The snack file / Sauce goes last
BBQ roasted chickpeas
The snack that survives the drive home. The trick is when you add the sauce, not what is in it.
The BetterDay KitchenUpdated 2 min read
Crunch is a timing problem
Roast naked. Dress late.
Roasted chickpeas are the snack people give up on, because the first batch comes out chewy and the second comes out burnt. Both problems have the same cause, and it is the barbecue sauce.
Barbecue sauce is mostly sugar. Put it on raw chickpeas and roast them for half an hour at 400F and the sugar scorches long before the chickpea inside has dried out enough to crunch. You get bitter on the outside and soft in the middle.
So we roast them naked with the dry spices first, until they rattle on the tray, then toss them in the sauce and put them back for a few minutes to set. Same ingredients, completely different snack.
The crunch protocol
One tray. Sauce at the buzzer.
The oven does the drying. Patience does the rest.
Prep
10 min
Cook
40 min
Total
50 min
Makes
About 3 cups, 4 to 6 snack servings
Ingredients
Method
Heat the oven to 400F (200C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Tip the drained chickpeas onto a clean tea towel and roll them around until they are properly dry. Discard any skins that come loose.
Toss the dry chickpeas with the olive oil, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne if using, salt and pepper.
Spread them in a single layer with space between them. Crowding steams them.
Roast for 30 to 35 minutes, shaking the tray twice, until they are golden and rattle when you shake the pan.
Take the tray out, drizzle over the barbecue sauce, and toss quickly to coat.
Return to the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, just long enough for the sauce to set and go tacky. Watch it, because this is the part that burns.
Cool on the tray for 10 minutes before eating. They get crunchier as they cool.
Dry them properly
This is the other half of the job. Water is the enemy of crunch. Drain, rinse, then roll the chickpeas around in a clean tea towel until they squeak. The loose skins that come off in the towel can go in the compost, and the ones that stay on will crisp up beautifully.
After the tray
Where they go
On top of a salad, in place of croutons, with actual protein attached
Through a grain bowl for texture
In a wrap, so the whole thing does not go soft
In a bowl on the counter, which is where ours end up
Keeps
Best the day they are made. Store loosely covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. An airtight container traps steam and softens them, so leave a gap.
Kitchen note
If your barbecue sauce is very thick, loosen it with a teaspoon of water before it goes on. Thick sauce lands in blobs and you end up with three very sweet chickpeas and a tray of plain ones.
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