I make delicious hummus in minutes with simple recipe - one ingredient change improves it

More and more of us are trying to eat healthily and avoid . But for many people who are used to a lifetime of eating foods plucked straight from the supermarket shelf for convenience, finding alternatives which are healthy but still quick and easy to make can prove challenging.

I and have not looked back. While at first I thought that eating various combinations of vegetables with fish or chicken was going to be my life from now on, I quickly learned that there is a whole world of different foods and food combinations out there, including some I would never have dreamed of making myself.

Hummus is one of them. I think if you'd have asked me a year ago what was in hummus, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. Now I make it regularly. And the best things about it are that it is super quick to make, healthy and absolutely delicious. What's more, I usually have all the ingredients in the cupboard anyway so can just crack on whenever I feel like it. But I do make one change from the most common base ingredient, which I think gives it a creamier texture.

Hummus is also extremely versatile, going perfectly with a wide variety of different foods. It's great with a salad, on a baked potato, as the base for a spread of vegetables, or as a main meal with chopped up vegetables like cucumber, pepper or celery to dip in it.

Cutting out UPFs means I have had to learn lots of new recipes - and one of the best bits of the whole journey has been learning how to make delicious versions of foods I'd previously have bought in a packet filled with chemical and industrial ingredients.

For example, there's , these , and this .

Homemade hummus - ingredients

• One can of chickpeas, drained (I often change this for a can of butter beans, which I think gives it a creamier texture, but both are equally delicious)
• One small garlic clove, minced
• One lemon, the juice and zest
• Three tablespoons of tahini
• Extra virgin olive oil (some recipes call for one tablespoon, though I use way more than this)
• Salt and pepper

Homemade hummus - method

1. Rinse the chickpeas or butter beans then tip into a food processor and blitz until almost smooth. It can help to add a small amount of water to get the chickpeas smoother and help the blending.

2. Add the salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice and zest and tahini - then blitz again.

3. Start adding the olive oil as the processor runs. This part requires a little experimentation. I love lots of olive oil in mine, but others might find it too oily. But if the consistency is too thick, you can either use more olive oil or small amounts of water to smooth it out. Blitz until the hummus is smooth and silky.