This paleo friendly roasted tomato cashew hummus is creamy and decadent without the beans.
More tomatoes. More roasting. It’s getting a little broken record-ish over here, huh? Sorry. Except not really.
I don’t think I’ve really come outright and said it on here, but I’m doing a little paleo/SCD experiment in these parts. Besides a couple forkfuls of pasta, a bite of an apple cider donut and a Sunday afternoon ice cream cone, it’s been 16 days of strict no dairy, no legumes and no sugar. So far, I’ve determined two things:
1. Dairy and I might not be as bff as I thought (this is only slightly problematic as I have a shelf full of greek yogurt in my fridge right now) considering I think I’ve lost a pant size from lack of bloating alone.
2. I miss hummus. Like, a lot.
I don’t really understand the whole “say no to legumes” thing that paleo advocates much beyond the fact that they have phytates and apparently that’s bad for you. I’m playing by the rules for a month just to see what happens, what changes I see and how I feel, but I struggle to understand this one. Did cavemen know what the hell a phytate was? I doubt it. Beans were around then, who says they didn’t eat them? I need more convincing on this.
Hummus was my go to afternoon snack. It’s a lovely way to get in veggies without having to boringly munch on raw ones and I needed a replacement stat.
Enter cashews.
When you soak ‘em (soak your nuts, ha) they turn soft (double ha) and almost resemble a bean texture wise, so it actually results in a pretty similar consistency to hummus once you whirl everything around in the food processor for a few minutes.
Roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes, and basil just seal the deal.
Oh, and add 1 triscuit to that cheat list up above. Oops.
Roasted Tomato Cashew Hummus
Ingredients
- 4 plum tomatoes, quartered
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- salt & pepper
- 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 3 hours
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1/4 cup packed basil leaves
- 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a baking sheet.
- Toss tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, honey and salt & pepper in a large bowl. Spread out onto baking sheet.
- Cut off tips of garlic cloves, drizzle in olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on baking sheet with tomatoes.
- Roast for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Place cashews in food processor and process for about 1-2 minutes until smooth.
- Add in all remaining ingredients and process for another minute until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Season with more salt & pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
16 days without dairy or sugar?! that’s drastic and insane. are you feeling ill? ;)
those aren’t even the two that are bothering me! It’s the beans! haha Clearly, I am ill ;)
I don’t know what this Paleo thing is (gonna have to google it), but this dip looks real good!
This hummus looks great. Tomatoes and cashews are two of my favorite things. I’m really interested to see how this paleo thing goes. Thanks for keeping us posted!
Soaked cashews are awesome. They’re sooo creamy!
I’d love to try this “hummus”. It reminds me of a summer version of this Pumpkin Cashew Cheese Dip I made for Thanksgiving two years ago (https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-recipes-for-any-day/).
Just checked that recipe out, considering I have a can of pumpkin open, I might have to make a scaled down version of that! Looks delicious :)
Your cheat list is amazingly small! I didn’t know legumes were out…not sure I’d be convinced of that one either. But it sounds like an interesting experiment at least :)
HAHA i laughed so hard at the nuts and turning soft LMAO, i’m so immature. i love hummus and you’re so creative in that you used cashews to create this!! jason would LOVE this, his favorite nuts (HA) are cashews so pureeing this into this masterpiece is something he’d gobble up!
I have a few friends who have gone Paleo, and I never understood the legume thing either. I’d definitely be missing hummus, but I love your cashew version!
Thanks for this recipe! Looks delish!
Very timely, as today is day 1 of almost Paleo for me (I’m calling it ‘almost’ because I’m not quite ready to give up the very little bit of milk I have in my morning espresso).
Pinning this one!
I haven’t given that little bit of milk up either. I don’t think the 2 tablespoons or so makes that much difference. ;)
I’m in the middle of taking a course about ancient Native Canadians — those who were around 16000-5000 years ago. The most interesting fact so far? Beans and legumes were the most-relied-on plant for natives of the Canadian Prairies — my ancient ancestors. So my take on it is that if they ate ’em, I can, too!
That said, your hummus looks amazing and I’m gonna make it TONIGHT!
Interesting! It’s just so hard for me to believe legumes weren’t consumed back then, glad there’s something that supports it!
I didn’t realize that the paleo diet eliminated legumes. I could totally kick the dairy out but legumes, not so much. I love your take on humus though, sounds perfect!