25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (2024)

What can't the mighty chickpea do? Beloved across the Mediterranean, Middle East, and India, chickpeas make their way into all sorts of snacks, sides, and main dishes enjoyed at all hours of the day. They're ground into flour to make pancakes, fried up for a hearty snack or salad topper, pureed into spreads, and simmered in curries, soups, and stews. These 25 recipes celebrate chickpeas in all their various preparations. Use them instead of hominy in a veggie-based pozole, serve them solo in a salad dressed with lemon and herbs, or toss them with pasta, greens, and mozzarella for a flavorful go-to weeknight meal. We have plenty of chickpea recipes to celebrate the legume's versatility.

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Marinated Chickpea Salad with Radishes, Cucumber, and Queso de Freir

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (1)

This quick chickpea salad from pastry chef Paola Velez is packed with vegetables and tossed with a simple, flavorful lemon-garlic and cumin dressing. Crispy, melty strips of fried queso de freir — a favorite cheese from Velez's childhood — take the dish over the top. The salad comes together in 30 minutes, making it ideal for busy nights.

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02of 25

Chana Daal with Squash

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (2)

"The inspiration for this recipe is doodhi chana, a stew of bottle gourd and dried split chickpeas that I grew up eating in Gujarat," chef Vishwesh Bhatt says. "I always thought it lacked the oomph of other preparations my mother made. Then I discovered ras el hanout, preserved lemons, and pomegranate molasses, which elevated the previously boring gourd to new heights."

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03of 25

Chickpea Doubles with Tamarind and Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (3)

These traditional Trinidadian doubles from 2019 F&W Best New Chef Kwame Onwuachi are served open-faced and quickly wrapped in wax paper, letting the flatbread steam and keeping the spicy filling piping hot. Try leftover tamarind sauce in margaritas, drizzled over fresh mangoes, or with roast pork.

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04of 25

Mushroom-Chickpea Pozole

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (4)

"Here I use mushrooms to give us that earthy heartiness that you expect from pozole, no meat needed," says chef Marcela Valladolid. "Guajillo, ancho, and árbol chiles are soaked and pureed for a perfectly balanced sauce that punches up the savory mushroom broth; the chickpeas are a yummy twist in place of the dried hominy."

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05of 25

Lemony Chickpea Salad

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (5)

This chickpea salad from chef Tom Colicchio is accented with lemon, garlic, rosemary, and oregano, and gets a kick of flavor from quick-pickled onion and chopped peperoncini. Serve it with warm, soft pita bread to soak up the olive oil dressing.

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06of 25

Fainá (Chickpea Flour Pancake) with Provolone Cheese

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (6)

Fainá is a savory chickpea flour pancake that originated in Italy but is popular in Argentina, where this recipe is from. For this cheesy version from the Buenos Aires restaurant El Preferido, the fainá is twice-baked to achieve the perfect texture: a crispy top and tender, custard-like center.

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07of 25

Orzo and Chickpeas with Turmeric-Ginger Broth

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (7)

Coconut milk and fresh lime juice are natural flavor partners to ginger and turmeric; here they come together to form a restorative tea-based broth that’s delicious studded with chickpeas and pasta.

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08of 25

Socca with Zucchini and Olives

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (8)

Socca, also called farinata in Liguria, is a crisp, tender pancake made from chickpea flour. Unlike the versions in Nice, which are cooked in copper pans, this one is baked in a cast-iron skillet before it's topped with a summery marinated squash salad.

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09of 25

Hummus Masabacha with Paprika and Whole Chickpeas

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (9)

Before opening Zahav restaurant in Philadelphia, chef Michael Solomonov visited hummus parlors all over Israel trying to find the best recipe. "Hummus is the hardest thing to get right," he says. "It has to be rich, creamy, and mildly nutty." To make his hummus luxuriously smooth, he soaks the chickpeas overnight with baking soda to soften them.

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10of 25

Chickpeas and Kale in Spicy Pomodoro Sauce

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (10)

Chef Missy Robbins of Brooklyn's Lilia restaurant swaps chickpeas for pasta in her riff on spicy pomodoro. She finishes the dish with a shower of fresh herbs and salty pecorino cheese.

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11of 25

Crispy Chickpeas

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (11)

To make these salty snacks, chef Jason Travi tosses canned chickpeas with flour, coriander, and cumin, then fries them. He loves popping them into his mouth while he's watching football.

