Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
These roasted chickpeas are extra crispy! Learn the trick to perfectly crispy chickpeas in this simple recipe, plus flavor variations.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 12, 2024
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Want to roast chickpeas that are actually crispy? You’re in the right place. I’ve cracked the code, and I’m here to share it with you. These roasted chickpeas are a delightful snack rich in protein and fiber. They’re also great sprinkled over hummus and salads.
To be honest, I never loved roasted chickpeas until I learned how to make them this way. They were always just ok—warm and lightly crisp on the outside but unchanged on the inside. They didn’t feel worth the effort when chickpeas warmed on the stove are nice already.
These roasted chickpeas are legitimately so gloriously crisp that they are popcorn-level irresistible. In fact, they’re so crisp throughout that you should serve them with a drink to help wash them down.
The trick is in the method. I found some helpful clues in a New York Times recipe by Colu Henry and tweaked the method from there. It took ten tries to ensure we had landed on the very best technique, and I found several fun flavor variations along the way. Here we go!
How to Make Perfectly Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
You’ll find the full recipe below, but here are the factors that yield super crisp chickpeas.
- Pat the chickpeas as dry as possible before baking. Discard any skins that fall off as you pat them dry, but you do not need to spend extra time picking the skins off each chickpea.
- Do not add oil or salt yet! Spread the chickpeas across a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (if you want to bake two cans of chickpeas at once, you’ll need to use two baking sheets to avoid overcrowding them).
- Roast until the chickpeas are crisp and golden in spots, shaking the pan after every 10-minute interval.
- Turn off the oven and let the chickpeas rest in the hot oven for 10 to 15 more minutes. I cannot explain why this works, but it does. The chickpeas are more crisp this way than they are if you bake them for the same length of time.
- Finally, transfer the chickpeas to a bowl and stir in olive oil, salt and optional seasonings. Enjoy.
Watch How to Make Crispy Chickpeas
Roasted Chickpea Flavoring Suggestions
While the chickpea flavor shines best in its basic form, you might have fun adding spices. Here are a few options that I enjoyed:
- For Indian-inspired flavor, try 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
- For Mexican-inspired flavor, add 1/4 teaspoon chili powder plus an optional pinch of cayenne pepper for extra heat
- For autumnal flavor, add up to 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice blend
Roasted Chickpea Serving Suggestions
Try these roasted chickpeas as an unexpected topping to bulk up familiar salads, like Homemade Caesar Salad, Tabbouleh or Fattoush Salad with Mint Dressing.
Crisp roasted chickpeas offer an interesting contrast over creamy hummus, as you see here. They’re a fun way to dress up store-bought hummus or try them atop my Green Goddess Hummus for an extra-special snack.
Try making a wrap with my Green Goddess Tahini Dip, fresh greens and pickled onions.
Please let me know how your roasted chickpeas turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
These roasted chickpeas are extra crispy! Learn the trick to perfectly crispy chickpeas in this simple recipe, plus flavor variations. Recipe yields 1 scant cup; double if desired (see the special instructions in the recipe notes).
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- Optional seasonings (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Pat the chickpeas as dry as possible with clean tea towels or paper towels. Discard any chickpea skins that come off readily during this process, but you don’t need to spend time picking them off.
- Spread the chickpeas evenly across the prepared baking sheet. Roast them as-is until they’re crisp and golden in spots, shaking the pan after every 10 minutes, about 20 to 25 minutes total.
- Give the chickpeas one more little shake, then turn off the oven and leave the chickpeas as-is for another 10 to 15 minutes, checking on them as time goes on to ensure they don’t burn (watch the chickpeas around the edges). This step helps them get extra crunchy and stay that way.
- Remove the chickpeas from the oven and transfer them to a low, wide serving bowl. Toss them with the olive oil, salt, and optional seasonings of your choice. Once cooled completely, store them in a sealed bag with the air squeezed out for up to 1 month. Serve them with a drink to help wash them down!
Notes
To double the recipe: Use two baking sheets with one can of chickpeas on each. Bake them on the upper third and middle racks. Halfway through baking, shake the pans and swap their positions. You’ll likely need to bake them for the full 25 minutes and let them rest the full 15 minutes in the oven after that.
Optional seasonings: Try stirring in ¼ teaspoon curry powder, or ¼ teaspoon chili powder plus a tiny pinch of cayenne for extra heat, or ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice blend.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
These sound awesome! I haven’t made them yet, but I will soon. I’m thinking wasabi chickpeas. I’ll eat almost anything with wasabi! :)
Kate your cookbook is my go to everyday inspiration for great tasting nutritious food. Your book played (and continues to play) a huge huge role in my transition to eating a clean healthy diet. Thank you!!
Foolish me (and there is no cause to agree TOO wholeheartedly with that!), I hadn’t realized that I NEED toasted chickpeas.
I think that another fine flavoring would be toasted sesame oil.
I’ll try that, and report back.
Regards,
Joe
I cannot wait to try this. Thankyou for allowing me to find this cool recipe, lol. I wish the recipe was easier to print. At least I can print it.
Pam
Hi Pam, What issue are you having printing? Do you see the print button in the recipe card?
So simple, so yummy, so addicting!
Thank you for your review, Deb!
Excited to try this, I’ve been unsuccessful getting them crispy before!
Thanks! i love your formulae for perfect everything! I suggest Za’atar as an alternate topping.
