Crunchy, sweet, salty, and oh-so-irresistible. These honey almond roasted chickpeas are a healthy and delicious way to satisfy the munchies.
If you would have told me a handful of years ago that there would come a day where I would enjoy snacking on beans, I would have laughed myself sick before going to grab a handful of Skittles. I’ve always been a snacker, but my snacks of choice have definitely changed over the years. Back in the day I was all about the chocolate bars, gummy bears, and potato chips… and while I’m a firm believer that there’s a time and place for all those foods as well, I try to eat them in moderation rather than downing them by the bagful like I used to.
I generally have a pretty big sweet tooth when it comes to snacks, but there are definitely times where I crave something with a little more oomph to it, ya know? Something with a decent amount of protein and fibre to get me through that afternoon slump between lunch and dinner. Something like… beans…
… but let’s call them chickpeas because it sounds so much better. And let’s roast them and coat them in almond butter and honey because it tastes so much better. It’s no secret that I have a slight addiction to this combo, so it was only a matter of time before it made its way into my chickpea roasting experiments as well. And yes, I’ve been experimenting with chickpeas… Remember when I teased you with a batch in a WIAW post a couple of weeks ago? I went through another 3 or 4 cans since then and I’d like to think I have the process more or less down, so I figured it was a good time to spill the beans!
Let’s talk prep work. How you handle your beans chickpeas prior to roasting them makes all the difference, and while you can get away with slacking on these steps, they definitely won’t come out as good if you do.
First, you need to drain and rinse your chickpeas and use a paper towel to pat them very dry…
If you do nothing else, do.this.step. Any moisture left on your chickpeas will keep them from getting as crunchy as they should, so unless you want to snack on soft beans, towel those suckers off.
Second, you need to peel the skins…
This is a step you could technically skip if you’re running short on time, but it only takes about 10 extra minutes and it really does help in terms of upping the crunch factor. It also ensures that the chickpeas don’t lose all their flavour if the skins fall off post roasting. And the process of peeling them is kind of mindlessly relaxing…
Next, it’s time to dress up your naked chickpeas…
The sky is the limit in terms of what kind of combo you want to go with, but I already mentioned my obsession with honey and almond butter, so that was my dressing of choice. The honey for sweetness, the almond butter for depth, and a touch of sea salt to really enhance the flavours. So.much.yum.
Finally, it’s time to toss your chickpeas in the oven and roast them up!
What you’re left with is a healthy snack that’s sweet, salty, and irresistibly crunchy — basically a guaranteed win no matter what you might be craving. And if you’re anything like I was a handful of years back and laugh at the idea of snacking on beans, give them a try and you just might change your tune… literally đ
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Crunchy Honey Almond Roasted Chickpeas
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 Tbsp. creamy almond butter
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar (optional, for additional sweetness)
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Empty can of chickpeas into a large strainer, allowing the juices to drain before rinsing well with cold water to remove the starch. Optional: remove the outer skins by lightly pinching each individual bean between your fingers. This step takes an additional 10 minutes and isn’t mandatory, but it really helps add some extra crunch to the finished batch.
- Spread chickpeas out onto prepared baking sheet and use a paper towel to pat them dry. You want to be sure to get as much moisture off as you can. The drier they are, the crunchier they’ll be.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add almond butter, honey, and sugar, mixing well to ensure that everything is well combined. Add chickpeas to mixing bowl and use a spatula to ensure that they are evenly coated with the almond butter and honey mixture. Pour them back onto the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
- Bake for ~30 minutes, or until chickpeas are crunchy and no longer soft in the middle. Use a spatula to stir them every 10 minutes or so to make sure they don’t burn.
- When fully cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Those look incredibly delicious!!!!! I really want to try to make them!
I love crunchy roasted chickpeas! I’m in the process of creating my own recipe for them right now! And lentils are also really awesome to roast!
Now that’s something I definitely would have never thought to try. Love the creativity!
I LOVE roasted chickpeas! I will have to try this combo!
your recipes always make me drool! perfect snack!!
These sound so good! I keep saying that I need to try to make roast chick peas again. I think my issue might have been not drying them well enough in the past. I like the addition of almond butter too!
