Have you ever wondered about the question is hummus gluten-free while enjoying it as a daily snack? Hey hummus lovers, I am here to provide you with all the necessary information about hummus. Stay tuned!
And if you’re sticking to a gluten-free plan, you have to be highly aware of what food you absorb. Is hummus gluten-free? Why should you try to enjoy hummus? Let’s jump right into it!
Overall Of Hummus
Then, what is hummus and other related inquiries anyway? You’ve got yourself questions, I’ve got you a bunch of needed responses below. Let’s take a look!
What Is Hummus?
Hummus is a smooth and creamy sauce recipe derived from the Middle East that is usually served as an appetizer. It’s savory when combined with salads or other vegetables, crackers, tortilla chips, pita chips, or even tacos.
The Origins Of Hummus
Well, unfortunately, no one knows exactly where hummus came from. But based on some historical materials, Ancient Egypt might be the ancestor of hummus. All the hummus variable versions at that time are considered to belong to this civilization.
According to some long-standing records, hummus has been dominant in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and North African regions for everlasting years. Since then, hummus has spread through the Middle East and is starting to become familiar in every corner of the world.
What Are Hummus’s Ingredients?
Hummus combines mashed chickpeas (Garbanzo beans), tahini, a drizzle of lemon juice, some gloves of garlic, and one fat substance to intensify the greasy and creamy taste of hummus, extra virgin olive oil.
However, hummus is versatile and multipurpose. You can add diversified flavor to your hummus, including spices, red peppers, and other components.
On the market, hummus has a unique collection of different flavors. It ranges from Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Spinach Hummus, Black Garlic Hummus, and Thai Coconut Curry Hummus to Chocolate Hummus and Spicy Avocado Hummus.
What Is Hummus Used For?
The answer is several, but I get you my list of how I use hummus as a healthy snack:
- Enjoy hummus while lying on the couch watching your favorite TV show.
- Pack hummus as a spread of bread in your kids’ lunch box.
- Use it for camping, picnics, and hiking.
- Hummus can be a wonderful choice for your diet.
What Does Hummus Taste Like?
Well, it is a great combination of creamy, beany, and rich from chickpeas, tangy, nutty, and smelly from tahini, a light sour from lemon juice, and pungent stormy from garlic. Try it, hummus won’t let you down!
Then come to the most awaited part of the article. Let’s broaden your knowledge about whether hummus is gluten-free!
All About Gluten
You may ask yourself whether your hummus has a little extra gluten going on. Keep scrolling down, all the information you need about gluten is on the way.
What Is Gluten?
Gluten is the insoluble protein compound that can be encountered in general grains, especially wheat. Gluten operates as a head office to link other parts of the food together, helping it increase flavor, and retain its original shape and texture.
Where Does Gluten Come From?
Gluten is almost everywhere. It ranges from food such as bread, beer, baked foods, cereals, pasta, soups, roex, to even lipstick – cosmetic stuff.
Is Gluten An Evil To Your Health?
There are a lot of rumors about removing all the products containing gluten. But is it true? Let’s find out through the information below.
Normally, our digestion can’t be able to cut off gluten, so for some people, gluten might be nothing, but for certain ones, gluten can cause some severe symptoms and unwanted feelings and responses.
Moreover, regarding a group of people, gluten may cause wheat allergy, celiac disease (1), and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Those diseases might increase the possibility of having some types of cancer.
However, many people following the non-gluten diet still continue to gain weight, and have problems with their blood control and other health situations.
Also, gluten still exists on the bedrock of the food pyramid. So if you don’t have any big problems with gluten, just normally take it in as some other food with a moderate amount.
Is Hummus Gluten-free?
That depends on where you get hummus, or else you cook it yourself. Most brands make their hummus gluten-free, but you may stumble upon some labels that include gluten in the product to make it more savory.
Classic Hummus (Home-made)
Here are the main Ingredients of classic hummus and its nutrition:
- Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) contain several needed vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They help your body generate energy, moderate blood swings, protect other cells and organs, as well as enhance the immune system.
