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My friend is a genius.
I have a new friend from America that recently moved to our city and she has been such a gift to me. She makes me laugh as much as my sister does–and that’s saying a lot. She also loves to watch movies, drink boba tea, experiment in the kitchen, eat vegan food, etc.
Plus, she’s a soy milk drinker.
Yay for creamy, dreamy soy milk!
Not long after she moved to China I helped her buy a soy milk maker like the one I’ve been using for over a year. Soy milk makers (I don’t know what else to call them) really are a brilliant invention and I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of mine, considering a bag of soy beans costs less than a dollar and I make about 1-2 liters of soy milk a week. I also love that, unlike the soy milk you buy in cartons in America, this soy milk is made with just two ingredients: soy beans and water. No need for any of those weird additives and thickeners!
My friend had never tried Okara before until she bought her own soy milk maker. Okara is the pulp left over after you make and strain soy milk. It’s basically watery soy bean pulp and it’s delicious. My friend has been eating it by itself with her fingers and mixing into her oatmeal ever since she discovered it.
But she also had the brilliant idea that, since it’s basically beans, we should try to make hummus out of it.
Now why didn’t I think of that?!
When I first started making my own soy milk I tried to make use of the leftover okara for a while. I would always save it in a tupperware in our fridge in hopes that I would add it into baked goods or make vegetable “crab” cakes with it. Sadly, it usually just sat there until I would throw it away. However, now that I make hummus with it, it doesn’t get wasted and I can also use my oh, so, cherished chickpeas to make other things. It’s a win win really!
I know there’s a lot of controversy over soy products and whether or not they’re harmful to our bodies, but I’m okay with eating soy at the moment and am going to fully embrace this creamy, zesty, super-cheap-to-make Okara (Soy Milk Pulp) Hummus!
We’ll be spreading it on veggie sandwiches and burgers, eating it with my Homemade Whole Grain Sesame Crackers, and dipping all kinds of vegetables into it. I know this recipe isn’t for everyone (considering there are very few people who actually make their own soy milk) but for the rare person out there that does, I hope you enjoy this Okara (Soy Milk Pulp) Hummus!
Please let me know if you give this recipe a try and what you think! Leave a comment down below or take a picture and tag #theconscientiouseater on Instagram so I can see your creation!
- 1¾ cups Okara
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup tahini
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3-5 tablespoon water*
- Place all the ingredients, starting with just 3 tablespoons of water, into your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Add more water if the hummus is too thick or until you reach your desired consistency.
- Add more spices to taste.
- Store in an airtight container in your fridge.
Eat Consciously,
Faith
Based on 2 Review(s)
Evan
Great Idea!
I love beans, love hummus and soy milk. So I finally took the plunge and bought a soy milk maker yesterday!!!
I also hate to waste food products and was a bit distressed about what to do with the spent beans, now I have a great solution and if I make the Hummus immediately after making the soy milk everything will be easy to clean and fresh!
Thanks for a great idea and recipe to follow.
Faith
We have a lot of similar loves! So glad this recipe will be helpful for you Evan! Let me know what you think of the hummus once you give it a go!
eliz
I’m new to making soymilk, but actually like the taste of plain okara with a bit of salt. I will definitely make the hummus. Does okara hummus last the same amount of time in the fridge as other bean hummus? My chickpea hummus lasts at least a week, but when I was researching okara, it mentioned it spoils quickly?
Faith
Hi Eliz! I have a friend who loves okara too and eats it plain. I don’t mind it either, but probably prefer it in hummus. I think mine has lasted about 5-7 days, but I can’t remember exactly. You could try freezing half and just letting it thaw in the fridge once you finish the first half?? I hope it works out for you!
moo
Is your okara cooked or raw? My soy milk method leaves the okara raw/uncooked — will this be a problem? The taste seems fine, just worried about the longevity in the fridge.
Faith
Hi! Good question. I’m guessing mine is cooked because I use a soy milk maker which heats up the milk after blending the beans and water together. I’m not sure how this would work with raw okara! I would love to know how it works out for you!