I am getting out the chickpeas so I can make these tomorrow! ;)
wow love this idea looking forward to make cooking this weekend
Excited to try this recipe! I’ve had good success with Joe Yonan’s crispy chickpea recipe in Cool Beans, but that involves an hour of roasting time (at a low temp) and then keeping the chickpeas in the oven while it cools completely. It works well, but takes forever! This looks like a good middle ground.
Kate, tried your method yesterday and you are “spot on.” The outsides came out crunchy and the insides almost succulent!
My flavorings of choice: Easy on the olive oil, very light “green salt,” and a sprinkling of smoked paprika. Yum!
That’s great!
What temperature for oven? Thanks
Hi Leslie, See the first step.
Took a while to find it for me, too ;)
It worked! Thanks for all your trials!
I love crunchy chick peas, as does my child who has a nut allergy. I’ve tired a couple others and they just don’t crisp up fully. These made a “tinkling” sound in the bowl. Some did soften after a while, so I think I needed to let them cool completely before adding oil and salt. (I did not add the full tablespoon of oil).
Thanks again. I always enjoy your recipes!
You’re welcome! I’m glad these are a hit for you, Jessica.
Thanks for sharing! I have a few chickpeas cans and was wondering what to do with them except hummus. I’ll give a try to your recipe today! Still deciding about the spices :)
I really appreciate finding this recipe! I have made delicious roasted chickpeas, but they were never really crispy. I can’t wait to try this! It must be so much more economical than buying them in the little pouches at the grocery store!
I hope you love them! Let me know what you think, Amy.
Well, you sure DID crack the code of crispiness! These little morsels are addicting and delicious. I doubled the recipe, and if I had room in the oven, I would’ve made 5X’s as much! These are GREAT. Now comes the hard part… How am I going to ration them???
I made this tonight and while I don’t think the chickpeas were as crispy as yours, they were definitely delicious. Great idea to add the oil and seasoning at the end; I used a high quality olive oil and the flavours really shine. Another Cookie & Kate winner. :)
Great to hear, Valerie!
These are so delicious! They turn out perfectly crispy. Even my husband loves them!
Thank you
That’s great to hear, Linda!
Can you make this in an air fryer?
Hi, I’m really not sure. The timings might need to be reduced significantly in an air fryer. I know they will turn out perfectly as written in the oven.
Should the roasted chickpeas be refrigerated?
Hi Shelia, see the last step: store them in a sealed bag with the air squeezed out for up to 1 month.
Followed to the letter, not crispy at all. Still tasty enough.
I’m sorry to hear that. I appreciate your feedback.
Hi! Thank you for this recipe. I don’t know if it is because I’m not a native English speaker but I’m still not sure if I should use raw or cooked chickpeas. Where I live, they sell bottles of 400gr capacity of cooked chickpeas but I’m not sure if that’s what “1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained” refers to.
Hi! These are canned chickpeas so they will be already cooked. If you are in the US, you will be able to find them at your local grocery store. I hope that helps!
I haven’t perfected the recipe yet. If I soak garbanzo beans , do you also need to boil and simmer before starting your recipe? They were NOT crispy inside. Do you recommend starting with canned beans? How do you recommend storing them?
Hi Susan, if you follow the recipe exactly ( either canned or cooked) it should work out. So yes, your chickpeas need to be cooked prior to baking.
These were a big hit! A note to fellow readers: Mine weren’t crispy all the way through either, so I turned the temp down to low and left them in the oven another 45 minutes and that did the trick. There’s probably a faster way to do it, that’s just what I did. I used dried garbanzos and cooked them as directed on the package (I used half a pound dried as a double batch) before following the recipe. Worked great!
Thank you for your review, Sadie!
Darn, I was so excited about this new refined recipe! Drying out chickpeas never works for me, and I thought for sure this was THE ONE after pulling the chickpeas out of the oven. They were super crispy. But unfortunately the final steps made them soggy for me. Adding the olive oil instantly made them soft, no more crisp. I also think 1 tbsp is too much olive oil. If I try this again, I won’t add anything and just store them crisp and see if they keep better. Then when I want to snack I can just add a smidge of olive oil and a pinch of salt.
I’m sorry to hear that, DeAnn. I appreciate your feedback.
What do you suggest for fresh chick peas? I put them in salad raw, but would love to do something else with them. Any suggestion is welcome. They are beautiful when fresh like peas!!!!!
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, sorry!
These turned out very good the first time I made them because I followed the directions to a tee. The second time I made them I was cavalier and the center was soft, the third time I made them I burned them. So I made them a 4th and 5th time and again followed the directions exactly as written with great results. These are delicious and they last for more than a week if stored properly. I highly recommend them!
Can I use vegetable oil instead of olive oil?
This is best as written. You could try it, though. I can’t say for sure the result without trying it.
Can they be done without the oil? Thank you
This is best as written. I hope you try it!
I loved the chickpeas! Best I ever had!
That’s great to hear, Nancy! I appreciate your review.
These are fantastic!! I seasoned mine lightly with salt/pepper and I did not add any oil, they were delicious.. Great Recipe :)
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’ve tried so many times to get chickpeas perfectly crispy, and it sounds like you’ve mastered it. I love that these aren’t just a tasty snack but also packed with protein and fiber—perfect for healthy munching or adding a crunchy twist to salads and hummus. Can’t wait to give this a try!
Kate I loved this recipe! They were truly crispy when I finished roasting these. However, I’m wondering how to keep them crispy. I stored them in an airtight container but now they are softer again – still delicious though! Any suggestions?
Thanks
These are best right away!