Roasted Chickpeas

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Roasted Chickpeas

May 3, 2012 by The Chick

Today, I was hungry. Imagine that. I wasn’t hungry enough to make a full-fledged meal. My pantry and refrigerator offered up pretty slim pickins in the snack department so I decided to get a little creative.

I always have canned beans on hand. My favorites are black beans-they are the perfect addition to just about any meal and my baby loves them. Seriously, he just devours them and will eat multiple helpings whenever I serve them. It doesn’t hurt that beans are so, super healthy for you. I prefer to buy dry beans, cook them and freeze them myself. But I do keep a handy stash of canned beans for circumstances when ~~I’m being lazy~~ time is of the essence.

Today, while perusing my pantry, I caught sight of a can of one of my favorite beans, the lovely Chick Pea. Which is not a pea at all and also known as a Garbonzo bean. I love chickpeas because they are so versatile. They are great plain, on their own, but they are also great smashed into hummus and used as a veggie dip, and I love to throw them into soups.

Today, though, I wanted something a little different. I wanted something with a little crunch and I also wanted a poppable snack. You know, the kind you can eat with your fingers and pop into your mouth like popcorn? So I got to thinking about what I could do with these yummy chickpeas.

I had the idea to sprinkle them with some of my homemade ranch seasoning (I use Laura’s recipe) and roast them in the oven. The result?

OH. MY. YUM!

They were perfect! My kids loved them too. In fact, they were quite perturbed when they came inside after playing outside to find that mom had eaten almost all of them!

What? I saved them a few. Don’t judge me!

Roasted Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas (Garbanzo beans), drained

2-3 tsp dry ranch seasoning (I used homemade but it could work with the packaged kind as well)

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Preheat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients. I added the EVOO to keep the beans from sticking to my pan, but you could also just spray your pan.

Lay beans out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes (longer if you want them crunchier-mine were nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside).

Enjoy!