This ultimate Mediterranean hummus board has your favorite cheese board elements with the best ever hummus with spiced meat, tzatziki, grape leaves, pickles, olives, and pita. It's mostly no-cook and make-ahead for the perfect party meal!
IT FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING. I just love this so much.
Here's our "it's finally summer" plan: We are going to have more board-style meals so that we don't get bored (get it) with our regular go-to dinners, ok?
And, based on how we are feeling, we will take the opportunity to cook as many or as few things as we can tolerate.
This, if you've been following along, has the potential to be the 4th recipe in a tahini-started theme I've had going for awhile.
- You make lemon tahini dressing and use it on salads.
- Then half of the dressing goes into shortcut hummus.
- Then you top the hummus with spiced meat with pine nuts.
- And you use the hummus with meat to make this amazing Mediterranean Hummus Board!
Or you do not make that many things if you don't want to.
In this case? I cooked ONE THING, the spiced meat with pine nuts that goes over the hummus. I bought the hummus, bread, and every single other thing that you see.
I picked the mint from my yard but that's just because it's kind of a meadow situation and I needed it to not take over the actual grass.
What I love about this Middle Eastern/Mediterranean-ish Hummus Board is that you can have just a few things, you can go all out, you can make more stuff (the hummus, another dip, the pita, hell, pickle some stuff) if you have time and energy, OR you can just pick one thing, in this case the meat, and let the store do the rest.
If you want to amp it up even more, you can grill some halloumi kebabs to add to the board which are SO delicious and simple + perfect for summertime.
If you're local to Greenville, almost all of the extras (pickled carrots, grape leaves, pita, tzatziki) came from Pita House, and I grabbed crackers, veggies, olives, and a few more pickly things from the store.
As to what to include on your Mediterranean hummus board? Whatever you like! I kept it pretty Middle Eastern, but you could add different cheeses, more veggies, prosciutto or salami and ease into Greece, Spain, or Italy with your choices.
The sky's the limit, and here's your chance to pretty much buy your entire dinner from the deli case and olive bar, make it super duper fancy on a board or platter, and be very proud with very little effort.
For arranging, here's how to plate a hummus board or cheese board:
I use some green stuff (that's the mint), and I lay that down in bunches first. That's optional!
Then, start with the bigger items. In this case, the hummus and grape leaves are the main event. Then, bowls of anything that you wouldn't want to ooze all over everything else: olives, stuffed pickled peppers, tzatziki.
From there, fill in with smaller things. Raw veggies, pickles, chunks of feta, pita. The smallest stuff goes last to fill in holes - nuts and crackers, for me.
Colors that are different should be close to each other (carrots near hummus, for example), colors that are similar go farther apart. Sprinkling everything with pepper, salt, and/or zaatar right at the end ups the fancy feelings we are all craving right now.
I mean, just LOOK. I could eat one of these at least weekly for a meal with no issues.
Enjoy this! Whether you're having people over (maybe just outside though), hanging out at home alone, or have a few folks around, this hummus board is such a fun summer dinner plan.
Recipe
Ultimate Mediterranean Hummus Board
Ingredients
- 2 cups hummus
- 2 cups spiced ground meat see below
- 8 stuffed grape leaves
- ½ cup tzatziki sauce
- olives
- pickled carrots
- fresh veggies
- feta cheese
- pita bread
- crackers
- almonds pine nuts, and/or pistachios
- zaatar fresh mint, flaky salt, and olive oil for topping
Instructions
- Arrange everything on a big board and hover around it, eating for several hours. This is a meal.
- Use as many or as few ingredients as you like!
- For large crowds, I like to have a few piles of each item for less reaching/more prettiness on the board. Keep colors and textures opposite from each other (not all the green stuff together, for example) for maximum Instagrammability.
Notes
- You make lemon tahini dressing and use it on salads.
- Then half of the dressing goes into shortcut hummus.
- Then you top the hummus with spiced meat with pine nuts.
- And you use the hummus with meat to make this amazing Mediterranean Hummus Board!
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Lynn
The hummus recipe with the lemon tahini dressing is amazing! I've made many hummus versions (from boiling the garbanzo beans and rolling the hull off!). This recipe is so easy.... and I take it even one step further. I make half the portion of dressing (leave it in the blender) and add one can of garbanzo beans (and adjust with water, lemon and salt). So very good and easy! I am making the board for a business happy hour tomorrow. I cannot wait to share!
Lindsay
This is awesome, I love that extra tip! Hope your happy hour is so much fun!