Loaded hummus bowl with meatballs. Tender and super flavorful sausage meatballs together with a crunchy salad, crispy chickpeas and even some pine nuts too. Served up bowl-style with some fresh naan. This next-level dinner is super easy to make and beyond delicious. Add this into your weekly dinner rotation, serve as an appetizer at your next dinner party, or prep ahead of time and enjoy for lunch.
Why you’ll love this loaded hummus bowl recipe
While you can use your favorite store-bought hummus here, nothing beats the homemade stuff. This hummus recipe is super silky and creamy, though it’s not only the hummus base, but also the combination of juicy meatballs, fresh cucumber-tomato salad, briny peppers and spice toppings that will have everyone asking for more naan to dip.
And the merguez meatballs? These are not just any ordinary meatballs. The mixture of spices, chickpeas and pine nuts cooked together, brings a whole explosion of flavor.
This meal is absolutely doable on a weeknight. If you can blend the hummus and roll the meatballs beforehand, your dinner will be ready 15 minutes. That said, it requires a little of hands-on time. Why not make it easy and prep most of it in advance?
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.
Helpful tips
- To save time, make the hummus and roll the meatballs ahead of time. You can do this 1 day beforehand.
- Can’t find merguez sausage? Use Italian sausage, chicken sausage, lamb sausage or chorizo. You can also make your own merguez mix! To do so, combine ground lamb (or beef) with harissa spices, ground garlic, sumac, cumin and chili pepper.
- Instead of the cucumber-tomato salad, add pickled cabbage, black olives or roasted eggplant.
- Serve with naan, pita, crackers or some crusty bread.
- Naan recipe: 400 g/14 oz flour + the same amount Greek yogurt + 1 tsp salt, black pepper, garlic powder and baking powder.
Storage
- Store leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Hummus itself keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 1 week.
Try These Next
- Hummus Bowl with Roasted Vegetables and Za’atar Oil
- Roasted eggplant with smokey chickpeas and parmesan
- Easy roasted potato and crunchy chickpea salad
Loaded Hummus Bowl with Meatballs
Ingredients
Hummus
- 5 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove - smashed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ cup tahini
- 1 can (400g/15 oz) chickpeas - drained
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp ice cold water
Cucumber-Tomato Salad
- 1 cucumber - thinly sliced
- 7 ounces cherry tomatoes - halved
- 1 red onion - thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Merguez Meatballs
- 1 pound merguez sausage
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 7 ounces chickpeas - drained
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove - minced
- 2 tbsp parsley - more for serving
- red pepper flakes - for serving
- za’atar spices - fro serving
- flakey salt - for serving
- freshly ground black pepper - for serving
- pickled green chili peppers - for topping
Instructions
- Start by making the hummus. To your food processor, add lemon juice, salt, pepper, cumin, smashed garlic clove and tahini. Blend until the garlic is finely chopped, about 2 minutes. Next add chickpeas, sesame oil, yogurt and ice water. Process until super smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.
- Next prepare the salad. Thinly slice the cucumber and red onion, cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Combine with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Remove the casings from the merguez sausages, cut into 5 cm/2 inch pieces and roll into balls.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium. Add meatballs and brown on all sides, about 3 minutes. Add chickpeas, pine nuts and garlic. Cook fro 3-5 minutes, or until the chickpeas are crispy. Stir in parsley and black pepper.
- Bring it all together. Divide hummus among 4 bowls (or use 1 large shallow bowl) and use a spoon to create swirls. Top with the meatball mixture, cucumber-tomato salad and green peppers. Finish off with za'atar, flaky salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and parsley. Serve with warm naan, enjoy!
Video
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