Roasted Chickpea Recipes

Roasted chickpeas are one of my favorite snacks these days. They have plenty of protein, plenty of fiber and plenty of flavor. They are fairly calorie dense and it's hard to eat just a few, so that's their one downfall. Still, they make a great alternative to snacks like potato chips which have lots of fat and calories and little to no nutritional value.

I like to use canned chickpeas because it's quicker than cooking dried chickpeas, but you can use dried chickpeas if you prefer. When shopping for chickpeas, you'll find them with the other beans at your grocery store. They may be labeled as garbanzo beans instead of chickpeas; chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing.

Start by draining and rinsing your chickpeas. You'll find that chickpeas have a kind of skin on them, which you can remove if you like. It comes off easily. I used to remove it because I thought it was gross and slimy, but then I realized that when I roasted the chickpeas, the skin got very crispy and I actually prefer leaving it on now.

Spread a towel on a baking sheet and then spread the chickpeas on the towel in a single layer. Cover with another towel and pat them dry. Be gentle; you don't want to mash them.

Remove the towels and drizzle the chickpeas with olive oil. You don't need much oil. Then stir them up so the olive oil is evenly distributed and spread them in a single layer on the baking sheet. You can use a cooking spray instead of olive oil if you prefer.

Roast the chickpeas in a 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, stirring them every 15 minutes or so. You want them to be nicely browned and very crunchy when done.

Take them out of the oven and season them. You can use any seasonings you like, of course. My favorite is salt and Creole seasoning (I use the store brand), but here are some other tasty ideas.

Season with:

• · Garlic powder and Parmesan (the powdered kind that comes in a can)
• · Salt and Cajun seasoning (found with other seasonings at grocery stores)
• · Chili powder or cayenne pepper (use sparingly!)
• · Salt and a squeeze or two of lime
• · Cinnamon and sugar (or Splenda, for a sugar free snack)
• · Unsweetened cocoa and sugar (or Splenda, for another sweet, sugar free snack)

Stir the chickpeas so the seasonings are evenly distributed, serve and enjoy!