On the quest for a new snack to have around the house, I’ve been playing around with roasted chickpeas and this combo is out of this world delicious. (It also makes the house smell prettay prettay prettay good.)
For my sweet and salty lovers out there, you are gonna love this one. The maple syrup brings the sweet, while Real Salt brings the salty. I’ve also added dried rosemary for a little savory in there too. I could literally (literally) eat this with breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert.
A word of warning: this won’t be nearly as delicious if you are using regular table salt. Since the salt is such a major component of the flavor in this recipe, make sure to use Real Salt! Real Salt is the ONLY pink salt harvested right here in the United States (it’s mined from a single source: an ancient untouched sea bed in Utah, how cool is that?!).
So here’s the deal with salt; common table salts are chemically stripped to remove “impurities.” This basically means that they are stripped of all naturally occurring minerals so the salt that is left is just 99% sodium chloride. Sometimes they are then chemically bleached, and other additives or even dextrose are added in as anti-caking agents. Yuck! Go check your labels now and see if your salt is real!
Real Salt is unrefined, which means the sodium content is naturally lower, and it’s filled with over 60 other minerals that are so important to our bodies. These minerals help our bodies to stay balanced, get rid of toxins, and absorb nutrients better.
What I love most about Real Salt though is its flavor! It seriously has a better and deeper flavor than regular salt which makes it perfectly amazing in everyday cooking. I use it in all of my sautes and stirfries, when I roast veggies, on popcorn, you name it.
Feel free to adjust the sweet:salty ratio to your preference here. Let me know if you try this recipe and tell me how much you looooove it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 can chickpeas (drained, rinsed, and dried as best you can, bonus points for cooking your own beans! I was lazy this time around so I’m using bpa-free bagged beans from Thrive Market).
1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (coconut oil will work too!)
1/2 tsp real maple syrup
1/8 tsp Real Salt (+ a little more to taste)
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
DIRECTIONS:
Make sure to dry off the chickpeas as best as you can. It’s up to you if you want to leave the skins on or off! I leave them on because I like when they fall off and get crispy in the oven! But the chickpeas themselves will cook more evenly without them. Your choice!
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. If you weren’t able to dry off the chickpeas completely, throw them in the oven (on a baking sheet) for a few minutes while the oven is pre-heating to help dry them out.
Take the chickpeas out when dry and toss them in the oil. Put them back on the baking sheet (with parchment paper if you’re into that).
Cook them for 12-15 minutes until they are warm all the way through (taste one!).
Pull them out and then toss with maple syrup, Real Salt, and dried rosemary. I used rosemary that I dried out and ground myself but if your dried rosemary is made of super big pieces, you may want to throw them into a coffee grinder for a minute so it’s a little more powdery. This way they coat the chickpeas better. I usually toss them carefully right on the pan, but if you’d like, you can transfer them to a bowl for an easier toss.
Once tossed and coated well, put back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes. If you just want nice hot chickpeas to go with your lunch or dinner, they are great at 15 minutes, nutty and soft! But if you want crispy crunchy chickpeas (to snack on!) leave them in for 20-25 minutes until they are crunchy all the way through. Taste every 5 minutes, keeping a close an on them so they don’t burn!
If I want them crunchy, I usually let them hang out in the stove for an additional ten minutes after I turn the stove off with the door open so they continue to crisp up just a little bit.
Add another pinch of salt when they are done if desired. Serve over a salad, over a grain bowl, as a dinner side, or as a crunchy snack on-the-go! Enjoy!
P.S. A big thank you to Real Salt for sponsoring this post! Recipe and opinions are 100% my own and I only work with companies whose products I genuinely use and love.
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