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12of 25

Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (12)

This classic Punjabi dish, called masaledar chholay, is fragrant with garlic, jalapeño, ginger, cumin, and coriander. It's often served as part of a big Sunday lunch, along with raita, naan, and salad.

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Herbed Chickpea Bruschetta

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (13)

The key to these delicious bruschetta from chef Nancy Silverton is lots of olive oil. After she bakes the chickpeas with a variety of flavorings — including onions, pancetta, and carrots — she purees them with a good amount of oil, spreads the puree on toasts, and drizzles with a little more oil.

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14of 25

Chickpea Stew with Spinach and Chorizo

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (14)

This stew, like all those in Catalonia, starts with a sofrito, a thick sauce made from sautéed onions and tomatoes. Once you get all the ingredients in the pot, there's not much to do besides enjoy the aroma wafting from this hearty, spicy, soupy stew as it slowly cooks.

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Kale Caesar with Fried Chickpeas

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (15)

This tangy Caesar salad is topped with light, airy, and super-crunchy pan-fried chickpeas instead of the usual croutons.

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16of 25

Chickpea and Swiss Chard Chili

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (16)

"This smoky, rich chili is one of my go-to weeknight dinners, and for good reason," says former F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple. "It's a one-pot dish that has 10 ingredients (not including salt and pepper) and comes together in just 30 minutes. Plus, you can make it a day or two in advance because it reheats beautifully."

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17of 25

Spicy Chickpea Soup

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (17)

Chickpeas are used as the base for this creamy (though cream-free) soup, which is flavored with the Indian spice blend garam masala and prepared by first pureeing it, then simmering it, to save time.

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Carrot and Chickpea Salad

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (18)

Chef Charles Kelsey tosses chickpeas and carrots with a deliciously unusual combination of smoked paprika, cumin, and cilantro.

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Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (19)

These open-faced vegetarian sandwiches are loaded with plenty of chickpeas, onion, lemon juice, and dill. The salad sits atop slices of multigrain toast and is garnished with creamy avocado slices and a sprinkling of sprouts.

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20of 25

Lamb Meatballs with Red Pepper and Chickpea Sauce

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (20)

Chef Nancy Silverton got this hearty meatball recipe from Matt Molina, the former chef de cuisine at Campanile. When the meatballs are almost cooked through, she pushes them to one side of the skillet and adds the ceci (Italian for chickpeas). That way everything soaks up the flavor of the luscious roasted red pepper sauce.

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21of 25

Spiced Chickpeas with Yogurt and Pine Nuts

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (21)

More people should eat chickpeas at breakfast! The chefs at Marisa May’s now-shuttered restaurant SD26 used to make these stewy, savory chickpeas for her when she hadn’t gotten to eat something filling at home.

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Orecchiette with Greens, Mozzarella, and Chickpeas

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (22)

For this aromatic recipe, the chickpeas are fried and spiced, then get strewn across the medley of tender pasta, garlicky veggies, and fresh mozzarella and basil. Try the dish with a fruit-forward Pinot Gris.

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23of 25

Spiced Lamb and Rice Dressing with Chickpeas

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (23)

Instead of the more common bread-based dressing, Bi-Rite Market owner Sam Mogannam's mother, Mariette, always serves turkey with this hearty, savory Palestinian stuffing, traditionally used as a filling for grape leaves or halved zucchini.

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Curried Spaghetti Squash and Chickpea Toasts

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (24)

Spaghetti squash gets its name because once it's cooked, you can use a fork to pull the flesh into long, thin strands. Chef Jonathon Sawyer makes his own curry and cooks his own chickpeas for this vegetarian dish, but this simplified recipe calls for store-bought curry paste and canned chickpeas. Sawyer roasts the seeds from the squash and uses them as a garnish; pumpkin seeds from the supermarket are a fine substitute.

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Chickpea-Chile Flatbreads

25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (25)

Chef Suvir Saran rolls the savory flatbread dough into a cone shape before griddling, flattening it to create extra-flaky layers.

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25 Charming Recipes Featuring Chickpeas (2024)

FAQs

What tastes good with chickpeas? ›

Use them instead of hominy in a veggie-based pozole, serve them solo in a salad dressed with lemon and herbs, or toss them with pasta, greens, and mozzarella for a flavorful go-to weeknight meal. We have plenty of chickpea recipes to celebrate the legume's versatility.

What's the difference between garbanzo beans and chickpeas? ›

The honest answer—there's no difference between chickpeas and garbanzo beans. They're just two (of many) different names for the same type of pulse. (Pulses are basically seeds of legume plants.) The word chickpea doesn't come from chickens at all—it's an evolution of the plant's Latin name, cicer arietinum.

