Can You Reheat Chickpeas? – The Best Way
Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a brilliantly versatile food. Eat them hot, cold, mushed up, fried and just about any other way you can think of to use them and they’re going to taste delicious.
They can be a bit of a time-suck to cook from dried beans, but if you’re not a naturally patient person, you always have the option of either batch cooking them ahead of time or simply buying canned chickpeas.
In either case, once their cooked, can chickpeas be reheated? Yes, you can reheat chickpeas. They won’t need to be completely re-cooked, so warming them up is a quick and relatively easy process. If you want the chickpeas on their own, you can reheat them in the microwave, on the stovetop, or in a slow cooker or instant pot.
In this article, we’ve outlined a few different ways you can reheat cooked chickpeas as well as some delicious ways to use them cold.
Simple Steps To Reheating Cooked Chickpeas
Once chickpeas are cooked, they’ll reheat within just a few minutes and there are many different ways you can accomplish this task. They’re quite hearty so it takes a lot to overcook them to the point that they’ll turn into mush. This makes them absolutely ideal for a cook who doesn’t have a lot of experience or confidence in the kitchen.
To reheat chickpeas, simply soak the chickpeas in some fresh water and bring it to a boil.
As mentioned, they don’t need to be re-cooked, so once the water is boiling the beans will be warm enough to serve. In the microwave, this can be accomplished within 1 – 2 minutes, though on the stovetop it may take 5 or 6 minutes.
With a crockpot, instant pot or rice cooker, you’ll have to experiment depending on what it is you want to use the chickpeas for.
You can also bake cooked chickpeas like a casserole. They’ll warm up nicely in about 10 minutes in an oven set to 350. If you’re warming them in the oven you don’t need to use any water, but they will be drier versions of the bean.
Of course, in any of the above examples, you can also add the chickpeas to another dish that you’re making, and warm them up according to the recipe of the night.
Add Cooked Chickpeas to Another Dish
One final way to use reheat your cooked chickpeas is to add them to a completely new dish that you’ve prepared, warming them up however you happen to be cooking the new meal.
Here are some tasty examples for you to try out:
- Add to pasta dishes for protein and texture
- Toss into soups and stews to “beef” up your broth
- Layer underneath a slow broiled meat, like a chicken or a roast, so that they simmer in the juices and serve as a simple, complementary side dish
- Create a patty and fry up as falafel or a burger
- Saute with hashbrowns, tomatoes, and your favorite greens and top with fried eggs for hearty breakfast
Make Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas
Crunchy roasted chickpeas have become one of my all-time favorite snacks. They’re easy, delicious and, healthy. They certainly have more nutritional value than a bag of potato chips and they give me just as satisfying of a crunchy experience.
Roasting chickpeas is very easy. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spread out your cooked chickpeas onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Let them dry out in the oven plain for 20 – 30 minutes.
If you like a bit of texture in the center, don’t cook them quite as long. If you like a crunch that goes all the way through, leave them in for the full half-hour.
Take them out of the oven and spray with a cooking oil spray. I usually spray, mix up the chickpeas and then spray them once more just to be sure they’re well coated.
Now you can sprinkle on any seasoning that you like. Garlic pepper is my go-to, but you may also enjoy herbs or even sweet mixtures with cinnamon or ginger.
Once they’re seasoned to your liking, put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes.
Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before you try to eat them because they will burn your mouth.
Can Canned Chickpeas Be Reheated?
Canned chickpeas are precooked and ready to be served if you want to use them cold. All you need to do is rinse them, though you’ll want to hold on to the liquid, or aquafaba, for creative use in vegan-friendly baking.
If you want to enjoy your chickpeas warm, simply follow any of the options previously listed for chickpeas that were cooked from their dried bean form.