- Tahini (Tahina) is a condiment made of ground sesame seed paste and sometimes salt, mainly used in Middle East dishes. Tahini is 100% vegan, non-gluten, and is one of the best alternatives to other unhealthy sauce butter.
- Olive oil is a liquid extracted from olives, a traditional tree from the Mediterranean Basin. Studies prove that people who absorb olive oil can reduce the possibility of having cancers, heart attack, or other syndromes.
As you can see, all the ingredients show no sign of gluten. So no more worries about whether classic hummus is non-gluten. If you cook hummus yourself at home, make sure you use additional gluten-free items only to guarantee that your hummus is non-gluten.
Store-bought Hummus
In general, most flavored hummus is plain and gluten-free. However, some companies may add gluten as an individual ingredient into hummus at the beginning of the manufacturing process to make it longer-fresh and flavored.
With that being said, whenever you plan to buy hummus at the grocery, you need to activate your critical eyes in order to scan over the ingredients table to make sure there is no appearance of gluten.
Some Brands That Offer Gluten-free Hummus
Here, I give you some of the brands that trade gluten-free hummus with the top quality. You can visit their website to wander around their non-gluten and vegan products.
Sabra Story
Sabra is a producer of Middle Eastern-style including hummus. The Sabra Classic Hummus brand is a must-try for you. It is just the full combination of unique and traditional, making your tongue want to wrap up the flavor forever.
Besides, they have their recipe uploaded on the website, so you can scroll up and down until you find your favorite hummus recipe. Although Sabra doesn’t advertise itself broadly, its hummus is still legendary for most people.
Tribe
Tribe is well-known for providing real hummus. With plant-based and no artificial preservatives items selected carefully, Tribe promises to bring its customers a fresh, natural, and non-gluten catch of hummus. I highly recommend you to try Everything Hummus.
Cava
Let’s try a spoon of Cava’s Traditional Hummus! It reminds you what organic hummus dips would taste like. It is the perfect combination of well-kneaded chickpeas, smashed garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and especially, kosher salt (2).
Hope Food
Hope Food offers you a variety of creative and yummy hummus. You should try the Spicy Avocado from this brand. It’s undoubtedly worth every penny.
Cedar’s
The Cedar’s has all their hummus with the affirmation: non-gluten freshest ingredients. Cedar’s is famous for its diversified flavors of hummus, especially Organic Original Hummus is the reason why I become their loyal customer for periods on end.
Athenos
When trying their Roasted Garlic Hummus, I repeatedly nodded out of satisfaction and understood why Athenos is such an excellent manufacturer of high-quality hummus. Their products sound like DIY hummus with eye-catching packaging.
Lilly’s Foods
When it comes to Lilly, I highly recommend you to have a bite of Lilly’s Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. This brand is dedicated to you if you are looking for a plant-based library of flavors.
Roots
Here I bring to the table authentic hummus seasoned with black pepper and tamari (3), the Original Hummus. If you are in a traditional team but still want somewhat extra flavors, I’m sure this could be your new lover.
Veggicopia
Do you want to eat store-bought hummus without getting some extra calories? Veggicopia is on stage. Come to the Original Hummus of Veggicopia, you can satisfy your cravings with only 90 calories per cup.
Overall, suppose you are following a strict gluten-free diet, you need to wear judgment glasses to read the ingredients table carefully when shopping to avoid buying hummus with a gluten label.
How To Make Gluten-free Hummus At Home?
To make hummus, you will be surprised that although it takes a moment to prepare (if you don’t use canned chickpeas), it just occupies a short amount of your time to cook. Below is the hummus recipe for a family consisting of 5 people.
Preservation
If you can’t use hummus up per meal, you can seal it in the glass bottle and put it in the refrigerator. It’ll last 3-5 days for you.
Do you want to serve yourself a chef kiss gluten-free hummus that tastes like a five-star restaurant?
What Will Go Perfect With Hummus To Make You Have A Good Scoff?
I can see clearly you are lip-smacking and mouth-watering right now, so don’t go anywhere else because right now, I’m going to recommend you the list of side dishes that can go along with hummus to intensify your appetizer and gusto.
