/ October 10, 2019

Smoky grilled pumpkin hummus

Name: Smoky grilled pumpkin hummus
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 small pie pumpkin - cut in half with seeds removed (or one 15oz can of pumpkin puree); 1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed); 1 tbsp of tahini; 1 tbsp of honey; 3-4 cloves of garlic; 1 tsp of chipotle pepper adobo; 1 tsp of cinnamon; 1/2 tsp of cumin; 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp of salt; 1/2 tsp of cracked black pepper; 1/4 cup of olive oil; a handful of chopped sage; For garnish; a handful of pumpkin seeds (crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, microgreens, and a drizzle of good quality olive oil)

My best friend from Cleveland is coming to visit tomorrow with her kids and hubby. I live for having houseguests. I feel like our house is Grand Central Station, all the time, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Opening up my home and having friends and family over is why we bought this house. So it could house our life. Our full, big, messy, life. So I am over the moon excited to have our friends here for the weekend. It’s their first time seeing our new house and I’m so excited.

But one of my rules about hosting is that I don’t cook a lot. Which I know sounds backward since I was a chef. But the thing is, I want to be WITH them. Laughing on the couch, drinking coffee with my friend in our pajamas (maybe upstairs in the guest bedroom pretending we don’t hear the kids ;). I don’t want to be in the kitchen or doing dishes – and neither do they. So I make a few things in advance – and then the rest we either just order in or I make something super simple that requires little to no effort.

So in preparation for this weekend, I put a few quick things together that I can easily pullout – including this smoky grilled pumpkin hummus.

Ok, so you all know that I am obsessed with hummus. As a vegetarian, it’s my “go-to” snack. But I wanted to do something a little more seasonal. So grilled pumpkins it is.

Now I have to be totally transparent – I made this recipe first using just canned pumpkins and it for sure still worked and tasted just as yummy. I personally love grilling things, and love the extra flavor grilled foods have – but if that’s not your jam – you can easily skip the “grilled pumpkin” part and still have an amazingly yummy and smoky pumpkin hummus.

Grilling the pumpkins was super easy. I used pie pumpkins, cut them in half, removed the seeds, added a little olive oil and then placed them right on the grill. They took about 30 minutes to cook and turned out great. I will for sure be adding grilled pumpkins to more of my recipes.

The rest were all ingredients I had in my pantry/fridge. Canned garbanzo beans, some chipotle pepper paste, a little honey, cumin, garlic and of course smoked paprika. Sweet and spicy and smoky and 100 percent addicting.

I topped it all off with a little goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, grilled pumpkin seeds and a ton of olive oil. I LOVE olive oil drizzled over basically everything – but especially over hummus (even when I’m using pre-made hummus from the grocery store – a little drizzle of olive oil on top makes such a difference). A few microgreens for color and you’re done. I served it all with a little warm naan bread and it worked perfectly.

Now all I have to do is open up a great bottle of red wine, put on a cozy sweater, and wait for our friends to arrive! Happy weekend, friends. Hope you’re all enjoying some time this weekend with people you love too!

For other hummus inspiration, check out our Mediterranean hummus platter and our lemon garlic hummus (ok so I am just now realizing this is my THIRD hummus recipe – I for sure have an obsession ;))

Recipe: