Crispy Chickpea Tacos
Living in Southern California we eat tacos for dinner 7 times a week.
The rest of our meals are fresh kale juice with wheatgrass.
That is an exaggeration, but we do love our tacos!
And we also love our fresh juice.
I made these for dinner last night and Miles (the ribeye guy), really liked them. Maybe it was because he was eating pizza all weekend up in Santa Barbara for a bachelor party.
What makes these special are the crispy chickpeas that have just the right amount of seasoning (cumin, garlic, coriander, cayenne) and kick. They are transformed from a cold mushy bean that you might find in a salad bar to a flavorful, crunchy taco filling.
I chose to serve these in Trader Joe’s handmade tortillas (the best), with shredded cabbage, cilantro, a fresh lime crema and some Cholula. You could obviously add avocado and onion or whatever else you like to put in your tacos. Enjoy!
Crispy Chickpea Tacos
Ingredients:
- 1 can drained, rinsed and dries chickpeas
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp coriander
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- Salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
- tortillas, shredded cabbage, whatever else you like on your tacos…
Directions:
- Combine spices in a little bowl and set aside.
- In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat add 1Tbsp coconut oil and heat until a chickpea dropped in sizzles (about 1-2 mins depending on your stove).
- Add chickpeas and shake pan to coat chickpeas with oil.
- Sprinkle chickpeas with 1/2 of the spice mixture, and then cook without shaking pan for about 3 minutes so that chickpeas start to get golden brown on one side. If it seems like they are starting to burn then reduce the heat.
- Shake pan to turn chickpeas (they should be golden brown on one side) and add remaining spice mixture. Cook another 2-3 mins.
- Reduce heat to medium and give the chickpeas a final shake in the pan. By now chickpeas should be nice and golden brown and crispy.
- Serve chickpeas in your desired taco format while hot, and enjoy!
July 15, 2014 @ 1:26 pm
Mmm I love making roasted chickpeas! They are a great crunchy topping for soups and salads too.
July 15, 2014 @ 1:53 pm
You almost had me there! I was glad for line 3.
July 15, 2014 @ 2:11 pm
I’ve gotta try this. We are taco lovers here in the East too. Unfortunately we don’t get the same love or flavor but we do our best. This is a great option for me and my husband on meatless Monday. I’m gonna repost this on my blog.
July 15, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
Reblogged this on Not Just Tofu and commented:
Try this on your next Meatless Monday or Taco Tuesday. Give the soy a break! Thank you Sea Salt for the awesome recipe.
July 15, 2014 @ 4:35 pm
You’re welcome! Enjoy:)
July 18, 2014 @ 10:33 am
i usually like to eat crispy chickpeas by the handful as a snack, but putting them in tacos is a brilliant idea!
July 21, 2014 @ 11:04 am
Thanks! Even Miles approved of them, and that’s not an easy thing to do.
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[…] less of a canned-bean flavor. I love roasted chickpeas so much that I use them in my recipes for tacos and quinoa […]
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September 16, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
Hi Mary!
I love how your recipes look but to be honest, haven’t tried any of them till last night! I made these chickpeas, and used them as a warm topping for a green salad instead! They were really delicious, but I had some difficulty letting them roast in the pan *without* shaking, because chickpeas kept popping and sometimes exploding bits of chickpea insides all about! Also, I think because kept moving them about, I didn’t get *as* crunchy of an exterior as was intended. Is my heat too high? Is this normal? Should I just have let them keep popping? Do I need a bigger skillet? Please help! I’d love to make these again and have them closer to the real end-product!
September 16, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
Hi Terry!
You know, I’ve never had this issue with my chickpeas, although I have heard a similar story from another follower who tried this recipe. I really don’t know what would cause the chickpeas to “pop” except maybe that the heat was too high, like you thought. Did you used canned or dried chickpeas? I’ll do a little more research and see if I can find something out for you:) I hope your stove isn’t too much of a mess…
September 16, 2014 @ 3:17 pm
I’m also wondering if you used coconut oil or something else? I am puzzled!
September 16, 2014 @ 7:54 pm
The stove is still in good shape, and I used Canola oil (didn’t have coconut on hand) and canned-rinsed-and-drained chickpeas…maybe it was the oil? I did try turning the heat down, though I think that caused the not-as-crunchiness. I dunno, I’m still determined to try again though! I’ll have to put coconut oil on the shopping list. Thanks Mary! 🙂
September 17, 2014 @ 8:04 am
The only thing I can think of is that I always use coconut oil, and that can withstand some higher temps so maybe that has something to do with it? I did a bit of poking around on the web and I saw that a lot of people have this issue, but I couldn’t find anything about the cause of it. I’ll as my professor today if I get a second:)
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September 3, 2015 @ 3:57 pm
I tried this and it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I found the chickpeas to be very dry and I had a lot of loose seasoning burn in the bottom of my pan. This may be due to the fact that I use beans that I can myself, perhaps they aren’t as wet as the conventionally canned beans (?) I think it should be good but I might use about half the seasoning with maybe double the coconut oil next time.
September 3, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
Thanks for the feedback Melinda! I really can’t tell you what went wrong when you tried this recipe. It might be the home-canned beans, but I don’t have much experience with those so I really can’t tell you:) I make these all the time and I’ve never had any issues with the seasoning burning. Sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out as you had expected.