Roasted Chickpeas (vegan)

It’s easy to find gluten-containing snacks with a crunch. Chips, pretzels, crackers, you name it. While there are gluten free versions of all of these items, they’re not always as good. Not to mention that they’re not the healthiest snacks in the world either, and they tend to cost a fortune. Some also replace the gluten with other allergenic ingredients. Roasted chickpeas to the rescue!

When I made these, this time, I had a bit of a cold and was looking for a vegan source of zinc. While pumpkin seeds fit the bill, I wasn’t in the mood. Unless they have the shell (i.e. when you dig them out of a fresh pumpkin), they lack the crunch I wanted. The only thing with roasted chickpeas is that they’re kind of dry, so it’s almost necessary to have a beverage handy while eating them.

I’ve provided you with a recipe to dress them up, but essentially, you can season roasted chickpeas however you please.

Roasted Chickpeas (vegan)

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1/2 tsp each: salt, black pepper, chili powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 425F.

Drain, rinse, and dry the chickpeas as much as possible. I run a paper towel over them to absorb some of the water. You can add the seasoning to the chickpeas in a bowl, but I do it all directly on the baking sheet and toss them around to cover them evenly.

Bake until the chickpeas are crunchy and toasty looking. For me, that’s about 45 minutes, but it depends on the brand of chickpeas you use and how well you managed to dry them. Remove from the oven every 15 minutes to toss and then put them back in the oven.

Update: my friend followed the recipe and said that his chickpeas burned, so I suggest keeping a close eye on them after half an hour.