What is the spiritual significance of chickpeas? ›

Chickpeas: A Symbol of Prosperity and Good Fortune

Chickpeas have rooted themselves in cultural traditions, symbolizing abundance and well-being. From ancient ceremonies to modern-day festivals, these legumes carry a weight of significance beyond their nutritional value.

Are canned chickpeas healthy? ›

Great news! Both canned and dried varieties of chickpeas are nutritious! When purchasing canned varieties, look for those labeled "no salt added" or "low in sodium." Overall, beans are budget-friendly, but dried can often be less expensive and also more flavorful than canned.

What is the healthiest way to eat chickpeas? ›

Chickpeas are found in many cuisines. Stir them into soups, stews and pasta dishes, toss in salads or puree for a healthy appetizer.

Which is healthier chickpeas or garbanzo beans? ›

So really, there is no wrong answer. Both are correct! This unique, nutrient-packed bean has been popular in the Middle East for many years, as chickpeas are a staple ingredient in many of the region's most well-known dishes like hummus and falafel.

Are chickpeas healthier than other beans? ›

Answer: All three beans, like other legumes, are great choices,supplying protein and dietary fiber as well as a variety ofvitamins and minerals. Black beans are slightly higher in fiberthan the other two choices and provide some extra magnesium, butgarbanzo beans (chickpeas) are a little higher in the B vitaminfolate.

Are chickpeas a bean or a pea? ›

The name chickpea comes from the Latin word cicer, referring to the plant family of legumes, Fabaceae. It is also known by its popular Spanish-derived name, the garbanzo bean. Kidney beans, black beans, lima beans, and peanuts are other familiar foods found in this legume family.

Who eats the most chickpeas? ›

The highest per capita consumption of chickpea is Turkey (6.65 kg year -1 ) followed by India (5.37 kg year -1 ), Myanmar (4.54 kg year -1 ), Jordan (4.27 kg year -1 ) and Pakistan (4.11 kg year -1 ) (Yadav et al., 2007) .

What is the flower of a chickpea? ›

The typical papilionaceous flower, with one big standard, two wings and two keel petals (boat shaped), has 9 + 1 diadelphous stamens and a stigma with 1–4 ovules. Anthers dehisce a day before the flower opens leading to self-pollination. In four weeks after pollination, pod matures with one to three seeds per pod.

What are 2 positive health effects of consuming chickpeas? ›

Chickpeas are high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats and have a low glycemic index (GI). As a result, chickpeas help manage cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure; maintain healthy body weight; and support gut health.

Is it OK to eat chickpeas everyday? ›

You can eat at least one serving (28 grams) of chickpeas per day. However, don't eat more than 70 grams a day since that can cause adverse side effects. If you consume too many chickpeas, some side effects you may get include bloating, nausea, and gas. It's important to remember that chickpeas should not be eaten raw.

Is 1 can of chickpeas too much? ›

Eating a 420g can of chickpeas every day can be healthy, but it is important to consider the potential side effects. Chickpeas are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are also low in calories and fat. However, they can also cause gas and bloating in some people.

Are chickpeas anti inflammatory? ›

Ingredients like Greek yogurt, raspberries, chickpeas and garlic are both gut-healthy and anti-inflammatory foods. This means these snacks can help aid in healthy digestion as well as relieve symptoms of inflammation like joint stiffness, mental fog and high blood pressure.

What can I combine with chickpeas for complete protein? ›

You can toss chickpeas with whole grains like farro or barley, or add chickpeas to salads for a plant-based protein boost. Chickpeas also work well in soups, like in the Daily Harvest Tomato + Zucchini Minestrone Soup.

How do you add flavor to canned chickpeas? ›

To do this, I drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, then toss them with oil, salt, pepper, and any spices that I'm feeling. (I typically go with garlic powder, cumin, and smoked paprika, but anything will work.)

What to add when cooking chickpeas? ›

I just cut the onion in half or quarters (no need to peel it) and smash the garlic, cook them at the bottom of a stockpot with a glug of olive oil until they turn golden brown, and then add the chickpeas, cover them with an inch or two water, throw in a pinch of salt and a couple bay leaves, and simmer until they're ...

Is snacking on chickpeas healthy? ›

They're also very healthy, boasting vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. These characteristics may support weight management, blood sugar regulation, and brain health while reducing your risk of chronic ailments like heart disease and cancer.

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