While there is nothing I can do to make this snack look pretty, please believe me when I say that looks are very, very deceiving. I’m always looking for new snacking ideas. I really love snacks. Quick confession time: I eat at night. Everything I read tells me I shouldn’t snack in the evening. Apparently it can cause you to gain weight and can disrupt your sleep. Even knowing these facts, I still snack at night. First of all, I eat dinner around 5:30 and go to bed between 10 and 11. That’s 5 whole hours! And then I have to sleep for 8 hours, get up and make breakfast. We’re talking over 13 hours without food if I don’t snack at night . I just can’t do that. My number one favorite snack at night used to be cereal. I cannot tell you how many bowls of cereal I’ve consumed in the evening in my lifetime. Now, our house hasn’t seen a box of cereal in months (well, except one box of Crisped Rice cereal that happens to be in the pantry right now for a certain recipe I’m going to try. It’s the holidays, after all). So I have to get creative sometimes to create real food snacks that satisfy my need for a little somethin’ between meals. I was flipping through Woman’s Day magazine and saw a recipe for crispy chickpeas in their “foods to give as gifts” and was inspired to create a new snack food. I couldn’t imagine giving away such an ugly food as a gift, but was super happy to have a tasty new snack to keep all for myself.
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Healthy Snack Idea: Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
A cheesy and high protein snack
Ingredients
- 2 (15 ounce) cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice from 1/2 a lemon (~ 1 1/2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
Instructions
- After you have rinsed and drained your chickpeas, spread them out on a paper towel to dry. Allow to dry about 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and parmesan until everything is well mixed. Add the chickpeas and gently stir to coat. You will probably have a few loose skins, just pick them off and discard.
- Spread the chickpeas on a baking sheet. Make sure they aren’t too crowded; you don’t want any to overlap. Roast in the preheated oven until the chickpeas and dry and crisp, about 50-60 minutes. A few times during the roasting, open the oven and mix the ‘peas up a bit. The key is to roast them long enough so they get crispy, but not so long that they burn. Watch them closely once you hit the 50 minute mark so you can find your magic minute and have a nice, crispy, but not burnt result!
Notes
Inspired by Woman’s Day magazine
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 7.8g
- Sodium: 143mg
- Fat: 8.7g
- Carbohydrates: 48.7g
- Protein: 16g
Meghan is going through one of her pickiest stages ever. It’s getting very frustrating, but I’m trying to remain calm and just waiting for it to pass. Please, please let it pass. Somehow, though, I got her to taste these. At first I asked her if she wanted to try a chip. I have no idea why I called them chips. I guess because they are crispy and I know she likes crispy chips, so I wanted her to equate it with something she likes. She enthusiastically said “Yes!”, but when I handed her one of the chickpeas she threw it on the floor and said, “No! Different kind!” Seriously, no one told me that two-year-old girls could be such drama queens. I told her she didn’t have to try if she didn’t want to, but she didn’t have to throw it on the floor, either. Then I threw it away. And she cried. “Noooooo!” Huh? You throw it on the floor but you don’t want me to throw it away? Yikes. It turns out, she did want to try it, she just didn’t realize it at first. So she tried it. And then she asked for another. And another. You get the picture. She liked them. And I like them, too. In fact, I’m eating some right now. And it’s 10:12 at night.
What about you? Do you like to snack at night, too?
Just made these and shared them on our blog 🙂 Thank you for a great recipe!
http://joandsue.blogspot.com/2012/01/parmesan-roasted-chickpeas.html – there is the link to our blog if you want to have a peek 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
I just realized that I didn’t have use these ingredients – I’ll have to compare this to the original Woman’sDay recipe the next time.
juice from 1/2 a lemon (~ 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
I made these and some came out crunchy and some are chewy….like the crunchy better, BUT how do I store them?
Thank you!
Candice
You should store them in an airtight container.
Thanks….I didn’t know if I should refrigerate them but they are in an airtight container…
TIP: To keep things really airtight, turn the container over after the lid is on and do that every time you open and close it. It really does work to keep food items longer!
These look and sound yummy! I have chickpeas in the freezer right now that are calling out to be used. Gonna try this tonight 🙂 thx!
I found dried chickpeas at Walmart and I am going to make them tomorrow! Excited to see how they turn out.
Keep us updated!
I always buy my dried chick peas at Kroger. I never buy beans in a can anymore because of the threat of bpa poisoning. These are in the oven right now and I can’t wait to try them. They look so yummy!
Thanks for the tip, Lisa! If dried chickpeas are available at Kroger, they must be pretty easy to find.
I was so excited to try this recipe – until I got to the store to buy chickpeas. The canned chickpeas had way to much sodium for Reese. Since his heart surgery everything is low sodium & low cholesterol. I have never seen dried chickpeas – have you?
Did you look at organic brands? Usually they have much less sodium than the regular canned kind. I use Eden Organic and I just looked at the can and it has 30 mg per 1/2 cup. Eden Organic is also the only brand (that I know of) that uses BPA-free linings in their cans, so that is a bonus, too! I have never actually looked for dried chickpeas. I’ll bet they have them at health food stores. Good luck!
I’m definitely a nighttime snacker, and – like you – cereal was my snack of choice! I usually have three or four boxes in my pantry at any given time, hehe.
I’ve been looking for a good roasted chickpea recipe for a while though, and this sounds awesome!!! I have a can of beans and all the other ingredients in my pantry – I’ll definitely be giving this a go this week. How is the texture of the peas? Is it kind of like wasabi peas that you get in the snack food section of the grocery store?
Oh, man, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever had the wasabi peas you are talking about. The peas turn out crunchy, but not as hard as peanuts. Does that help?
I’m really excited about finding your blog though the nice comment you made! Everything looks so good, and I need some healthy food inspiration for me and my family. I really want to try your green smoothie, your curry and these chickpeas (maybe I’m weird, but I do think they look good!). I’ll be stopping by in the future for sure!
🙂