Vitamix Blender Hummus
Every time someone visits Cookography, we get an itsy bitsy amount of money via the ads you see on the right hand side. Over time and if enough people stop by, it starts to add up. Better yet, if I use the money for Cookography related things I don’t have to pay taxes on it because they count as expenses. At the end of last year we had earned enough to get Vitamix.
A Vitamix is a very high blender that does things no ordinary blender. Its blades are very sharp and spin so quickly and with so much force that it can transform anything into a velvety smooth sauce. If you use it to make dressing, it can combine and emulsify the ingredients so well that they will not separate, even after a couple of days in the fridge.
We are hummus addicts. A container does not last too long in our fridge. However at $4+ a pop, it gets pretty expensive. I have tried lots of different recipes, but they never turn out as smooth as store bought versions. This is before I tried making hummus in the vitamix. Not only does it turn out super smooth hummus, but it can make a quart size batch without blinking an eye. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about having some tahini on hand, because you can add whole sesame seeds, along with the other ingredients, and the Vitamix will pulverize them into tahini.
Somehow in my head buying a $450 blender to save on $4 containers of hummus makes total economic sense, good thing I am not a financial advisor. Regular blenders and food processors are also perfectly capable of turning out good humus, the end results are just have a different texture. It is of course great a making a number of other things, which I will cover in follow-up posts.
As much as I like the blender, Vitamix comes across as a bit of a weird company. Their website looks vintage 2005, and comes across as being a little shady, with areas focusing on diabetes prevention. They seem to be targeting the new age food & vegan lover crowd instead of serious home cooks. Their sales channels are little weird too. For the most part you can only get the blender directly from them. The also have an affiliate program, where websites get a percentage of the sales they drive to vitmax. This of course has lead to a lot of even sketchier website promoting the wonderousness of the Vitamix and offering free shipping. Having a dated website, promoted by sketchy 3rd party sites does very little to inspire confidence in a very expensive purchase.
Luckily they are also available through Williams Sonoma and Sur la Table. I decided to go this route, figuring I could easily return it if it didn’t live up to the hype. Of course Vitamix has to make this confusing and refers to these models using a different model. The Professional Series 200 is the same blender as their 5200, except that it comes with a different recipe book and DVD (which I have yet to watch). Unfortunately most of the included recipes are more geared towards ultra healthy eating, who makes a quart of hummus with only 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I have fixed this for them! Give my recipe a try and suggest any tweaks you have.
Red Pepper Hummus
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cooked, drained chickpeas, cooking water reserved or 2 cans of chickpeas
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 8 canned piquilo peppers
Equipment:
- Vitamix blender
Directions:
- Add all of the ingredients to the jar of the blender.
- Add enough of the cooking liquid or water til it is up to the level of the beans.
- Using the stirring stick, blend everything together.
- Start the blender on the lowest speed, and then bring quickly bring it up to 10, and switch it to hi-speed.
- Use the stirring stick to break up any air pockets and blend for 1 minute.
The Best of Cookography
Does your recipe also call for olive oil? The last paragraph of your post (very easy to read, by the way) refers to the ultra healthy recipes calling for only 1 tablespoon of olive oil. It goes on to say that you fixed this for them. I was expecting to read that you use even more olive oil in your recipe, but your ingredients list doesn’t include any at all. I just wanted to confirm…
Will there be mor VITAMIX recipes??
Can’t wait to try the hummus, and make more things – am getting mine in about a week, purchased 2200 off ebay. thanks!!!
Vitamix hummus is the best!
Thats great to hear! I just made a batch of Sorbet (accidentally). Let me know how the hummus turns out and if you have any tweaks.
An unsolicited Vitamix endorsement.
My father-in-law had a Vitamix when I married his daughter way back in 1989. Amazingly, he now has not only the original one, but a second one he bought some 10 years ago. He used it primarily to make tofu – weird, right?
I saw a demo at a state fair – in which the hawker made first ice cream, then peanut (and cashew) butter, then hot soup using the Vitamix. I was blown away. Enter my own Vitamix.
We’ve used it to make the requisite smoothies, to grind grains for both homebrewing and baking, to mince meats (before I bought a meat grinder).
I swear by it and include it as among the must-haves of kitchen products … right up there next to a KitchenAide and coffee maker of your choice and corkscrew.
I look forward to trying the humas recipe.