I’ve only eaten hummus a few times and liked it okay. The dippers were the important part to me. Recently, I saw a recipe in a Martha Stewart Living magazine for a beet-based hummus. This is great because it reduces the carbohydrates a whole bunch since chickpeas are pretty high.

So I made up a batch with a substitution in the ingredients. The original called for harissa oil, which is a hot pepper oil, and I substituted in Asian chili paste. I soon learned that the recipe crested almost four cups of hummus. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Time for me to see if it will freeze. Anyway, unless you’re making this for a party, you’ll probably want to go with a half-size version, which is the recipe below. This will make about two cups of it.

I like beets, so I am quite pleased with the flavor. I only tried the red beets but will be looking for golden beets the next time. They are roasted beforehand, so if you make an extra beet, they are delicious right out of the oven.

Beet Hummus

2 medium Beets (red or gold)
Splash Olive Oil
Pinch or two of Salt
1/4 cup Tahini
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon Garlic, minced
Salt to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Asian Chili Paste or Chili Oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F.)

Peel and chop beets into 1-inch pieces. Line a sheet of foil with parchment paper and put beets on the parchment. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Fold the foil over the parchment and beets to make a packet and crimp the edges to seal. Roast about 1 hour until the beets are fork tender. Unwrap and let cool completely.

Once cooled, place the beets in a food processor with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic. Process to a coarse paste, about one minute, then drizzle the 2 tablespoons olive oil through the feeder shoot on the top while running the blender. Process another two minutes until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, add chili paste and mix it in, then transfer to a bowl and let it sit thirty minutes.

Before serving, grind more pepper on top. Serve with flatbread, low carb bagel chips, or cut vegetables.

Makes about 28 tablespoons.

Nutrition Information per tablespoon (based on 2 cups)
Calories: 26.2 Fat: 2.3 g Net Carbs: 0.8 g Protein: 0.5 g

Tip: The original recipe said to use parchment-lined foil, which I didn’t know was a thing. I had foil and parchment, so I just put a sheet of parchment on top of the foil. Since then, I’ve discovered Reynolds did have a line of it that was based on a Martha Stewart product. The main reason for it was to put a layer of paper between the food and the possible taste from the foil. Anyway, the parchment-lined foil has been discontinued although you can still pick up a few rolls through Amazon until the merchants run out.

Another tip: If you’d like it spicier, add a tablespoon of chili paste to about 1/3 cup of the hummus.