Hummus Salad Dressing

I don't know how many of you are familiar with DC restaurants, but one
of my favorite places (possibly ever) is Sweetgreen, a minuscule salad bar with the best tart frozen yogurt I have ever tasted. Lucky for me, and my tastebuds, this fine establishment is a mere three blocks from my house in Georgetown, so needless to say I go there often.

My favorite salad from Sweetgreen, the Chic P, comes with a fantastic hummus dressing that I have yet to find in any salad bar in DC or New York. Experimenting with my lunch yesterday to prevent myself from spending $9 on another salad, I fooled around with some ingredients and came pretty darn close to replicating the dressing. It was close enough for me.

I used chili powder and red pepper flakes to flavor the dressing, but I suppose you could use herbs like thyme instead to give it a different flavor. The heat worked for this particular salad, which I also based on the Sweetgreen version. This a very rough recipe, so really you can change the proportions to your own taste. The amount of lemon juice needed also depends on the consistency of the dressing.

Hummus Dressing:

2 tbs or 1/4 cup hummus (I use Trader Joe's Original Tahini-Free)
A splash of white balsamic vinegar (about a tbs, you can experiment with different vinegars)
Chili powder
A few red pepper flakes
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste
Pinch of salt
A hefty pinch of ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients except salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk or use a fork to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chic P Salad Ingredients
(Use any combination of these, whatever you have available)

Romaine lettuce, mixed lettuce, or baby spinach
Roasted red peppers
Cucumbers
Chickpeas or black beans
Sun-dried tomatoes
Avocado
Feta cheese
Crushed pita chips

Enjoy!

~Caitlin

UPDATE:

I just tried this again for dinner but I used about a tsp of cumin instead. It was AMAZING! SO much closer to the chic p original. I omitted the red pepper flakes and chili powder.