Roasted Chickpeas

Snacking is probably one of my biggest weaknesses. I snack right before dinner when it’s still just a little too early to eat but I’m HUNGRY. Many would say that I need to eat a better lunch, but the thing is that at lunchtime, I eat until I’m full and by 4:45 I’m running to the nearest quick fix. Sadly, this is usually not something that is the best for me (chips and brownies I’m looking right at you). So I decided that I needed to keep better snacks on hand so that when I do go wandering to the kitchen, at least I’m not absolutely filling up on foods that I do not need.

Remember that fail last week with my little aquafaba experiment? Well the only silver lining to that experiment was that I had a surplus of chickpeas that needed to be used rather quickly. Since I was not in the mood for hummus at the time, I decided to tinker with some spices, toss the peas in that and some oil and give them a good, long roast and see what I came up with. Well I came up with yum! They had a great flavor, a nice crisp, a great crunch and satisfied my snacking craving just like the chips used to. Best of all, no chip guilt as these little guys are pretty darn good for you. So grab a can and let’s get roasting. It’s up to you if you decide to experiment with the chickpea juice:)

Roasted Chickpeas

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes | Makes: about 2 cups of roasted chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (more or less for spice preference)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Remove skin from chickpeas (see Tips) and pat to remove excess moisture
4. Combine all dried spices into a medium bowl and stir well to combine
5. Add chickpeas and olive oil, gently tossing and mixing until chickpeas are coated in seasoning
6. Spread chickpeas on prepared baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, turning and mixing the chickpeas every 20 minutes. Chickpeas will be done when they are golden and crunchy with a bit of chewiness on the inside
7. Allow chickpeas to cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Tips

• If you have never removed the skin from your chickpeas, it is a very simple process. Gently pinch the chickpea (not to much so you don’t crush it) and pop it out of the skin (it will look like a round snakeskin) and discard. The difficulty in this is not the process but the time it takes to remove the skin from every single chickpea. The effort is well worth it as I find the peas get just enough crisp to give you a satisfying crunch, but still have a bit of chew left. Plus they don’t get so hard and crispy that you could possibly break a filling on it;)
• Feel free to create your own blend of spices to suit your tastes. If you are not a spicy person, omit the chili powder and add a bit more garlic. Chickpeas are a great blank canvas and taste yummy with almost any savory or sweet spice blend you can think of!