Alternative Ways to Use Cooked Chickpeas
Chickpeas are delicious warm, but they’re also great cold. Here are some of my favorite ways to use cooked and cooled chickpeas:
- As the filling in a wrap, preferably with some buffalo hot sauce
- Cold chickpea salad with crunchy, raw and colorful veggies
- Pureed into bean dip or hummus
Best Ways to Store Chickpeas
If you have a can of chickpeas, you can store it nearly indefinitely in a cool, dry pantry or cupboard out of direct sunlight and away from any heat sources. There will probably be a best before date on the can and it’s a good idea to adhere to that recommendation.
Even though canned beans will last forever, being stored in an aluminum can have its limits.
If you have purchased dried chickpeas, you can store those nearly indefinitely in an airtight container, again, in a cool, dry location. It’s very important that they aren’t exposed to any moisture, as that could allow mold to grow or encourage bugs to visit.
If you have cooked dried chickpeas, you can store them in your fridge for 3-5 days, but make sure they are in an airtight container. It doesn’t hurt to store them in the liquid they were cooked in, as this will keep them nice and juicy and protect them from drying out. You can also freeze chickpeas, which we’ll talk about next.
Can Chickpeas be Frozen – and How
Freezing cooked chickpeas is a very handy way to store them without compromising nutritional value or the texture and taste.
Cooking chickpeas from the dried beans does take a significant amount of time, so making a huge batch in order to store the leftovers is a very smart meal planning technique.
Once your chickpeas are cooked, let them cool completely. If you want to speed up this process, you can rinse them under cold water until they’re completely cooled.
Drain the chickpeas well and pour them onto a kitchen towel. You want to pat them dry before freezing, removing as much moisture as possible to maintain the texture and stop them from being too mushy when you defrost them.
Spread your chickpeas out over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure they’re spread out as much as possible and not touching each other.
You want to freeze them like this first so that each individual bean is frozen on its’ own. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour.
Once they’re thoroughly frozen, you can transfer them from the baking sheet to a free freezer-safe Ziploc bag or Tupperware container.
Since they were frozen individually first, you don’t have to worry about them clumping together, but it’s still a good idea to separate the chickpeas into portion sizes. This will protect the beans from the temperature fluctuation of being taken in and out of your freezer too often.
To thaw your chickpeas, simply put them in a bowl and leave them on your counter until they return to room temperature.
Frozen cooked chickpeas will stay fresh in your freezer for 6 – 9 months. Once they’re thawed, treat them as if they were freshly cooked. Refrigerate if they’re not being used immediately, but don’t wait any longer than 3 – 4 days before eating them up.
Related Questions
Do chickpeas contain protein?
Chickpeas are a rich source of plant-based protein to the tune of 3 grams of protein for each 1 ounce (28 gram) serving.
They are not quite a complete protein, meaning that they are missing 1 out of 9 essential amino acids: methionine. If you eat your chickpeas along with some spinach or seeds such as hemp, sesame or sunflower, you’ll be completing the protein.
Hummus is a delightful combination of mashed chickpeas and toasted sesame seed paste, so that might be an optimal plant-based protein source.
Are chickpeas good for you?
YES! Chickpeas and almost all beans or legumes are incredibly good for you. In fact, in all the places of the world where you find the most healthy 100 years olds, beans are a staple of their diets.
They are packed with vitamins and minerals and are an excellent source of plant-based protein.
Perhaps most importantly for those of us who have been lured into the Standard American Diet, they are also very high in fiber, which 95% or more of Americans are deficit in.
Fiber helps with digestion, improves insulin sensitivity, balances cholesterol levels and lowers chronic inflammation. Chickpeas are very good for you.
How do you cook dried chickpeas?
Before you get to the cooking part, you first need to soak dried chickpeas. The best practice is to rinse them multiple times then soak overnight or at least for 6 – 8 hours.
Pour out the water the chickpeas were soaking in and add fresh water to a large pot with your soaked beans. You want to completely cover your chickpeas and have an extra 2 – 3 inches of water on top, as they’ll expand quite a lot.
Bring your water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a very soft simmer. Leave them for approximately 2 hours for nice soft beans, or 30 minutes left if you prefer them slightly al dente.
