How to make chickpeas from scratch

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Chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans aka any friend of hummus is a friend of mine) are worth making from scratch every time! If you too stocked up on a 25 lb bag of beans to get through quarantine, you’ve come to the right place. I purchased canned beans for too long, nervous about accidentally starting a gas-chain reaction from not soaking properly. But DIY dried chickpeas are super simple and you reduce your packaging waste. Hello tender lovin’ chickpeas from scratch!

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Bulk bin dried beans are a great, low impact approach to alternative protein. You often get more dried beans in a bag than you do a can. You can bring that reusable bag, load up, appreciate how much more affordable bulk is, and soak! It’s that easy! This is a great beginner recipe for anyone looking to make beans from scratch. Make a large batch at the start of the week and have them on hand for meal prep, a late night hummus craving, or just to snack. Chickpeas are one of my favorite beans so I make sure to include them on my plant-based pantry list. They pair well in this potato + leek soup, walnut beet or spicy hummus and our homemade tahini of course.

The secret to these incredibly tender chickpeas is two part – first, soak your beans overnight with a tablespoon of kosher salt. The salt tenderizes the beans and makes for easier digestion. Second, add in a bit of baking soda while cooking! Another tenderizing tip is to soak and cook with kombu, a kind of seaweed used to help aid digestion, but kombu can be difficult to find in stores. Try your local Asian grocery store.

Another benefit to making garbanzo beans from scratch is all of the fabulous leftover cooking liquid, known as aquafaba. This biz is liquid gold! You can save your aquafaba and use it in soups or stocks, homemade crackers, liquid for stir frying or braising, and baking! So save your aquafaba and enjoy your chickpeas!

hand holding dried chickpeas
soaking chickpeas
drained chickpeas
cooked chickpeas in pot
cooked chickpeas in pot

How to make chickpeas from scratch   by

Chickpeas are budget friendly, package-free protein worth making from scratch every time.

makes: 4 servings | soaking: 8 hours | cook time: 20 min | total time: 20 min

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cooked chickpeas

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried chickpeas
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

To-Do's

  1. In a large bowl add dried chickpeas and 1 tbsp kosher salt. Cover with double the amount of cold water and gently stir. Let soak overnight, approx 6 – 8 hours.
  2. Once soaked, strain chickpeas from soaking water. Add to large pot.
  3. Add remaining salt, baking soda, and 4 cups water. Gently stir. Bring to a boil.
  4. Once boiling, continue stirring and skim any excess foam off the top.
  5. Reduce heat and let simmer about 18 – 20 minutes, until chickpeas are fork tender. Strain and serve.
  6. Enjoy! Try making walnut beet or spicy hummus next. Or this chickpea salad sandwich! Beans last about 1 week in the fridge. Save leftover aquafaba (cooking broth) for vegetable stocks, homemade crackers, making grains, baking projects, or anywhere you might use water in a savory dish. You can freeze stock for later use, if using a glass jar leave an inch of head space.

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Comments

14 thoughts on “How to make chickpeas from scratch”

  1. Great tips—I’ve never heard that about baking soda! I make my black beans from scratch in the slow cooker but I haven’t made my own garbanzo beans in a few years. Thanks for the reminder—I eat chickpeas several times a week, so this is a great way I can reduce waste in the kitchen!

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  3. Wow, baking soda? I had no idea. I will have to give this a try as a vegetarian. I like the way you approached this post and the conscious kitchen ideas. These are really great. You make chickpeas look beautiful. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!

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  6. Great tutorial. I’ve even wanting to start reducing canned beans and make them myself. And we’re huge garbanzo bean fans in this house. Definitely giving this a shot!

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  7. The baking soda make a huge difference in the cooking time, thanks to reminding me! Will like to remind everyone that you need to rince the chickpeas really carefully if you want to use the AQUAFABA! Thanks for your post!

    Reply

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