Smoky Chipotle Roasted Chickpeas

It’s taken me a while, but I have finally jumped on the bandwagon… The roasted chickpea bandwagon, that is.

I’m sure you’ve seen them in magazines, on blogs, and in healthy cookbooks. They’re all the rage right now. After seeing them everywhere, I finally decided to give them a try last fall.  Unfortunately, the recipes that I tried didn’t exactly yield great results.  I was looking for a nice, crisp snack, but I was left with dry and chalky chickpeas or completely burnt chickpeas.

Since I’ve really been trying to clean up my act when it comes to snacking (in other words, stop eating chocolate chips out of the bag in the pantry), I decided to give the chickpeas one more shot, trying a recipe from How Sweet It Is.  The chickpeas came out crisp and delicious… And, I couldn’t stop snacking on them!

The original recipe is fantastic.  I recommend giving it a try!  Since I always enjoy playing around with different flavors, I thought I’d make a few different flavors of my own.  These spicy and smoky chickpeas are my favorite (so far).  I think they have just the right amount of heat with a nice smokey flavor that pairs so beautifully with chickpeas.  They’re great for snacking on their own, but they’d also be a nice addition to a savory snack mix, too.

Smoky Chipotle Roasted Chickpeas
Makes about 1 ½ cups
(Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is)

• 1 can chickpeas (preferably BPA free and organic)
  (or approximately 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas)
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• Generous pinch of Kosher salt

Rinse the chickpeas well and spread them out on a paper towel (or clean kitchen towel).  Gently roll the chickpeas on the towel to dry them thoroughly and remove the skins. I like to let the chickpeas sit for about 15 – 20 minutes to make sure they are good and dry.

While the chickpeas are drying, preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Once the chickpeas are nice and dry, transfer them to a medium bowl.  Drizzle with the olive oil and add the spices and salt. Stir to evenly coat the chickpeas in the oil and spices. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.

Roast the chickpeas in the oven for about 35 minutes, stirring once or twice to make sure they roast evenly.  Cool on the baking sheet.  Enjoy the chickpeas right away or store them in a paper bag or a loosely covered container.