Home cooked Chickpeas

Home cooked Chickpeas. Cheap and easy to make.

Do you usually buy your chickpeas in a can? I did too until I found out just how easy it is to make your own. About 1/4 the cost too. Bonus!

Chickpeas as well as other legumes are a wonderful way to add protein to any meal, whether that is a soup, a salad, a meal or a snack. They are so versatile and something vegans eat a lot of.

I used to buy mine from the store, and that’s OK too. However when I found out just how easy they are to make, I started to make my own. You have total control about what goes in them, you can make them plain and use the leftover water for aquafava to create sweet treats (check it out on the internet) or you can make them with a savoury twist, like I do for savoury dishes!

Sound interesting? Let’s check out just how easy this is….

Home cooked Chickpeas

Chickpeas are sometimes called garbanzo beans and they have many health benefits, are high in protein and low in fat. Hey they are good for you and delicious!!

If you are going to make your own chickpeas, you might as well make a few extra. You can store them in the fridge and use them for other dishes within the week or you can freeze them in an airtight container for another day.

This recipe is based on making 2 cups of dry chickpeas. This will yield you 4 cups of cooked chickpeas. OK, what do you do?

What you will need for your homemade chickpeas:

2 cups dry chickpeas (organic if possible)
8 cups of water for cooking (you can substitute this for veggie broth or a combination of the two)

Optional ingredients:

All of the ingredients below are optional and if you choose to use them, they will add additional flavour to your chickpeas while they cook and will be great for savoury dishes. If you want to use the water (aquafaba) for sweet dishes do not include the following:

3-4 bay leaves
I added a sprig of thyme, bay leave and olive oil. You could throw in a couple cloves of garlic too.
1 sprig of thyme
2 cloves of garlic
2-4 T olive oil
1 tsp salt (optional) The salt is added in about 1/2 way through the cooking process

How to make your own Chickpeas:

Choose a high quality chickpea, organic if possible.
Spread them out on a pan and sort through your chickpeas to remove any debris that may have got mixed in during processing.
Once you have sorted your chickpeas it is best to soak them overnight in clear cold water. This helps them cook faster and can remove some of the elements that can cause gas when people eat beans and legumes. Skim off any loose skins that are floating on the top of the water.
Skim off the loose skins from the chick peas
Put the soaked chickpeas in a strainer and rinse well in cold water.
Place your soaked chickpeas in a fairly large pot and add in four cups of fresh water for each cup of soaked chickpeas. So for two cups, add in 8 cups of fresh cold water into the pot.
Add in your optional ingredients, if you plan to make savoury dishes.
Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat to simmer.
Skim off any foam that appears on the top of the water. You may need to do this a couple times while the chickpeas cook.
Put a lid part way over the pot, so you can still see what is happening inside the pot. A little less water will evaporate this way. If needed, add more hot water during the cooking process – ensure the chickpeas are covered throughout the process.
Skim off the foam from the top of the chickpeas as they cook.
Stir occasionally to ensure the chickpeas are cooking evenly and none of the chickpeas stick to the bottom of the pot.
Add your salt in around the 1 hour mark.
Cook for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.
Start to test the chickpeas to see if they are done around the 1.5 hour mark. They are done when you can squish them fairly easily on a cutting board with your thumb.
When they are done, drain. You can save the water to add to a soup and if you did not use the optional ingredients, you can use the water to make recipes requiring aquafaba – like a lemon meringue pie!

That’s it! You are done! Amazing how easy that was, right?

The chickpeas can now be used in a variety of recipes from salads, hummus, soups, main dishes and so much more.

As mentioned before, store them in the fridge for about a week and use them in a variety of dishes. Or put them in an airtight container and store them in the freezer for another day.

Looking for some recipes?

Check out a few blogs that I have using chickpeas including hummus, cashew cream and kale with chickpeas (one of my favourite recipes), soups and roasted chickpeas – a delicious snack.