By preparing our own dried chickpeas from scratch with a variety aromatics, we get tender chickpeas along with a complex soup stock. Not only do we save money by preparing these ourselves, but we also control how much salt we put into the stock itself. We love to cook up a big batch of chickpeas at the beginning of the week, so that we have them on hand for weeknight meal preparation.
How To Make Them
While canned chickpeas are certainly convenient, they’re typically high in sodium and their flavor lacks depth. When properly prepared, dried chickpeas bring a complex, earthy flavor. Unlike those mushy canned beans, they take on an ideal texture.
By doing this ourselves, we also produce a heap of chickpeas for meal planning. So, let’s get started.
Initial Boil
We begin by adding our soaked, dried chickpeas along with water into a large stock pot over high heat. Then, we boil our beans partially covered for about 10 minutes. Before adding our aromatics, we reduce our heat to medium and remove any foam accumulated on the surface using our slotted spoon.
Add Aromatics
Next, we add our aromatics. Into the pot, we add our celery, onion, garlic, kombu, and olive oil. We continue to cook this mixture, partially covered, over medium heat for another 45 minutes. A this point, we season our bean broth with salt and continue to cook the chickpeas for another half hour or until tender.
Ready For Use
And, just like that, we’re done. We remove all of our spent aromatics before straining our chickpeas into a large bowl. We like to reserve our delicious, complex chickpea soup stock for later use.
Looking for ways to use those chickpeas? Check out these recipes:
- Chickpea Baguette
- Curried Chickpea Salad Lettuce Cups
- Lebanese Chickpea Stew
- Spicy Bulgur Soup With Chickpeas
- Cucumber Chickpea Tartine
Recipe Card for Cook Dried Chickpeas
Here’s the recipe card for Cook Dried Chickpeas. Print, share or save!
Cook Dried Chickpeas
Equipment
- Large stock pot
- Colander
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried chickpeas soaked overnight
- 10 cups water
- 2 stalks celery cut in half
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 pieces kombu optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Pour soaked chickpeas and water into a large stock pot. Boil over high heat, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and remove any foam with a slotted spoon.
- Add celery, onion, garlic, kombu, and olive oil. Continue cooking over medium heat with the pot partially covered for another 45 minutes.
- Add salt, and continue simmering over medium heat with the pot partially covered until tender. In my kitchen, this typically takes an additional 30 minutes.
- Remove aromatics, drain the chickpeas into a large bowl and reserve the broth for later use.
- You’re done! Enjoy your perfect chickpeas and this delicious soup stock!
