Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas

30 comments

Alice Currah
  February 17th, 2011


My kids love snacks just as much as I love my morning coffee.  It is a constant struggle in our home to provide snacks I feel good about and the snacks they will actually eat.  I’m fortunate that my kids do love to eat fresh fruit such as apple slices with peanut butter.  We also often eat trail mix, protein packed smoothies, and steamed soy beans (edamame).  However, if my kids had their way they would eat gold fish crackers, potato chips and cookies throughout the day.

According to this NY Times blog post titled “US Children: Generation Snack” (March 2010) by Tara Parker-Hope, children are snacking on an average of 600 calories from cookies, chips, and other treats.  Cookies and cakes are the most popular form of snacks, and salty snacks such as pretzels and chips are the second most popular.  Candy and fruit drinks were also noted as being very popular.  Shortly after this article was written the Journal of the American Dietetic Association published startling figures showing that the primary source of energy for children the ages of 2-18 years old were grain and dairy desserts, pizza, fruit drinks, soda, and whole milk.  Nearly 800 calories, accounting for 40% of energy consumed, were in the form of empty calories.

Providing healthy snacks is one way to help encourage kids to learn to make wise decisions regarding the foods they eat, which can have a lifelong impact on their health.  Today I have a recipe for roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans) which my kids love and parents can feel great about.  Chickpeas are full of fiber and high in protein.  This snack satisfies our family’s crunchy savory snack cravings and is naturally gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, and low carb.  Enjoy!

Roasted Chickpeas
makes 2 cups

1-15 ounce can chickpeas
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat the oven 375°F. Drain and rinse chickpeas under running water. Pat dry with a kitchen towel.  In a medium bowl, whisk olive oil, salt, and garlic powder.  Add chickpeas and toss until coated with oil.  Spread chickpeas out on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Roast for 50-55 minutes until brown and crunchy, stirring half way through.  Allow chickpeas to cool before serving.

Discussion question:  What types of snacks do you feed your kids?


Filed under: Snacks, Special Diets
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30 of 30 comments

  1. Aviva Goldfarb February 17, 2011 at 1:44 pm Aviva Goldfarb

    I love this idea, in fact, I have chickpeas in the pantry and I’ll try it today! My kids love smoothies, too, lots of fruit, turkey jerky (nitrate free), and chocolate covered almonds.

  2. Mom24@4evermom February 17, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    I’m so excited to try these, my son absolutely loves chickpeas, I think he’s going to enjoy these very much. Thanks. Maybe I can even get my daughter in the game.

  3. Mom24@4evermom February 17, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    Well, I DID love this idea. They’re popping all over my oven, making lots of smoke and setting off the smoke detector and it’s only been 15 minutes. When I open the oven to check on them they explode some more, burning me. What a mess!

    • still laughing February 24, 2011 at 5:49 pm

      I just want to thank mom-24 for the great laugh~! I will try these, as they do sound yum, my oven does need cleaning, and I need to check my smoke detector batteries as well~!

  4. alice February 17, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    Hi Mom24: I’m not sure what happened. I make these all the time. Did you use dried chickpeas? You need to use chickpeas from a can. Also, if you baked them at 375 degrees for 15 minutes the chickpeas would be very tender still. Could your oven temperature have been off?

  5. Amy Kim February 17, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    What a great idea and I’m going to make this as soon as I finish this comment! I love super easy recipes. Thank you for the post!

  6. Kay @ The Church Cook February 17, 2011 at 8:49 pm

    What a great idea, Alice!! Healthy snack for my family! Love seeing the photo of yours :)

  7. SeattleMommy February 17, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    this looks fabulous and very crave-able – will be perfect for a guilt-free snack!

  8. Michelle February 17, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    I’m thinking it would be much more cost effective *and* healthy to use bulk dried chickpeas than it is to use the canned stuff. Can you tell me how I would prepare the dried ones for use in roasting? The recipe sounds fantastic!

  9. alice February 17, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    Hi Michelle: I agree with you that it would be more cost effective to use dried chickpeas and rehydrate them with water. However, I’ve never done this so I don’t know how to adapt the recipe to implement these changes. My assumption would be to soak the beans overnight and follow the same directions from there. Baking times may vary.

  10. Heather February 17, 2011 at 11:22 pm

    Forget the kids. These sound like a great snack for me! I love the idea of crunchy legumes. Oh, yeah, I guess I’ll share some with my daughter.

  11. Mom24@4evermom February 18, 2011 at 12:31 am

    I did use canned, I’m not sure what happened either, I checked the temp with an oven thermometer. They were dry when I put them in the oven (just with a towel), but they popped all over the place. I had to clean my oven. I love the idea of them, but for us, the reality just didn’t make it.

  12. Michele February 18, 2011 at 2:11 am

    I love this idea too. I think since my kids love chili flavor more than garlic, I may switch out the garlic and use just a little chili powder. Oh yum the possibilities! ^__^

  13. Emily February 18, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    Thanks for this idea! My kids love kale chips, fruit leather, and apples for a snack, but there are times when I go to the goldfish in a pinch. I love having another healthy option – and the flavor possibilities are very exciting!

  14. Aviva Goldfarb February 18, 2011 at 5:32 pm Aviva Goldfarb

    Alice, I made a similar version last night but tossed the chickpeas with fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon), 1 Tbsp. olive oil and 1/2 tsp. chili powder, and cooked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes–yum!

    Mom24, did you remember to toss the chickpeas with the olive oil mixture? That could have been the problem.

  15. Amy Kim February 18, 2011 at 7:14 pm

    i just made a curry version with 2 T. oil, 1 1/2 t. curry powder, 1 t. salt and 1 t. sugar.

  16. Roberta February 19, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    I love the idea of traveling with healthy (& crunchy) snacks. I agree with Heather’s comment…these sound good for parents as well.

  17. Karen February 20, 2011 at 5:09 am

    How nice to see a recipe for on of my favorites–chick peas!! Thank you also for all the info. in the article. Thanks for your version Amy.

  18. Shirley February 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    I love the idea, my daughter loves chick peas in salad with egg, olive oil and some lemon. She loved, but i will try this roast chick peas ;) .

  19. Autherine February 21, 2011 at 1:22 am

    Awesome idea and healthy too!

  20. Neeru February 25, 2011 at 2:05 am

    To use dry chickpeas, soak them 8 hr to overnight in cold water. then drain, put in a pot, cover with fresh water (must change the water) and simmer for 1 hour. Drain, let cool, and use as you would have used the canned ones. You need to soak AND cook the dry chickpeas.

  21. alice February 27, 2011 at 7:57 am

    Thank you Neeru, I learned something new!

  22. Kathryn M April 14, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    I love this so much. I sometimes use red kidney beans , a little oil, and sprinkle it with Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime, for a nice mexican flavor.

    My kids will basically eat anything in their line of vision, which is why I have to hide the dog food, hahaha/

  23. Bookwyrm September 29, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    I had the same popping problem. One of them nailed me right on the chin! I used Bush’s garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed and towel-dried. Oil was right, so were spices. These little buggers had better be AWESOME.