Umm… how about we go ahead and change the serving size to 1 or 2. Theres no way in heck I’d be able to make these babies last any longer! Now if only I had some chickpeas sitting around. Damnit! (pardon my language)
Chickpeas are such a great source of protein and I love them roasted like this. Fab recipe!
This would definitely be a great recipe to try. I like chick peas a lot.
I love chickpeas, can’t believe I’ve never roasted them myself! Actually, I can, because I’m totally lazy. But these look pretty easy to do!
I love popping roasted balls in my mouth as a quick snack (TWSS). ;oP But really, I love these snacks. I usually buy them, but I bet making them myself would be a lottttt cheaper. These days, my go-to snacks have been slivers of ALL the baked goods, jelly beans (tis the season), and squares of the new Endangered Species filled chocolate bars. Dying.
My favorite “back in the day” snacks were probably Dunkaroos (Gosh, I want some so bad now!) and gushers!
I remember Dunkaroos! I used to love them a lot too, but my mom would rarely buy them for me. I think they actually still sell them…
I really want to make some spicy roasted chickpeas. I’ve been meaning to try making them for a while now. One of my favorite current snacks is roasted almonds and raisins. Last year, I used to pig out on pretzels dipped in hummus… I quickly realized I was turning something healthy into something unhealthy. Now I reserve hummus for veggies, and limit myself to 2 tablespoons đ
So funny — I specifically bought chickpeas at the store this week so I could roast them up for a snack! I’m definitely more of a salty snacker, but I’ve never seen a recipe for sweet roasted chickpeas before. You’re so smart ;). These almost remind me of kettle corn… That sweet & salty, ya know?
ohhhh chickpeas how I love thee!!! Roasted and blended, I’ll take em any way I can!
Blended?! I don’t think I’ve ever tried that! But now you’ve got me super curious…
hehe blended would be hummus đ
đ Well now I just feel all sorts of fail. I blame the fact that I was decaffeinated đ
I think your process for drying them sounds great. Oh. And these sound AMAZING. We make them frequently with taco – like seasoning for using in tacos, but they never got super crunchy. I think your drying process would help!!! đ Happy Tuesday!
Roasted chickpeas are so amazing! I’ve made them only once before. I did find peeling them kind of annoying, but I think it was definitely worth it. The ones I made were maple syrup based, but I love the addition of almond butter here. Looks delicious!
Omigosh those look awesome đ I love your photos, by the way <3
Thanks Liz! đ
I’m not a huge fan of chickpeas when they’re soft and in soups/salads but this I could definitely get on board with. It’s almost like you’re making them into nuts haha and I’ve never met a nut I didn’t like đ
these look SO good.. why have I never roasted chickpeas before… i love chickpeas, almond butter, and honey ! Making these ASAP since I already have everything in my kitchen !!! Thanks for the recipe !!! đ đ
Chickpeas are one of my favorite snacks, or meals for that matter. I usually like them salty, but will have to give this a go. Maybe it will calm my major sweet tooth!
I added a touch of salt to these and it made them borderline dangerous. The sweet and salty combo is to.die.for.
At first I wasn’t sold, but then I read your description and COME TO MAMA, BEANS! The combination of almond butter, honey and crunch sounds divine <3.
These look super yummy! I’ve never had chickpeas as snack but I’m thinking I need to add some to my diet.
I love chickpeas, they are so versatile! I love them roasted very similar to this with peanut butter and also savoury with a load of cumin, chilli powder and tumeric! I will have to give this almond butter combo a go đ . My favourite snack is almond butter, honey and cinnamon on rice cakes – sooo good!
My heart is doing all sorts of happy dances that you said almond butter instead of peanut butter đ And the fact that you threw honey in there just makes you all sorts of win in my books đ
Ha – I think it is slowly becoming my preferred nut butter đ And that combo – I can see why you love it – heavenly!
Ho-ly Frig. I bookmarked this and am going to make these this weekend. I LOVE roasted chick peas but I never thought to make them kind of sweet!!! GENIUS!
I clean forgot about the wonder that is roasted chickpeas! This looks to die for! There was stint where I used make a batch of savory roasted chickpeas to snack on every night, not too long ago. And I would eat it with an orange..without the orange it just didn’t taste as good :p ! Something tells me this flavor combination will have me head over heels đ
looooooove roasted chickpeas!! It took me forever to figure out how to get them to actually be crunchy, but once I finally did, now I make them all the time! I typically eat them straight up, but I like them on top of yogurt too đ
Hunn, it has to be said – you are getting more and more professional and genius with your food pics and recipes. I seriously think you should at least create a snack-book or a picture band if not an entire coffeeplace all over the world (alson in Switzerland, hint hint hint).
