Roasted Chickpeas

I am a huge fan of chickpeas. Don't ask me how it started, but ever since I was a kid, I have loved adding them to every salad. In the past few years, humus has grown in appeal so I thought I would give making my own a shot. Let's just say it didn't turn out that great. I'll definitely have to try it again, but until then, I have an awesome snack that will satisfy that craving for crunchy and salty. Roasted Chickpeas!

I made these last night so I would have them for snacking while at work. Talk about a super easy recipe. In reality, there is no recipe. I just did what I thought would be tasty. If you aren't quite as adventurous, here's what I did to create these little nuggets of yum!

2 cans Chickpeas

Garlic Powder

Red Pepper Flakes

Canola Oil

RInse the chickpeas until no foam appears.

While looking for roasted chickpea recipes, I saw variations on the prep work. Some people say to shell the chickpeas while others don't mention this step at all. I don't know if shelling the chickpeas is really necessary, but since the first recipe I looked at said to do this, I did. This was the most time consuming part of the whole process. It's not hard to take the filmy shell off the chickpea, but boy does each can have a lot of chickpeas!

Pat the chickpeas dry between two paper towels.

Toss the chickpeas into a ziplock bag.

Add canola oil, garlic powder, and red pepper flake to the bag. I didn't measure, but since I'm doing the 21 day fix, I added less than a teaspoon of oil. You don't need much! I just added garlic powder and red pepper flakes until I thought I had enough to coat the chickpeas. Shake the bag and your ready to roast!

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread your chickpeas in a single layer. At this point I sprinkled a bit more garlic powder and red pepper flakes just to make sure there was a good coating.

Bake at 400˚ for about 35 to 40 minutes or until you see the chickpeas are dry and crunchy.

That's it!

Since this was my first time making these little guys, I realized that I could add more of my seasonings (whatever they might be). Even though I thought I had added a lot of garlic powder, I don't really taste it all that much now that the chickpeas are ready for snacking.

One quick tip - Store your roasted chickpeas in a metal container. If you use plastic, they will lose their crunch!

ENJOY!