The recipe
White Beans and Roasted Garlic Change the Formula
Roasted Garlic & White Bean Hummus is a tahini-free white bean hummus made with navy beans, roasted garlic, olive oil and lemon.
Using white beans in place of chickpeas gives this version its own character, while roasting the garlic softens its sharpness before it is blended into the dip.
The ingredient list stays deliberately short: beans, lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and a whole head of garlic. The result is a simple white bean dip built around roasted garlic rather than tahini.
Why it matters
Why This One Is Worth Bringing Back
This hummus keeps the creamy, scoopable role of hummus while changing two of the ingredients many readers expect: navy beans replace chickpeas, and roasted garlic supplies the dominant flavor without tahini.
That makes it useful both as a recipe and as a reminder that familiar food categories can have multiple workable formulas. The ingredient list stays short enough that the white beans, lemon, olive oil and roasted garlic all remain easy to recognize.
For another no-cook-or-blend style dip with a completely different flavor profile, try the archive’s Guacamole. And if you want to use the same roasted-garlic-friendly pantry alongside vegetables, Brussels Sprouts makes a natural side.
For another meatless savory recipe built around mushrooms and aromatics, see Winter Portabella Mushroom Stew. And the site’s Rosemary & Lemon Sea Salt is a natural finishing-seasoning neighbor to keep in the pantry.
Modern kitchen notes
If You're Making It Today
These are modern editorial suggestions, not changes to the preserved recipe card. When a note comes directly from the existing recipe record, we will say so.
Roast the garlic until soft
The garlic should be soft enough to blend smoothly into the beans rather than leaving sharp raw pieces throughout the hummus.
Add liquid gradually
Editorial texture note: reserve some of the olive oil and lemon until you see how the beans blend. It is easier to loosen the hummus than to undo a mixture that has become too thin.
Tahini-free is the point
If you add tahini, you may make a delicious dip, but you will also change the defining feature of this particular white-bean version.
Recipe card
The Preserved Recipe
Roasted Garlic & White Bean Hummus
Ingredients
- 16 oz dry navy beans
- 1 lemon juiced
- ⅔ cup olive oil divided
- 1½ tbsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 head fresh garlic
Instructions
- Open the bag of navy beans, and sift through to ensure there are no small artifacts or stones that shouldn’t be there.
- I used an Instant Pot to cook the beans. For this method, add the beans, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 4 cups of water to the put. Seal, and cook on high for 10 minutes, and let naturally release.
- If you’re not using an Instant Pot, soak the beans for as long as you can (preferably several hours) in a bath of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Next, simmer the beans on low for about 60 minutes.
- While waiting for the beans to cook, peel and smash a full head of garlic.
- Add all of the peeled bulbs to a pan with ⅓ cup of olive oil. Simmer on low heat until the garlic bulbs are a rich, golden brown.
- Drain the beans, and add to the bowl of a food processor. Next, add the roasted garlic and oil to the food processor bowl.
- Add ½ tablespoon salt and the teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on the food processor and turn on.
- As the food processor runs, slowly drizzle in the remainder ⅓ cup of olive oil and pour in the lemon juice. Blend until the hummus is smooth, or at a consistency to your liking.
- Add the hummus to a bowl, and drizzle olive oil to the top, and add a pinch of paprika.
- Serve, and enjoy!
Nutrition
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