Ian
Oh we just had a little taste of the okara hummus and it’s simply delicious. I never afraid to do my own thing. This time I added quite a bit more. I used half of the water and half soy milk from the milk we made. I also added 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I had mint and basil pesto leftover from a batch I made yesterday- about 2 tablespoon full and a pinch of lemon pepper (1/8 tsp), and the same amount of black pepper. Spread on whole-wheat and flax crackers, we had to control ourselves. Thank you Nichola for the inspiration and so easy to make.
Faith
I am so glad you liked this recipe Ian! Thanks so much for sharing and for including all the fun add-ins you experimented with!
Nichola Todd
Thank you for this recipe! I usually make “chicken” nuggets out of them but this looks really good.
Faith
Hi Nichola! First of all, you have a beautiful name. Also, that’s such a fun idea to make “chicken” nuggets out of okara. I’m hoping to come up with more creative ideas like that for the future too. I hope you can try out this hummus though. It’s delicious and so easy to make!
di tulan
I make soybean milk and also eat the okara at the end adding some chocolate powder or honey. It is much convenient. I have searched a lot if any bad effect in eating okara like this but could not find any. Does anyone have the idea.
Faith
That sounds like a delicious way to use up leftover okara to me! And I haven’t studied the nutritional benefits (or concerns) of eating lots of okara. Hopefully someone else can speak into this question. Thanks for sharing!
Ruth
Thanks so much for this recipe. Finally have a way to use up the okara.
Faith
So glad it was helpful Ruth! And you have my sister’s name:) Beautiful!
Wiebke
Hi Faith,
thank you for sharing this recipe. I followed Karissa’s example and only stirred the ingredients; that works quite well (and spares you having to clean a blender). I used a bit less garlic and a bit more tahini, and replaced the water with olive oil – there’s enough water in the okara, I think, and it adds tastiness. Me and my husband really enjoyed this hummus.
As we both drink the homemade soy milk, there’s plenty of okara left. Your hummus is a great way of using it – maybe you have more ingenious ideas what to do with it, if there is no appetite for hummus?
Faith
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks so much for letting me know and for sharing your tweaks. I hope to come up with more ways to use okara in the future. I hate to throw it away! Thanks again!
Becki
I make my soy milk with just a vitamix and nut milk bag and cook the milk it after straining it, so the okara is raw. I’m thinking the soy milk maker may cook everything, so the pulp is cooked. Does it need to be cooked for this hummus? I don’t want to get a stomach ache!
Faith
That’s a good question that I don’t have the answer to Becki! I would think it would need to be cooked. I wish I could give you a definite answer, but I can’t. I hope you find a solution! Let me know!
Ann-Jane Wong
I use the soy milk maker to make almond milk…wanted to know what to do with the pulp…used it in a chicken dish to thicken the sauce… I am sure there are other uses for the pulp…would appreciate any suggestions.
Faith
That’s so cool you use almonds in your soy milk maker. I hope to experiment more with different nuts and grains once I get back to China. As for the pulp, I believe you can lay it out flat on a baking tray and bake it at a low heat until it becomes dehydrated. Then you could use that as almond flour. You could also just add the pulp to smoothies or oatmeal for added nutrition!
Dinnerbelle
Soy milk maker? I thought that was a Vitamix and nut milk bag, will look into
It? Have you tried mixing okara and garbanzo in your hummus yet?
Faith
There are at-home methods to making Homemade Soy Milk but I have a specific soy milk maker which I love! And I’ve never mixed okara and chickpeas together, but I’m sure I’d love it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Louise
Hi Faith! I can’t wait to try this. But first I need to buy a soy milk maker. I have been vegan for 6 years, and vegetarian some years before that and never heard of one of these. And I love to cook vegan food – surprised I never heard of one of these beauties. May I ask what brand did you buy or recommend? Thanks so much. Love your blog!
Faith
Hi Louise! I hadn’t heard of a machine like this until I moved to China either, but they’re amazing! I have the Joyoung brand, which I bought off Taobao in China and I love it. I’m sure you can find it off some American websites as well. I haven’t tried any other brands, so don’t have any other recommendations, but I do love my Joyoung brand. I hope you find one you like and can use for years!
