The Secret Ingredient for the Creamiest Dips Ever

Here's how to get that super smooth and creamy texture you get at restaurants.

Making homemade dips–like hummus, baba ganoush, and pesto–is one thing, but achieving the super smooth and creamy texture that you get at restaurants is another. But don’t worry, I recently discovered a genius hack on Instagram that has changed the game.

According to Alfie Steiner, adding a few ice cubes to your blended dips helps take them from grainy to ultra-smooth in a matter of seconds. In his series, Take A Dip, he shows his audience how to make the best dips, and features a variety of recipes from bean dips to flavored hummuses. The common denominator in them all is the ice cubes he drops in toward the end.

Does Adding Ice Cubes To Dips Make Them Smoother?

I thought it hard to believe that such an easy fix would make that much of a difference, so I decided to test it out on one of my favorites: beet hummus. I’m always looking for tips on how to make my hummus smoother, so I felt like if this ice trick worked on hummus, it would work on any dip.

I drained and rinsed the chickpeas, boiled a few beets, and went straight to the back of my kitchen cupboard to grab my 10-year-old food processor. I tossed in a few other staple hummus ingredients, including lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, tahini, salt, and pepper, and blended until I thought it was as smooth as it was going to get.

But then, before turning the blender off, I slid a few ice cubes down the feed tube and watched my bright-pink beet hummus turn into one of the fluffiest and creamiest dips I’ve ever made. Note: I did notice that because you’re technically adding more water I had to add a little more salt and pepper. But that’s an easy enough thing to fix.

Why Do Ice Cubes Make Dips Smooth and Creamy?

If you’re a skeptic like me, here is some written proof of why adding ice to blended dips helps take them from meh to restaurant quality quickly. Adding an ice cube or two helps to incorporate both air and moisture. The air makes it light and fluffy, and the moisture helps to make it smooth and silky.

Keep in mind that it will only work if you have a powerful blender or food processor that’s able to actually chop the ice. If you don’t, you’ll just end up with chunks of ice flying around in the blender, and that won’t do your hummus (or your blender) any good.

Which Dips Should You Add Ice To?

As long as the desired outcome is a super smooth and creamy dip, adding an ice cube or two to any dip won’t hurt. You could try it for a creamy pesto, a light and fluffy Greek yogurt dip, or—like Alfie—a silky white bean dip. I wouldn’t recommend adding ice to dips such as spinach and artichoke, guacamole, or any other dip that isn't blended until smooth.