The Unexpected Hummus Flavor Nigella Lawson Swears By

While the birthplace of hummus may be under dispute, per BBC Travel, what everyone can agree on is that the classic version of this popular spread is made with the same ingredients everywhere, and those are chickpeas, tahini, garlic, and lemon. Still, British domestic goddess Nigella Lawson offers up the theory that one of those traditional ingredients can be substituted with much success, and she promises the results will surprise and please your palate.

Those who have tried Lawson's reimagined hummus recipe appear entranced by it. To give you a hint, the dish still contains chickpeas; one commenter who called it "amazing" and "so yummy" boiled their own dried garbanzo beans when making the spread. It doesn't, however, call for tahini, which prompted one fan to call the hack perfect for those with sesame allergies. As for Lawson herself, she loves the recipe for its "manilla-tinted chic" and easy-to-serve nature for guests and solo snacking. Any ideas?

Lawson's hummus hack? She blends up the hearty dip with just one ingredient swap: peanut butter in place of tahini. Other than the classic ingredients (chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, and lemon), she adds cumin for smokiness, Greek yogurt for creaminess, and finely chopped peanuts for garnish. The result, she says, is "elegant." In defense of her swap, she recent tweeted, "Tahini is, in effect, sesame butter, so it's not that wild of a stretch!" She recommends serving pita bread, breadsticks, tortillas, or crackers on the side and says you can make the hummus two days ahead.

While the cookbook author's fans were full of praise about the recipe on her website, some Twitter followers were less trusting. "I *adore* Nigella in the absolute highest, but I am deeply uncertain about this. Thoughts?" mused one fan. Another reassured the skeptics with some sound logic: "I use peanut butter in Asian dressing if I run out of Tahini. So ... yes, it works!" they enthused.