How to Make Roasted Chickpeas

The versatile chickpea roasts up beautifully in your oven.

Roasted chickpeas are a hot property among Internet food writers, The Kitchn's Sarah Rae Trover points out. And for good reason -- roasted chickpeas are healthy, toasty, crunchy snacks that will take on a near-infinite variety of seasonings. Once you have the basic recipe down, you can make roasted chickpeas that are spicy and smoky, sweet and laced with cinnamon, or elegantly herbaceous.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Mixing bowl
• Cookie sheet
• Cooked chickpeas (canned are fine)
• Olive oil or vegetable oil
• Seasonings
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon juice
• Spatula

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss 2 cups cooked, rinsed chickpeas with up to 3 tbsp. oil of your choice. "New York Times" food columnist Mark Bittman uses 3 tbsp. oil in his recipe, but the Kitchn staff prefers dry-roasted chickpeas with no added oil.

2. Season your chickpeas. A good basic seasoning might be salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice and cumin. Start with light seasonings, then taste a chickpea and adjust. Remember that the chickpeas' flavors will concentrate during roasting, so err on the side of salting lightly. You can always add more to the final product.

3. Spread chickpeas in a single layer on the cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas are golden brown. Cool, taste and add seasoning as needed.

Tips & Warnings

• For curry chickpeas, season with curry powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and a pinch of cardamom.

• For all-around delicious chickpeas, season with ground coriander, fennel seeds, dried oregano, dried hot red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper and salt.

• For lemon-pepper chickpeas, season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and Dijon mustard.

• For smoky spiced chickpeas, season with adobo sauce, chopped jalapenos in adobo, ground cumin and salt.

• For Asian chickpeas, season with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, finely minced garlic and grated fresh ginger.

• For sweet and spicy chickpeas, season with sugar or honey and cinnamon.

• Watch your chickpeas in the oven carefully. They can go from underdone to burned in just a few minutes.

References

• The Kitchn; 15 More Ways to Flavor Roasted Chickpeas; Sarah Rae Trover; January 2010
• Mark Bittman; Dinner with Bittman: Roasted Chickpeas; October 2010

Resources

• Food Network; Roasted Chickpeas; Alton Brown; 2010