Rich in fiber and other nutrients, and plenty delicious, chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans) are one of our favorite proteins. Chickpeas feature heavily in Middle Eastern Recipes. With just a little love, you can make the most of chickpeas. Creamy and rich when made just right, they are even better than the best bean recipes we could find. Braise them for a stew, purée them, or grind them into flour—then use them to make one of these recipes, our favorite ways to cook chickpeas.
The seasoned chickpea mixture for this falafel should have a coarse texture. This will ensure a crisp shell and a moist interior. Get the recipe for Falafel With Tahini »
Scallops might not be the heartiest, but when you combine them with a chickpea stew you’re guaranteed to stay cozy on cooler nights.
Chana masala is a simple chickpea stew with many variations, eaten by a multitude of people across India.
Potato and chickpeas are flavored with an earthy combination of mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves, and chiles in this classic Indian street snack. The savory mixture is topped with crunchy fried chickpea noodles and sometimes dressed in tamarind, mint, or cilantro-yogurt chutneys.
This recipe comes from test kitchen assistant Jake Cohen, inspired by a similar hummus he tried while working at Restaurant Daniel in New York City. Fresh chickpeas provide a vibrant green color and brightness that pair well with the Asian flavors in this dip.
Tacolicious owner Sara Deseran first discovered this smoky salad, from Neil Fraser of LA’s Redbird, while cooking at the annual Sabores San Miguel festival in Mexico. The trick to getting tender, flavorful octopus is boiling it first, then marinating and grilling it.
“In Argentina, I fell for the gauchos and their locro—a stew of squash, meat, and hominy. It was creamy and slightly sweet, and its garnishing sauce, made with paprika, provided a festive burst of spice and color” —Virginie Blachere, photographer
Cookbook author Madhur Jaffery describes these spidery-looking cabbage-and-peanut fritters as looking like little Medusa heads, “with the strands of shredded cabbage providing a crunchy, unruly halo.” A popular item in the mess halls of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, they can be served as part of a meal or as a crunchy snack.
For this Mumbai street-food snack from Raghavan Iyer, chunks of potato are dredged in a light chickpea-and-rice-flour batter that is spiced with turmeric and chile powder. The potatoes are then deep fried until a golden crust forms and served with cilantro and tamarind chutneys. The spiced batter can be also used for other vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli florets, sliced plantain, and eggplant.
There are countless varieties of this ubiquitous Indian snack mix, made with varying combinations of nuts, fruit, spices, and other ingredients. Cookbook author Smita Chandra’s version of the addictive nibble is the best we’ve had, with four kinds of nuts (cashew, peanut, almond, pistachio), plus sweet raisins, nutty coconut, and poha, dried flattened rice flakes.
A plate of fluffy couscous is lavished with meatballs, lamb chops, chicken skewers, merguez sausage, and a saffron-scented chickpea stew in this celebratory dish, a staple at Moroccan restaurants in Paris.
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The batter for this snack has to be of the right consistency—not too wet, not too dry—when you spread it out for rolling, so test a spoonful of it on a plate first.
Slow-cooked vegetable dishes like this one, a cumin-and paprika-spiced stew of beans and tomatoes, are a standby in many parts of the Middle East. Here, tomatoes and green beans release some of their flavor into the cooking liquid, creating a rich broth.
We took inspiration from falafel when developing these burgers—but unlike the dense, often dry deep-fried chickpea fritters, this sautéed patty is both light and rich in texture, with added depth from roasted garlic.
Any way you make it, there is nothing like falafel’s first bite: the crisp-fried exterior giving way to a creamy center of seasoned mashed beans, garlic, and parsley.
