How To Boil Chickpeas

While many people love chickpeas, most just don’t know how to boil chickpeas the best way.

Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans and they’re absolutely delicious. The reality is that they are full of protein and have a nutty and mild flavor that goes well with a wide variety of dishes. From stew to soups, or simply as a side dish.

Since most people don’t know how to boil chickpeas, they tend to use the canned varieties. While canned chickpeas may be a lot quicker to prepare, the truth is that the flavor is completely different. In addition, the consistency of the chickpeas may not be the best one for your dish. As if this wasn’t enough, canned chickpeas tend to contain high sodium content from added salt as well as additives for preservation. So, ultimately, when you eat canned chickpeas, you will be losing not only the flavor, but also the perfect texture, as well as the properties of dried chickpeas.

The truth is that learning how to boil chickpeas is not hard at all. In fact, it is pretty easy and a lot healthier. You just need to think about how you want to eat your chickpeas or use them. For example, when you are thinking about making a spread or dip like hummus, you should have the chickpeas soft cooked. However, when you want to use them to add to a stew or a salad, you surely want the chickpeas to be more firm.

Buying The Best Chickpeas

When you need to buy dried chickpeas, you want to make sure that you use a bulk bin with a high turnover rate. The reality is that when the chickpeas are older, they won’t be so tender when you cook them. So, just choose the chickpeas that haven’t stayed on the shelf for more than a couple of months to ensure that they can cook nicely.

Now that you already know the differences between dried and canned chickpeas and that you also know what to look for when buying the best chickpeas, it’s time to learn how to boil chickpeas.

How To Boil Chickpeas – Step-By-Step Instructions

Step #1: Preparing Your Chickpeas For Recipes

The first thing you need to do is to place the chickpeas in a large bowl. Then, look carefully to pick out and discard any debris or stones.

Now that your chickpeas look perfect, it’s time to soak them. But why?

Step #2: Soaking Your Chickpeas

The truth is that soaking chickpeas is an essential step to make the perfect chickpeas no matter what dish you are preparing. The first reason is that this step is important to ensure that the chickpeas are softened before you boil them. The second reason is that when you soak them, you are making the chickpeas more digestible.

While you can choose between soaking your chickpeas using a quick method or leaving them for the night, we definitely believe that the second one is better. After all, it will add more flavor, more texture, and the chickpeas will cook better.

By now, you have already got rid of the debris and stones from the chickpeas and you have them in a large bowl. Now, it’s time to cover them with water. Bear in mind that adding water to the chickpeas makes them increase in size. Therefore, ensure that you add enough water to the bowl.

Then, take the bowl to the refrigerator and leave it there for 12 hours.

During this period, you need to make sure that you change the water several times.

Step #3: Before Cooking Your Chickpeas

When the 12 hours have passed, it’s time to get the chickpeas out of the refrigerator. Since you want to make sure that they all have the same texture and size, you need to rinse thoroughly with your own hands.

After rinsing them well, it’s time to drain the chickpeas and simply transfer them to a large cooking pot.

Step #4: How To Boil Chickpeas

Now that you already placed your chickpeas on a large cooking pot, it’s time to discover how to boil chickpeas to get the amazing texture and flavor that you are looking for.

So, just grab some water and pour it over the pot. Make sure that you cover the chickpeas completely and add about 5 cm above the chickpeas. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil for approximately 1 hour and a half (we will state the differences between leaving the chickpeas more time or less time boiling at the end of the recipe).

Put your pot on a medium-high heat but make sure that you pay attention to it. In case you see any white foam forming, just skim it off.

Step #5: Adding The Salt

When the time for boiling is up, just remove the pot from the stove and open the pot. This is the time to add 1 tsp of salt and mix it thoroughly with a spoon.

Step #6: Leave The Chickpeas To Cool

Now that you already learned how to boil chickpeas, it’s also important to understand that the process isn’t complete yet. The best way to let your chickpeas cool is to leave them in the water where they previously boiled and with the pot covered. This will allow the chickpeas to get the salt flavor and they will be extra soft.

Step #7: Time To Serve Your Chickpeas

When it is time to serve your chickpeas, all you need to do is to open the pot and use a skimmer to take the chickpeas out of the water and place them on a beautiful plate.

And there you go. It’s time to taste your amazing boiled chickpeas!

How Long To Boil Chickpeas

One of the main problems most people have when they want to learn how to boil chickpeas is to know exactly how much time they need to be boiling. And the reality is that this is an important question since it definitely depends on what you are using your chickpeas for and how long the chickpeas stayed on the shelf before you bought them.

The truth is that you have an easy way to know they are done. Just look at your chickpeas in the pot and see if you still see white in the center of the chickpeas. If you don’t, this means that they are done. Nevertheless, the fact that they are cooked doesn’t mean that they are just the way you want them to be. After all, as we already mentioned, the texture and the softer or harder depends on what you are using the chickpeas for.

So, as a rule of thumb, you can let the chickpeas boil more than 1 hour and a half when you want them to have that extra tenderness like when you are going to prepare hummus. However, when you want to use the chickpeas for soups and stews, it’s better to watch them closely as they reach 1 hour of boiling. After all, this also depends on the freshness of the chickpeas, since the fresher they are, the less time they take to cook.