- Salad
- Pasta
- Bread
- Falafel
- Cold cuts
- Boiled eggs
- Fruit (apple slices,…)
- Based sauce for tacos
- Tortilla chips, pita chips
- Dice vegetables (carrots, cucumbers,…)
- Crunchy snacks (doritos, pretzel, crackers, pringles,…)
- As a spread bottom base of sandwich/pizza/hamburger
- …
Nutritional Table
I know you wonder if a batch of hummus can offer you what nutrients components. Here you are, the table with a specific amount corresponding with each element.
As claimed by Food Data Central, 100g of hummus will typically include:
The data indicates that hummus is a balanced fat food, so it can be counted on for your low-fat meals. Moreover, hummus has a fairly high amount of protein which is good for people who stick to a diet program.
5 Reasons Why You Should Try To Taste Hummus
Depending on each person’s health situation, hummus can have a different level of positive effects. Why don’t you scroll down for further information about it?
Healthy Nutrition And Plant-Based Protein
A flexible source of vitamins and minerals is all wrapped up in hummus. Hummus provides your immune system with over 10g of plant-based protein per 100g, which is incredible pep for your energy for a whole day.
Also, it not only helps you to dodge the calls of hunger, but also shirks being well-primed with food during the day. With that being said, when your body takes in enough essential protein, it will offer a resilient figure and boost recovery.
Moreover, with the plant-based ingredients, hummus has almost no barriers with vegetarians because they can consider hummus equally with their supplemental meal without worrying about calories.
Assisting Our Body To Combat Inflammation
Inflammation is your body’s reaction when it prevents itself from infections, wounds, injuries, or viruses (6). However, this situation can sometimes stay longer in your body, leading to chronic syndrome and many serious matters.
So, chickpeas, tahini, and original olive oil that appear in hummus are proven to have a big plus point in staving off inflammation. More specifically, vitamin E that exists in tahini can reduce the blood marks in the place of inflammation, making it pleasant and soothing.
Diminish The Chance Of Heart Disease
Do you know that about 850.000 people have a heart attack in the U.S every year (7)? So, hummus is just a suitable and healthy snack for consumers. It has healthy fat from the original olive oil and chickpeas that can moderate and control your blood pressure.
Help To Reduce Your Cholesterol And Minimize Your Chance Of Being Cancer
You already know hummus consists of chickpeas which have potential nutrients to cut down your cholesterol. Consuming this spread not only increases the well-being of your body but also protects it from any dangerous factors.
Nourishing substances in chickpeas will maintain your cells’ defense at the top alert. As a result, they will ensure your cells will be relatively far from the cancer causes.
Easy And Money-saving To Add To Your Diet
With only some basic and easy-to-buy ingredients, you can make a bowl of hummus dip without a long list of complicated steps.
You need to mix the ingredients with a big spoon, pour it into a decent saucer, and wreath the saucer with a blended handful of vegetables and Doritos (or anything you are obsessed with).
Done! Easy peasy! You can totally use this yummy hummus instead of other unhealthy dips to snack while doing your thingy.
Again, if you want your hummus to be non-gluten, make sure that you prepare carefully for the selection of items. Some of them might have added gluten from the very beginning of the manufacturing process, so pay serious attention when picking them.
FAQs
Here, I have some common questions that you might come across in the process of finding out more about hummus.
Don’t Let Gluten-free Labels Whisper Desperately In Your Head. Just Enjoy The Hummus Show!
Gluten-free has been a buzzword for decades, but if you don’t have a considerable problem with gluten, then freely enjoy your hummus without excessively worrying about the gluten-free tag on the product.
Finally, if you think the information that I present to you today is incredibly helpful, please share this post with your family and friends so they can dive into the world of hummus and get more knowledge about this appetizing dip.
References
- What Is Celiac Disease by Celiac Disease Foundation.
- What is Kosher Salt? By bon appétit, 2017.
- What is Tamari? By BBC Good Food.
- Calcium by National Institute Of Health, 2021.
- Foods High In Sodium by Nourish By WebMD, 2020.
- Inflammation by WebMD, 2020.
- Heart Disease by Centers For Disease Control And Prevention.
- Phytic Acid 101: Everything You Need To Know by Healthline.