I am a hige fan of AB and honey – I can eat this by spoonflu out of a bowl! Can you believe I didn’t have ANY nutbutter in months except some hardened coconut butter?? The ordering is so expensive and since my first Ninja blender died, I couldn’t make my own. I SO await my new one to arrive so I can finally whip up new flavors – and coat chickpeas with it!!
Love chickpeas. Love crunchy chickpeas. Love ALL chickpeas really. I never peel the skins off though… are you judging me? It’s mostly because I’m lazy, though I imagine it would up the crunch factor so maybe I will next time.
You’re talking to a girl who’ll often resort to eating cereal for dinner because she doesn’t feel like cooking anything, so I’m definitely in no place to judge laziness when it comes to the kitchen đ
Wow Amanda! I never though of snacking on chickpeas before, but I’ll definetely give it a try! Looks delishhh
Back in the day I would snack on PĂŁo de Queijo… have you heard of it? It is a veeeery common brazilian recipe, they are mini cheese buns made of tapioca flour… EVERY food place sells them here… really common to eat them for breakfast.
Unfortunatelly it has become a fear food for me cause they are quite caloric (I mean, if you have eaten it, you would know it is impossible to eat only 1 or 2. I would eat like 10 or 12 “back in the day)
My favourite snack right now is Quest Bar… I found a place here in Sao Paulo that sells them for a really fair price, so I no longer need to order from iherb and wait like 40 days for them to arrive đ I’m a happy girl right now!
I’ve never head of PĂŁo de Queijo, but it sounds pretty amazing. And I can definitely relate to not being able to control myself around certain foods that I love, so don’t worry — you’re not the only one!
I love making a chickpea mash or incorporating chickpeas into veggie burgers, but I don’t think I’ve ever had them roasted! I’ll have to give this a try!
These look yummy! I’ve done the de-skinning…very relaxing zen-moment. Weird but true!
Yum!!! I usually roast up Edamame, but these sound super good!! I need to give these a try! My favorite snack “back in the day” was pretzels and mustard haha I would just dip them right in, reminded me of the big soft ones.
I have had roasted chickpeas before but they were savory/spicy. Roadside vendors in Sri Lanka sell them by the “paper cone” and they are usually roasted in chili, curry, coriander powders and oil…but your honey almond ones have piqued my curiosity! I have been nursing a slight honey almond butter addiction with some homemade honey A/B – now I might have to add these honey & A/B coated chickpeas to my rotation! Brilliant idea lady – Happy April fools day!
Those sound like such a lovely snack! I’ve never had savoury ones before, but I’m thinking that’ll be the next batch I whip up. Happy April Fool’s to you too, lovely lady! Hopefully you manage to avoid getting pranked.
I am trying these this evening. My mouth is salivating already!!
These look great hun! Chick peas are the only beans I willingly eat haha, and I love them when they’re roasted đ Never would have thought to use a nut butter on them…definitely making these this weekend!
I love chickpeas!!! But I haven’t tried them roasted… yet!
I was much like you, and I could easily snack on chocolates, not one but two or three. God did I ate junk food :/
You and me both! I had no problem polishing off 2 or 3 chocolate bars a day, with a bag of gummy bears on the side đ
I randomly go through phases with roasted chick peas- obviously with peanut butter in place of almond. So delicious especially when roasted along side some carrots and/or sweet potatoes coated in the same flavors.
Oh my goodness these look good. I have never tried to roast chick peas, but if I do this will be the recipe I go to. I love chips, but don’t eat a lot of them for obvious reasons so I need a crunchy snack that can hold me over between the days I do eat my chips!
They really are the a wonderful little crunchy snack, especially when you start playing around with flavour combos!
I have been meaning to roast chickpeas for a while now. I am going to try to do this soon!
yum!! these look absolutely fantastic!!
Again another fabulous recipe from you! I love this so much. I’m at my parents caring for my Mom post surgery. I’m running to the store today to get chickpeas to try this.