Michigan
QUESTION: I tried making roasted chickpeas as a snack, but they came out mushy and soggy. How do you roast them so they are crisp and crunchy? — Kim Watson, Monroe
ANSWER: Roasted chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans and ceci beans) can provide crunch and a bit of saltiness or spiciness. They are a terrific low-calorie, nutrient-dense snack with lots of fiber. A few factors determine whether they’ll turn mushy when roasted: the type of chickpeas (dried and soaked overnight or dried), how well they are dried before roasting and how much oil is used (you need only a little).
You can soak your own chickpeas or use the ones in a can. I made both and found that the beans soaked overnight turned out crispier. Soaking your own is, of course, cost-effective. A pound of dry beans soaked overnight will yield about three times as much as a pound of canned. But using canned beans is convenient. Note: The dried and soaked beans are not cooked before roasting.
Rinsing and drying the chickpeas (both canned and dried after soaking) is the most important part to successful chickpea roasting. When you rinse the canned chickpeas, you are ridding them of about 30-40% of the sodium. Once the chickpeas are rinsed, you need to dry them very well. Use paper towel or a clean dish towel, rubbing them dry several times if you need to.
Next, go easy on the oil. You don’t need a lot. If you use too much you risk winding up with soggy chickpeas or a smoking hot mess.
I came across several recipes that called for roasting canned chickpeas without any oil or seasonings. In those recipes, they’re added when the beans come out of the oven and are still hot. Other recipes add it before roasting. Whichever method you choose, it’s important to shake the pan every 10 minutes or so during roasting to prevent the beans from burning. Generally, it should take about 40 minutes and sometimes longer to roast the chickpeas so they become crunchy.
There’s a lot to like about grabbing a handful of roasted chickpeas over processed snack foods. Chickpeas are known to be on the low end of glycemic index, meaning they don’t spike your insulin. The glycemic index ranks how carbohydrate-containing foods affect your blood sugar levels. Chickpeas score about 30 for 1 cup boiled on the glycemic index. Health sources say that foods that score 55 or less have little effect on blood sugar levels and those that score more than 75 (like potatoes) have the potential to cause a spike in blood sugar. (Just a ½ cup of cooked chickpeas provides 1/3 of the day’s fiber, according to www.diabetes.org.)
Have a question? Contact Susan M. Selasky noon-3 p.m. Thursdays at 313-222-6432 or e-mail sselasky@freepress.com. Follow her @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.
Roasted Spicy Chickpeas
Makes: About 6 cups / Preparation time: 10 minutes (plus overnight soaking)
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
1 pound dried chickpeas
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, divided
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons olive oil
Place the chickpeas in a medium bowl and cover with 2 inches of water. Soak overnight.
Drain the chickpeas and pat them dry well.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Place the chickpeas on a sided baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together ¼ cup vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, paprika and cayenne. Whisk in the olive oil. Pour over the chickpeas and toss to combine. Roast until the chickpeas are deep golden brown and crunchy, about 1 hour, and shake the pan every 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with the remaining vinegar and salt, and toss to combine. Cool before serving as a snack.
Adapted from several recipes and tested by Susan Selasky for the Free Press Test Kitchen. Analysis based on ½ cup roasted chickpeas.
147 calories (18% from fat), 3 grams fat (0 grams sat. fat), 23 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams protein, 305 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 7 grams fiber.
