Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

A recipe for garbanzo beans coated in spices and roasted.

Source:  Our Best Bites, one of my favorite resources for fun snacks.

I’m trying to drop a few pounds.  Well, I’ve been trying that for years.  But this time I’m really serious.  I even bought myself a low-carb diet book, which by the way, is an awesome book and completely unlike any diet book I’ve ever read before.  This particular plan recommends very few sugars and carbs, and quite a bit of beans and other legumes, which I don’t mind telling you makes the afternoon snack routine pretty tough.  Garbanzo beans?  They’re a legume.  Totally acceptable on this diet (in small doses).  Since I eat an early lunch and a late dinner, that afternoon snack is critical to keeping my day moving.  I normally resort to this Chunky Guacamole or these Roasted Chickpeas.

Besides being a great diet snack, these chickpeas have the double bonus of giving me an excuse to use some of my favorite kitchen tools.  And who doesn’t love using a fun kitchen tool?  I want to recommend two things in particular to you.

Step One:  Drain and rinse garbanzo beans.

This little can colander is one of the coolest things in my kitchen.  Santa put it in my stocking last year.  Santa is a genius.  This little colander fits over the can just perfectly and fits in the sink drain just perfectly too.  By the way, it’s really hard to take pictures of this stuff one-handed.  Once you drain the beans, rinse and drain again, then lay them on paper towels and let them dry a few minutes.  It gives you just enough time to mix together the spices.

Step Two: Mix the spices and olive oil, and toss the chickpeas in it.

Spices are so pretty, aren’t they?  I’m thinking of getting new spice jars.  I want them all to look pretty and organized and uniform.  Then I can put them in alphabetical order and be super-duper organized, just like my mom.  My husband might cry tears of joy.

I mixed all my spices with a little olive oil and tossed the beans in the spice-oil.  Of course, if you stupidly mix your spices in a little custard dish like I did, then you won’t have room for your beans and you’ll have to transfer everything to a bigger bowl anyway, so do yourself a favor and mix them in a bowl large enough to hold a can of chickpeas.

Step Three:  Roast.

I use my two big sheet pans constantly.  They came from the kitchen supply store, which is one of my favorite stores of all time.  They are technically called “half sheet pans,”  which makes no sense to me, because anything larger would not fit in the oven.  Anyway, what I like to call a “half-size pan” is actually referred to as a “quarter sheet pan” at the supply store, and it is one of my other favorite kitchen tools.  It is the perfect size for a little job like roasting chickpeas, AND it fits in the dishwasher.

Double bonus!

These need about 35-40 minutes in the oven, and you’ll have to give them a stir once during baking.

Step Four: Enjoy.

You should definitely eat these right out of the oven.  When they are freshly baked, they are all warm and crispy and wonderful.  I love what the roasting does to the texture.  Of course, if you eat them by the handful like I do, you’ll need a cold beverage to go with them.  I prefer diet soda.

These would make a nice little party snack, I suppose.  I wouldn’t know, because when I make them, I’m not really prone to sharing much.

If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:

Sweet with Heat Roasted Chickpeas from Damy Health

Lemon Garlic Roasted Chickpeas from Moderate Oven

Quick Curried Chickpeas from Budget Bites