Jane
I made my own soy milk, way back when, in the early 70s. I would love to have a soy milk maker and get into drinking soy milk again. The store bought is so inferior. And it wasn’t too hard, just took a while. And I had 2 toddlers on me! Maybe I have more time to do it from scratch again! Thanks for the inspiration! I loved it hot with honey in it right after I made it before it cooled. Yum
Faith
I’m impressed you can make homemade soy milk Jane! I’ve tried it once, but my soy milk maker is a life saver, considering how fast I drink soy milk. I hope you can get back into it soon and use the leftover okara for fun experiments!
Dean
I just bought a midzu soy milk maker. It also does soup very well (assuming you like smooth soup). It is very easy to use and produce decent soy milk). It’s a bit expensive (about£100) but where I live, soy milk costs about £3 for a litre so and tofu is pretty much non-existant. 100g of dried beans (soaked for 8 hrs) makes 1.5 litre of milk and take 28 minutes.
Faith
Thanks for sharing Dean! And I definitely think that soy milk makers eventually pay for themselves with how much you save on making it at home. I’m glad that you shared about the Midzu brand as well. Thanks!
angelita
Happy to have found this blog, thank you!
1 question, no Olive oil needed?
Faith
So glad you found my blog and said hi! And I find that I like hummus just the same with or without olive oil so I often omit it. It’s not needed in this recipe!
angelita
Awesome! Thanks for your reply! Trying it out right now!
Faith
I hope it works out for you Angelita! Let me know the results!
Beverly
I just did an Internet search of, “okara hummus,” and got your site with this recipe. I made it immediately from fresh soybean pulp in my “Jamba” blender (sold by Jamba Juice, a juice restaurant in the US), and it blended the okara as finely as store-bought hummus, and it’s delicious!
I am so excited that I will be able to use all my protein-packed soybean pulp/fiber that I’ve been storing in the freezer for the past 2 months. I couldn’t bare to toss it, but I can only drink so many smoothies! I had tried to make crackers and bread with it, and only the crackers were edible and I still ended up throwing half of them away. Finally a recipe that is healthy & delicious!!
Thank you for this recipe! I will be making my own soybean hummus every week now. Yum!!
Faith
Hi Beverly! Yay, that’s great news! It always killed me to throw so much goodness away so I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe and can make use of your okara too. Thanks so much for sharing and keep on enjoy your hummus!
Martina
Thanks for the idea, I will be definitely trying this. I have some frozen okara, do you think it will be ok to use this?
Faith
Hi Martina! If you thaw the okara completely before making the hummus, it should work out fine. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Sophie
Thanks for this recipe, just made it with leftover black soybeans leftover after making soy milk.
It’s delicious!
Faith
Wow, black soybeans. That sounds amazing. I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you. Thanks so much for letting me know!
P.
Soy milk makers are one of the best things about having lived in China. My dad also uses ours to make that sweet almond soup dessert which I thin into almond milk. And I suspect you can make a lot of other nut milks with it too. I love the idea of using the pulp to make hummus, shall try it this week!
Faith
My language teacher has been telling me all the other milks and soups I can make with my soy milk maker, but I’ve yet to start experimenting. I would love the Sweet Almond Soup Dessert recipe if your father still has it! Please let me know if you make the hummus and how it turns out. Thanks!
Karissa
Yum! I can’t wait to try this. My soy milk maker came yesterday and I made three batches today. Unfortunately I threw out the okara but I’ll definitely put it to good use next time!
Faith
Wow. You already bought a soy milk maker?! So great Karissa! And glad you’ll have a recipe to use the Okara for. Let me know what you think!
Karissa
I’ve been making soy milk for the past week and a half and I love love love it. I kept the okara each time but was a little intimidated by trying to make it into hummus and ended up tossing it. I shouldn’t have been worried. I actually didn’t blend the ingredients. I just used my garlic press to break that down but stirred everything else in. My husband, six kids and I all loved it. I will be doing this probably every other day! Delicious!
Faith
This makes me so happy Karissa! So glad you found an easy way to make it without having to whip out a blender too and that your husband and 6 kids (wow!) enjoy it as well. I’ll be making another batch today. Thanks!!