Can hummus be frozen?

Hate throwing away leftover hummus after it sits in the fridge for a few days? Me too. That’s why I decided to try freezing the hummus.

I love hummus, especially the roasted red pepper one. I don’t eat much, though: a third of a small container here, another tiny portion there. And since open hummus doesn’t keep very long (here’s how long hummus lasts), sometimes I have to get creative to finish the jar before it goes bad.

Fortunately, freezing turned out to be an excellent solution to this problem. It doesn’t require any additional equipment and only takes a few minutes, so there are no excuses not to do it.

But before we get into the freezing process itself, let’s talk about how freezing and thawing affect hummus.

Hummus is one of the few food products that even producers admit that freezing it is quite okay (LF, OMC). Sure, it doesn’t come out exactly the same after thawing as it did before freezing, but almost.

In short, the difference in texture is not that great.

However, the sauce may dry out a bit or lose some heat. While regular garbanzo hummus should taste pretty much as usual, a spicier variety might not pack as much punch as before.

Fortunately, you can fix both problems if they bother you. Here’s how:

Dry hummus? Add a little olive oil and/or water to achieve the desired consistency.
Not spicy enough for your taste? Add some ground pepper, garlic powder, cayenne powder, or a freshly pressed garlic clove. Or any other spice that works.

How to freeze hummus

Here I share with you two popular ways to freeze hummus: in a container and in ice cube trays.

The second one involves a couple of extra steps, and a few more minutes of practice, but it’s worth it if you often only need one cube of the dip.

Freeze the hummus in a container

This entire procedure is super simple and takes five minutes maximum. Let’s get going.

Calculate the portions. If you’re like me and only need a small amount of hummus each time, smaller is better. Make sure that a single serving is not more than you can (realistically) consume in two to three days.
Pour the hummus into containers. Make sure there is some headroom, as the sauce expands when frozen. Add a name and date label as well, if you like.

Seal the containers and put them in the freezer.

That’s it, have you seen how easy?

ADVICE
If your hummus always comes out dry, drizzle a little olive oil on its surface before freezing it.

Freeze hummus in ice cube tray

To continue, you’re going to need an ice tray (duh) and a freezer bag or container. When you have them on hand, do the following:

Pour the hummus into the ice tray. It might get messy, but it shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two to do it. If you need slightly larger portions, use a muffin pan instead.

Put the tray in the freezer for a couple of hours. What you need is for the sauce to freeze completely. That should take between 3 (for small cubes) and 8 (for a muffin tin) hours. To keep it simple, leave everything in the freezer overnight.
Repackage frozen chunks. Transfer them to a freezer bag or an airtight container, whichever suits you best. Add a tag if you want.
Return the frozen hummus to the freezer. Now you are ready to stay there for the long haul.

That’s it. With a little more hands-on time, you have plenty of hummus bits that you can use whenever you need to.

This is what you have in the end

How long can hummus be kept in the freezer?

It’s hard to say, as there are so many factors that affect how quickly the quality of this chickpea-based sauce degrades.

If you use it within two to four months, it should come out just fine. If, on the other hand, it rests for more than six months, you may notice that the flavor is a little different.

As always when it comes to frozen food, the sooner you buy it, the better its quality.

How to defrost hummus

Surely it does not surprise you to learn that you must defrost hummus in the refrigerator. It takes at least a couple of hours, depending on the size of the container, so putting it in the fridge overnight to have it ready in the morning is your best bet.

If you need to speed things up a bit, put that container in a bowl of cold water (in the fridge). The defrost time will be reduced, but not by much.

Once the dip is thawed, stir it well. If it turns out to be a little dry or tastes somewhat bland, you already know how to fix it. Now it is ready to consume.

NOTE
Try to use thawed hummus within 2-3 days, especially if it’s homemade or without additional preservatives. Some store bought can keep for up to a week (OMC), but be sure to check the label first if you want to keep it longer than 3 days.

Now that the hummus is ready, you can use it however you like. I love it with chips and as a substitute for butter in sandwiches.

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