Can chickpeas be reheated? - The best way

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a brilliantly versatile food. Eat them hot, cold, pureed, fried and just about any other way you can think of to use them and they will taste delicious.

Cooking them from dried beans can take a bit of time, but if you’re not a naturally patient person, you always have the option of batch cooking them ahead of time or just buying canned chickpeas.

In any case, once cooked, can the chickpeas be reheated?  Yes, you can reheat chickpeas. They don’t need to be fully refired, so reheating them is a quick and relatively easy process. If you want the chickpeas plain, you can reheat them in the microwave, on the stove, or in a slow or instant cooker.

In this article, we’ve outlined a few different ways to reheat cooked chickpeas, as well as some delicious ways to use them cold.

Simple steps to reheat cooked chickpeas

Once the chickpeas are cooked, they reheat in just a few minutes, and there are many different ways to accomplish this task. They are quite substantial, so it takes a lot to overcook them to the point of mush. This makes them absolutely ideal for a cook who doesn’t have a lot of experience or confidence in the kitchen.

To reheat the chickpeas, simply soak them in a little fresh water and bring it to a boil.

As we have already said, there is no need to cook them again, so once the water is boiling, the beans will be hot enough to serve. In the microwave, this can be achieved in 1-2 minutes, although in the kitchen it can take 5-6 minutes.

With a slow cooker, Instant Pot, or rice cooker , you’ll need to experiment depending on what you want to use with the chickpeas.

You can also bake the cooked chickpeas as a stew.  They heat up well in about 10 minutes in a 350 oven. If you heat them in the oven you don’t need to use 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 you’re preparing, and heat them up according to the recipe for the night.

Add the cooked chickpeas to another plate.

One last way to use cooked chickpeas is to add them to a completely new dish you’ve made, reheating them however you cook the new food.

Here are some tasty examples for you to try:

• Add them to pasta dishes for protein and texture
• Put it in soups and stews to “reinforce” the broth
• Place them under a slow-roasted meat, such as chicken or roast, to cook in the juices and serve as an easy, complementary side dish
• Create a burger and fry it like a falafel or a hamburger
• Sauté them with bagels, tomatoes, and your favorite veggies and top with fried eggs for a hearty breakfast.

Make Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas have become one of my all-time favorite snacks. They are easy, delicious and also healthy. They certainly have more nutritional value than a bag of chips and give me just as satisfying crunchy experience.

Roasting chickpeas is very easy.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spread the cooked chickpeas out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Let them dry in the oven without further ado for 20-30 minutes.

If you like a bit of texture in the center, don’t cook them as long. If you like them crisp all the way, leave them for the full half hour.

Take them out of the oven and spray them with cooking spray. I usually bask, mix the chickpeas together and bask them one more time to make sure they are well coated.

Now you can sprinkle any seasoning you like. Garlic and pepper are my favourites, but you may also like herbs or even sweet mixes with cinnamon or ginger.

Once they’re seasoned to your liking, pop them back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before trying to eat them, because they will burn your mouth.

Can canned chickpeas be reheated?

Canned chickpeas are pre-cooked and ready to serve if you want to use them cold. All you have to do is rinse them, though you’ll want to keep the liquid, or aquafaba, for creative uses in vegan-friendly baking.

If you want to enjoy your chickpeas hot, just follow any of the options listed above for cooked chickpeas from their dried bean form.

Alternative Ways to Use Cooked Chickpeas

Chickpeas are delicious hot, but they are also great cold. Here are some of my favorite ways to use cold, cooked chickpeas:

• As a filling in a wrap, preferably with a bit of hot buffalo sauce
• In cold chickpea salad with raw and colorful vegetables
• Converted into bean purée or hummus

The best ways to preserve chickpeas

If you have a can of chickpeas, you can store it almost indefinitely in a cool, dry pantry or cupboard, away from direct sunlight and any heat sources. There will likely be a best before date on the can and it’s a good idea to stick to that recommendation.

Although canned beans last forever, storing them in an aluminum can has its limits.

If you’ve purchased dried chickpeas, you can store them almost indefinitely in an airtight container, again, in a cool, dry place. It is very important that they are not exposed to any type of humidity, since this could allow the appearance of mold or favor the visit of insects.

If you have cooked dried chickpeas, you can store them in the fridge for 3-5 days, but make sure they are in an airtight container. It doesn’t hurt to store them in the liquid in which they were cooked, as this will keep them juicy and prevent 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 practical way to store them without compromising their nutritional value or their texture and flavor.

Cooking chickpeas from dried beans takes a long time, so making a big batch to save leftovers is a very smart meal planning technique.

Once the chickpeas are cooked, let them cool completely . If you want to speed up this process, you can rinse them under cold water until they are completely cold.

Drain the chickpeas well and put them on a kitchen towel. You want to pat them dry before freezing , removing as much moisture as possible to maintain the texture and prevent them from being too soft when you thaw them.

Spread the chickpeas out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Make sure they are as spread out as possible and not touching each other.

First you need to freeze them like this so that each bean freezes on its own.  This will take you between 45 minutes and an hour.

Once frozen well, you can transfer them from the baking sheet to a freezer-safe Ziploc bag or Tupperware container.

Since they were first frozen individually, you don’t have to worry about them clumping together, but it’s still a good idea to separate the chickpeas into portions. This will protect the beans from the temperature fluctuations of moving them in and out of the freezer too often. 

To defrost the chickpeas, simply put them in a bowl and leave them on the counter until they are back to room temperature.

Frozen cooked chickpeas will stay fresh in your freezer for 6 to 9 months. Once thawed, treat them as if they were freshly cooked. Refrigerate them if you are not going to use them immediately, but do not wait more than 3 or 4 days before consuming them.

Related questions

Do chickpeas contain protein?

Chickpeas are a rich source of plant-based protein, with 3 grams of protein per 1-ounce serving.

They are not quite a complete protein, which means that they are missing 1 of the 9 essential amino acids: methionine. If you eat the chickpeas together with some spinach or seeds such as hemp, sesame or sunflower, you will be completing the protein.

Hummus is a delicious combination of chickpea puree and toasted sesame seed paste, so it could be an optimal source of plant-based protein.

Are Chickpeas Good For You?

YEAH! Chickpeas and almost all beans or legumes are incredibly good for you. In fact, everywhere in the world where the healthiest centenarians are found, kidney beans are a staple of their diet.

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 drawn to the Standard American Diet, it is also very high in fiber, of which 95% or more of Americans are deficient.

Fiber aids digestion, improves insulin sensitivity, balances cholesterol levels, and reduces chronic inflammation. Chickpeas are very good for you.

How are dried chickpeas cooked?

Before moving on to the cooking part, you have to soak the dried chickpeas .  It is best to rinse them several times and then leave them to soak overnight or at least 6-8 hours.

Empty the water in which the chickpeas were soaking and add fresh water to a large pot with the soaked beans. You want to completely cover the chickpeas and have an extra 2-2 inches of water on top, as they will expand quite a bit.

Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer. Leave them for about 2 hours to make them soft, or 30 more minutes if you prefer them slightly al dente.