These Chickpea Crispies are my favorite way to sneak more protein and fiber. Essentially, savory roasted crispy chickpeas that can enhance any meal.
Why You’ll Love These Chickpea Crispies
- A great way to add texture to meals. I like to sprinkle these on top of meals or bowls to help add a little crunch when needed. Texture is the spice of life!
- Higher in protein when prepared this way. Per serving, chickpeas offer 7g of protein. Adding 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast per serving (for reference I use Anthony’s Premium Nutritional Yeast Flakes), which can help boost the protein up to 11g per serving, which can help promote more fullness and satisfaction with a meal.
- Meal prep for a boost in nutrition. Great to prep ahead to make snacking and building bowls a lot easier during a busy week!
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chickpeas: I’m using canned chickpeas here for convenience and nothing more. I’ve had the most luck with store branded chickpeas as they tend to be firmer in consistency compared to a lot of other brands I’ve tried. So use your best judgement.
- Nutritional Yeast: Adds extra b vitamins liked b12 if properly fortified and also adds some extra protein!
- Seasonings: To keep the flavors more neutral, I used garlic powder and onion powder. Feel free to try this with other seasonings based on how you wish to use them.
- Oil: I know how a lot of people feel about oil, but for this recipe to really hit the consistency and crispness we are looking for without it tasting like sawdust, I highly recommend you use some level of oil in the recipe. Use a neutral flavored oil that is high heat like avocado oil.
How to Make Chickpea Crispies
Preheat the oven: Set to 425F.
Dry the chickpeas: Place in a clean kitchen towel. Pat dry and remove as much excess moisture as possible. You can carefully rub the towel over the chickpeas, which may remove some chickpea skins from the process. Feel free to discard if desired.
Coat and bake the chickpeas: Transfer to a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the nutritional yeast and 1 1/2 tbsp of oil, then stir well to combine. Transfer the chickpeas to the baking tray, spreading them out evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.
Season the chickpeas and bake again: Add the garlic powder, onion powder, and a generous pinch of salt. Drizzle with 1-2 tsp oil then stir to evenly coat. Spread the mixture out again and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden and mostly crisp. To make sure nothing burns, give the chickpeas a stir every 5 minutes. After roasting, taste and season with more salt if needed.
Allow the chickpeas to cool completely: This step will help the chickpeas to crisp up even more. See tips for storage below!
Expert Tips
- Cooking time will depend mostly on how moist your chickpeas are. This is why patting them dry is such an important step in this recipe. The more moisture the chickpeas contain, the less crispy they will be.
- Spread the chickpeas out evenly in the pan when baking. Break up big clumps and make sure the chunks have space between them to roast, which will encourage more crispy behavior.
- Add your seasonings towards the end of baking. Since the chickpeas are roasting for an extended period of time, some spices may burn if added to early. Instead, wait till the last 5-10 minutes of roasting to add the spices. This will give them long enough to cook without burning and making the chickpeas bitter in flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Make sure the chickpeas have completely cooled first! Then transfer to a glass storage container/jar then loosely cover with a lid. More specifically, I like to use a weck jar and top with the glass lid (no airtight seal needed). This allows enough airflow without anything landing on your chickpeas. The chickpeas can then be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days.
You can always place them back on a baking tray and place in the oven at 350F and allow any excess moisture to bake off for 5-10 minutes to help re-crisp them.
Of course! My main suggestion is to make sure that you don’t overcook your chickpeas. Mushy chickpeas will be way more difficult to make work for this recipe, so aim for fully cooked but firm consistency.
While I haven’t tried them myself yet, I can see them working. Main thing to remember is moisture. If you use really mushy beans, they might not work as well or may need more time. If you experiment, feel free to let me know in the comments!
How to Use to Balance Your Meals
These chickpeas offer a balance of protein and fiber, two nutrients that can work really well together to provide use with satisfying and sustained energy. Sometimes I’ll use a handful as a snack or I’ll use it to make a quick nourish bowl. For my go to:
Tempeh Rice + Pickled Onion Cabbage Salad + Chickpea Crispies + Toasted Sesame Seeds
For my rice, I like to mix in a serving of high protein ingredients like shredded tempeh as my base. This plus the chickpea crispies on top help make this meal hit 31g of protein!
For the Pickled Onion and Cabbage Salad
To a bowl add:
- 2 cups of shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 of a small red onion, thinly sliced (you can soak in cold water for 5 minutes then drain well to remove some of the sharpness from the onion)
Top this with:
- Juice of 1 lime,
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- A generous pinch of kosher salt.
Massage the ingredients into the cabbage and onions then cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, so that the mixture can pickle and further soften. For optimal results, allow to pickle overnight, which will result in a brighter pink color. Great to meal prep as well!
More Plant-Based Basics
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Description
These Chickpea Crispies are my favorite way to sneak more protein and fiber. Essentially, savory roasted crispy chickpeas that can enhance any meal.
- Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- After draining and rinsing the chickpeas, place in a clean kitchen towel. Use the towel to pat dry the chickpeas and remove as much excess moisture as possible. I like to carefully rub the towel over the chickpeas, which will often naturally remove some of the chickpea skins away from the chickpeas. Those extra skins can be discarded if desired.
- When the chickpeas are mostly dried, transfer to a bowl and mash well with a fork. Add the nutritional yeast and 1 1/2 tbsp of oil, then stir well to combine. When evenly coated, transfer the chickpeas to the baking tray and make sure that the chickpeas are spread out evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the oven then add the garlic powder, onion powder, and a generous pinch of salt. Drizzle with 1-2 tsp oil then use a spoon to stir everything together until well coated.
- Spread the mixture out again and place back in the oven for about 8-10 minutes or until golden and mostly crisp. To make sure nothing burns, give the chickpeas a stir every 5 minutes. After roasting, taste and season with more salt if needed.
- Allow the chickpeas to cool completely. This step will help the chickpeas to crisp up even more. Now, you can store and use as desired!
Notes
Cooking time will depend mostly on how moist your chickpeas are. This is why patting them dry is such an important step in this recipe. The more moisture the chickpeas contain, the less crispy they will be.
Spread the chickpeas out evenly in the pan when baking. Break up big clumps and make sure the chunks have space between them to roast, which will encourage more crispy behavior.
Add your seasonings towards the end of baking. Since the chickpeas are roasting for an extended period of time, some spices may burn if added to early. Instead, wait till the last 5-10 minutes of roasting to add the spices. This will give them long enough to cook without burning and making the chickpeas bitter in flavor.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3
- Fiber: 7g
- Protein: 11g
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