Hummus is a dip typically made from garbanzo beans, sesame seed butter, lemon, garlic, oil and spices. It is often served as an appetizer with pita bread, but it is also excellent as a dip for raw vegetables. Values listed are for typical commercially prepared hummus. Values may vary for each brand of hummus, as the amounts of each ingredient vary from brand to brand.
Calories
A ¼-cup serving of hummus contains 102 calories, which are made up of approximately 20 percent protein, 50 percent fat and 30 percent carbohydrates. While this is a high percentage of fat, hummus is typically eaten as a condiment on foods rich in carbohydrates and low in fat. For example, if you eat ¼ cup of hummus with one 4-inch-diameter piece of pita bread, your appetizer contains 179 calories composed of approximately 55 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent fat and 15 percent protein.
Protein
A 1/4-cup serving of hummus contains 4.9 g of protein, which provides 11 percent of the recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, for women and 9 percent for men. Like most plant foods, hummus is not a complete protein, as it does not contain all nine of the essential amino acids that are not produced by your body.
Fiber
One 1/4-cup serving of hummus contains 8.8 g of carbohydrates, including 3.7 g of fiber. This is 13 percent of the RDA for most adults. If you eat one serving of hummus with 1 cup of carrots, you increase the fiber content of your snack to 7.3 g, which provides 26 percent of the RDA.
Fat
While the main ingredient, garbanzo beans, is very low in fat, hummus contains fat from the added sesame seed butter and oil. One 1/4-cup serving contains 5.9 g of fat, nearly all of which is the more heart-healthy unsaturated fat. One serving of hummus contains less than 1 g of saturated fat and no cholesterol.
Minerals
One 1/4-cup serving of hummus provides a significant amount of many essential minerals --- more than 20 percent of the RDA of manganese and more than 40 percent of copper. One serving also provides more than 10 percent of the RDA for magnesium, zinc and phosphorus. In addition, one serving of hummus contains 1.5 mg of iron, which provides 19 percent of the RDA for men and 8 percent for women. Because salt is often added to hummus for flavor, one serving contains 233 mg, which is 10 percent of the maximum recommended amount per day.
Vitamins
Hummus is not as rich in vitamins as it is in minerals. One 1/4-cup serving provides 13 percent of the RDA of folate and 9 percent of thiamin and B-6 but contains few or no other vitamins. However, if you eat hummus with 1 cup of sugar snap peas, your snack provides more than 30 percent of the RDA of vitamin C and more than 10 percent of vitamin K.
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