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These crispy chickpeas, spiced with chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika, are the ultimate savory, perfectly crunchy snack.
I’ve always had a thing for crunchy snacks that you can munch on straight from the bowl. And chickpeas? I love them in every form, whether they’re blended into a hummus, stewed in curries, or tossed into Mediterranean salads.
Roasted and crispy, though, that’s one of my favorite ways to enjoy them as a snack! This recipe starts with a humble can of chickpeas (or two) and ends with a hot oven, transforming your chickpeas into golden brown, spiced bites of perfection.
They’re one of my go-to snacks, but I’ll share some ideas for what else you can do with your new favorite crunchy treat.
Tip: Remove the skins before baking
A hack I’ve picked up for crispier chickpeas is removing some of their skins before baking. Chickpea skins can retain moisture, and removing some (not all) of those skins can result in a crunchier texture.
Don’t feel the need to spend a lot of time on this step, though. A little goes a long way! Here’s my easy method for how to remove chickpea skins:
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
- Dry them with a towel to remove as much moisture as possible. (This is also key to making totally crispy chickpeas.)
- Place another towel on top of the chickpeas and rub them with your hands to loosen the skins. Do this a few times.
The whole process with your paper towels should only take a few minutes, and again, don’t worry about getting all of them!
How to roast chickpeas
Apart from the chickpeas themselves, there’s one more thing that’s essential for the perfect oven-roasted chickpeas: the crunch!
Roasted chickpeas are less forgiving than other chickpea cooking methods. If you don’t bake them long enough, you’ll end up with chewy, soggy chickpeas the next day. To make crunchy chickpeas that stay crispy, you’ve got to bake them long enough.
Once you’ve removed some skins and tossed your chickpeas in a spice blend of chili powder, ground cumin, and smoked paprika, the tricky part begins.
The exact bake time depends on the chickpea brand and your oven. You’ll want to watch closely in the final minutes, taste test, and remove your chickpeas when they’re browned but before they become very dark and hard.
I’ve found that’s typically somewhere in the range of 45-60 minutes. Once you’ve played with different chickpea brands and your oven, you’ll get a feel for the best timing.
Serving suggestions
These are delicious on their own as a crunchy gluten-free snack replacement for potato chips or pretzels. (Sheet pan roasted black beans are great for that, too!) They’re also fun in recipes featuring chickpeas or recipes that could use some extra texture.
Here are a few of my favorite ideas:
- Grain bowls: Add them to your favorite grain bowls, featuring quinoa, farro, or brown rice, topped with veggies like sweet potatoes or cauliflower and tahini.
- Salads: Add them as a stand-in for croutons on top of a Caesar salad or Kale Caesar salad.
- Snack mix: You can take them to go with your favorite nuts. To keep with the theme, you can also make a batch of spiced nuts.
- Wraps: I love a veggie wrap with a little crunch. Slather some homemade hummus in there for bonus chickpea flavor.
Featured 5-star review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This recipe was super awesome and delicious!!!! And so easy! So glad I know how to make these at home now instead of having to buy them…
– Jasmine C.
Storage information
Store crispy chickpeas in an airtight container in a dry cupboard for up to 1 week. To maintain that crunch, avoid sealing them until they’re completely cool and skip refrigeration, which can make them chewy. That’s usually about half an hour, but try to get them to room temperature.
Dietary notes
This crispy chickpeas recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
Other chickpea recipes you may enjoy
Crispy Chickpeas
This crispy roasted chickpeas recipe is the perfect crunchy, healthy snack. They’re boldly spiced for a kick of flavor in every bite to satisfy those savory cravings.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 ¾ cups 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas (or 3 cups cooked chickpeas)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas, shaking off as much water as possible.
- Place chickpeas on a towel and pat gently to dry. Place another towel on top, then use your hands to rub the chickpeas and remove as many of the chickpea skins as possible. Do this once or twice.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the chickpeas, olive oil, chili powder, black pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, and kosher salt.
- Pour chickpeas onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and spread them into a single layer.
- Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes until crispy and dry, shaking the pan every 15 minutes. The exact bake time depends on the chickpea brand and your oven, so watch closely in the final minutes, taste test, and remove when the chickpeas are browned but before they become very dark and hard.
- Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before storing. The chickpeas will crisp up even more as they cool.
Notes
If you’re starting with dried chickpeas, you’ll need to boil your chickpeas or use a pressure cooker before baking. I always soak my dried chickpeas for 10-12 hours before throwing them in a pressure cooker for more even cooking. If you skip that step, they’ll take longer to cook.
An air fryer could work, too, especially if you want to reduce your baking time. Drain, dry, and season your chickpeas before air frying them for about 15 minutes, shaking halfway through.
Instead of chili powder can I use curry or paprika? Thanks.
How do you store these? I imagine if you put them in the refrigerator they get soft, but they might do that in room-temperature conditions as well.
I cooked mine for over an hour and they never got crispy. Should I cook them more?
Yes! Keep going if they aren’t crispy yet.
This recipe was super awesome and delicious!!!! And so easy! So glad I know how to make these at home now instead of having to sell my organs to buy them…
Fabulous
It looks delicious and easy to make! Thanks for your sharing :))))
Im having trouble getting my chickpeas to get crunchy. I started with wet chickpea from a can. Is there a dried variety that I should start with?
You should definitely use wet chickpeas from a can! Next time, bake them a little bit longer so that they dry out more. You can also try letting the chickpeas cool and dry out on the baking sheet for a few hours before you store them. Storing them brings out any extra moisture, so keeping them out at room temp for as long as possible helps them dry out!
Delicious! This is my first time roasting chickpeas and I’m hooked. So many flavor combinations I want to try. I cut the recipe in half for testing purposes. Love the tip for removing some of the skins. My oven took 45 minutes, and they were still crunchy on day 2. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi
Can the roasted chickpeas be frozen?
Many thanks
We haven’t tested it, sorry!