it sounds weird, but my throat gets scratchy), so I lightly steamed it first. DELICIOUS!
Don’t mind if I do! This hummus is such a gorgeous color.
Oh! I’ve been looking for ways to eat more raw broccoli. This is it! I have just the right amount in the fridge…Tonight, I’ll get some zucchini on the way home and whip up a batch! Yum!
The Ordinary Vegetarian is right, too. It has such a lovely color
This looks great! I am a serious hummus lover and always looking for new ways to make RAW hummus. Can’t wait to give this a try!
Too funny! I am eating hummus right now! Divine!
I’m re-instituting raw food Tuesdays in June (I’d planned on May, but turns out the first Tuesday in May was my mom’s birthday … and that meant cookies and eating out). So, I’ll keep this in mind for sure. I bet this would be the business with some flax crackers.
Sweet, another hummus recipe to try – thanks!
So it wouldn’t be raw, but I might blanch the broccoli before I try making this. I love steamed broccoli so much!
I also love Caroline…and hummus! Duh.
Hope your week is going well, G.
Ahh I love finding new ways to add more brocolli and veggies to my plate! I’ll be picking up a zuchini soon to mix in with my broccoli, thanks for the recipe!
Wow, thanks so much for the recipe! You KNOW I am trying this one, pronto!
Broccoli = love
therefore, broccoli hummus = 2 * love
thanks for the awesome recipe!
I love broccoli and hummus, so I know this will be a winner for my taste buds.
Congratulations – you win. I have seen enough tweets of this post within the last 24 hours to be successfully convinced that I must try this recipe. STAT. I will be purchasing nutritional yeast shortly and will have broccoli hummus in my stomach by the end of this week.
That is all.
Love,
Aletheia
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve only made homemade hummus once in my life so far, but it was pretty rockin’ so now I’m kind of obsessed with trying more hummus recipes. I’ll have to add this one to the list.
Wow this hummus sounds great! Thanks for sharing girl
The hummus looks delicious. I never would have thought of using broccoli. You are so clever.
When I make this I am going to substitute hemp seed butter for the tahini (since tahini is a high oxalate food). I’m really looking forward to trying it!
Saving this recipe so that I don’t lose it.
I absolutely love broccoli! Once I totally freeked out because we didn’t have any in the house and I had to go find it at 945pm… luckily whole foods was still open :]
oh gena…my fellow hummus fiend…thank you for yet another great recipe. however, try as i might to get on board with tahini, i just dont seem to have the same affinity for it as so many other food bloggers out there. maybe this will be the lucky recipe that changes my opinion?
I’m so intrigued by this recipe! I, too, adore hummus, and this will be a great change–just happen to have both broccoli and zucchini in the fridge. Any suggestions for what I could use instead of nooch? I’m still a bit wary because of the yeast.
Hello!
I’ve just made this and it’s delicious! I don’t usually like tahini but I liked it in this recipe (though I did only use 2 tbsps). So glad to have an alternative to chickpea hummus that I like. Thanks
I made this to top a salad, and it’s so, so good! Maybe it’s because I went light on the tahini, but I couldn’t get it to thicken to the right consistency. I ended up adding a couple spoonfuls of chia gel, and it turned out perfect!
Great recipe, thank you.
I’ve read that raw broccoli is hard to digest. That’s one veggetable that I normally leave for cooking. However, I do think that blending the broccoli helps the digestion proces further. What is your opinion on this?
So… mustard means prepared mustard? Or powder?
Regular mustard (not powdered).
I love broccoli but was looking for a way to eat it raw This recipe knocked me off my feet. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks again
So good! Even my boyfriend thought so and he mostly only like meat and chips! Mine came out a little thin though! I’m new to the land of vita mix so perhaps I mixed it wrong. Delicious either way!
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