How to Cook Chickpeas

Here’s how to cook chickpeas! It’s so easy to cook garbanzo beans from dried: they’re cheaper and taste much better than canned.

Wondering how to cook chickpeas? You’ve come to the right place. Here at A Couple Cooks, we eat a lot of chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans. These little legumes pack loads of healthy protein and nutrients: and they’re especially essential for plant-based diets. And what better way to eat them than cooked from dry? It takes a little planning, but if you’ve tried it before you know: Dried chickpeas are much more delicious than canned. They’ve got a firmer texture and better flavor: and they’re cheaper, too! Here’s our master method on how to cook chickpeas.

How to cook chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans (basic steps)

The hardest part about how to cook chickpeas is this: thinking ahead. You do have to soak the garbanzo beans overnight, and cooking them takes about 1 hour. But once you get into the rhythm of cooking beans from dried, you can memorize it and it will become second nature. Cook up a pot of beans in the evening or on a weeknight, then refrigerate or freeze for cooking that week. Here’s what to do:

• Soak the chickpeas overnight. Soaking beans helps them cook faster and more evenly. You can also get away without soaking, especially if the beans are fresh (see the section below on soaking).
• If desired, add flavorings! Add lots of flavor to your beans in no time by throwing adders into the pot like onion and garlic.
• Simmer in water for 25 minutes to 45 minutes (soaked) or up to 1 ½ hours, unsoaked. The timing will be different every time you make them, based on the age and brand of beans. Keep reading for more on that…

Taste test to get the right timing

How long to cook chickpeas? The cook time is variable, and depends on the age and brand of the beans. A fresher bean cooks better than an older bean. You’ll notice slight variations between brands and even within the same brand. Here are some notes on how to know when you’re beans are done:

• Taste test. Start taste testing at 25 minutes (if they’re soaked) or around 45 minutes for unsoaked. If the chickpea still has a little raw bite in it, keep on cooking. Do this every 10 to 15 minutes until the beans are tender. You’ll want them more tender if you’re making hummus, more chewy if you’re using them for salads.
• Add water if necessary. The water level in the pot might start to lower while you’re cooking. That’s ok! Just add a splash more to cover the beans if they’re not tender yet.

Can you skip soaking the chickpeas before cooking?

Actually…yes! You can cook chickpeas without soaking them. Then why soak them at all?

• Soaking helps them to cook more evenly AND faster. It really is worth it, in our opinion, to get the most evenly cooked pot of garbanzo beans. And they’ll cook faster!
• No time to soak? Cook them longer. You’ll need to cook them a bit longer (timing will vary). Or you can use our Instant Pot method, which doesn’t require soaking. Speaking of…

Got an Instant Pot? Use that instead.

Got a pressure cooker? It’s even easier to cook garbanzo beans in an Instant Pot! Go to Instant Pot Chickpeas. Here are the main advantages:

• You don’t have to soak the chickpeas. Just throw them in the pot with water.
• They take less than 1 hour! The Instant Pot speeds up the process.
• You don’t have to babysit the stove. There’s less checking and tasting with the pressure cooker method.

Add flavor with mix-ins!

Here’s the fun part: adding more flavor! You can simply cook chickpeas in water (which is what we normally do). But if you have some of these aromatic ingredients on hand, they add big flavor:

• Onion, peeled and quartered
• Garlic, peeled and smashed — as many cloves as you’d like
• Kombu – dried seaweed often used in Japanese recipes. It adds mega meaty flavor to vegetarian and vegan dishes! You can buy a package and store it in your freezer.
• Carrots or celery, roughly chopped

How to store cooked chickpeas

This recipe leaves you with 6 cups of chickpeas or four 15-ounce cans. That’s quite a lot of chickpeas! Because it makes a large quantity, it’s perfect for meal prepping. Here’s what we like to do:

• Store part of the chickpeas refrigerated. These will last in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
• Freeze anything you won’t eat in the short term! Drain the cooking liquid and place the chickpeas in sealed containers (we like to use mason jars). Place them in containers in 1 ½ cup increments, which equals 1 15-ounce can. Then you can freeze them for up to 8 months.

Chickpea recipes

Now that you know how to cook chickpeas, there are so many recipes to use them! Here are some of our favorite chickpea recipes:

• Easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich A fan favorite! A vegetarian chicken salad sandwich using chickpeas.
• Chickpea Soup with Rice This tasty soup is restorative and cozy, with a bright lemony broth.
• Best Chickpea Burgers A satisfying plant-based dinner! Top with vegan bacon and spicy mayo.
• Easy Chickpea Curry The ultimate healthy and easy weeknight dinner, done in 20 minutes.
• Pasta e Ceci (Italian Chickpea Soup) This iconic Italian pasta and chickpea soup is as easy as it is delicious.
• Simple Chickpea Salad A 5-minute fast lunch idea! The perfect healthy plant based desk lunch or quick fix dinner.
• Moroccan Stew with Chickpeas Cozy and flavorful, featuring a blend of Moroccan spices.

This chickpeas recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

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