Roasted Chickpeas
I have been looking for an alternative to nuts for a savory, salty crunchy snack for a long time. (I can hoover through a bag of nuts in an astonishingly short period of time and they are very calorie dense)
I've known, in theory, that roasted chickpeas could be just that alternative. They are healthy, tasty, easy to make and have a much lower calorie count than nuts.
However when I tried to prepare them in the past they never turned out great. Some would be soggy, some would be burnt out husks and some (a relatively small percentage) would be delicious with just the right amount of crunch.
I redoubled my effort, braced myself and I tried again last night.
All of the recipes stress that they need to be perfectly dry to turn out. So, I paid extra attention to that step. But dang it, those little garbonzos were staying damp and I was running thin on patience.
So, long story short, I dumped them on a rimmed baking tray and popped them in the oven with no oil or anything... just to dry them out a little.
I kept them in the oven to dry for about 90 seconds at 400, took them out and then tossed them in avocado oil (higher smoke temp than olive) and salt. (waiting to spice them until after the full roast so the spices didn't burn).
Wow, did that work great! They were basically uniform in doneness, crispy, crunchy and delicious.
So if you are looking for a snack that isn't highly processed give them a try. The recipe below is great, just add the additional step of drying the rinsed chickpeas for about 90 seconds at 400 degrees before you toss them in oil and put them back in the oven to fully roast.
