It’s so easy — and economical — to make your own chickpeas in the crock pot!
It sure is easy to buy a can of beans when you need it. And trust me, I do that a lot. I’ve always got a pantry stocked with cans of beans. Black beans, cannellini beans, refried beans, pinto beans, we are a bean-loving family. Especially my kiddos.
But I do also like to cook my own sometimes. You get to control the sodium level and you can cook them to your desired consistency.
Usually, a bean is a bean is a bean in my book. But with chickpeas, when you use them mainly for 5-minute hummus and the occasional healthy cookie dough, it helps to have extra soft and tender and creamy chickpeas. The ones in the can tend to be hard. And we eat a lot of hummus around here. My kids are particularly found of beet hummus and I make about a dozen different varieties of other types of hummus for appetizers. So I always need lots of chickpeas around and I’m fond of the homemade kind because they are softer, resulting in a much creamier hummus, in my opinion.
An easy fix, achieved through making your own chickpeas in a crock pot or slow cooker.
It couldn’t be easier. Dump in your beans, some water and salt and set your crock pot or slow cooker. I even cook them overnight sometimes. Gotta love a kitchen appliance that’s hard at work while you’re asleep. You wake up and you have a big batch of chickpeas ready to go. Honestly, the hardest part is bagging them up once they’re cooled.
I love having a stockpile of chickpeas in my freezer ready to go when I need them. So every couple of months, I make a big batch of crock pot chickpeas.
All of your chickpea needs are covered. Rest easy now. And then go make some hummus!
Crock pot chick peas
It's so easy -- and economical -- to make your own chickpeas!
Ingredients
- 2 16-oz bags of dried chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
- 14 cups water
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- Rinse the chickpeas in cold water and pick over them to remove any broken or funny looking pieces.
- Dump chick peas in the crock pot.
- Add 14 cups of water.
- Sprinkle the two teaspoons of salt over the top.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until desired consistency. (I like them soft since I almost always puree them for hummus.)
- Drain, let cool and store in the fridge for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
This batch yields the equivalent of about 8 cans. I bag them up into individual portions, which is about 1.5-1.75 cups of chick peas per portion.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 124Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 369mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 6gSugar: 4gProtein: 7g
Sandi M says
I’m going to try this. It looks like a super easy way to make fresh garbanzos and the bonus will be the homemade sucanat (liquid) that gets drained off which is great for use in vegan baked goods. The idea of having fresh sucanat appeals to me much more than using the liquid left in the can. Thanks!
Kathryn says
Great point Sandi – this is a fabulous way to get the fresh liquid – I usually hear it referred to as aquafaba. I’m about to make another big batch of chick peas tonight (because we’ve run out) and think I’ll save some. What’s your favorite thing to use it in?!
Raven says
Happy Day Kathryn, thank you for this recipe. My issue whenever I make fresh garbanzo beans is all the skins falling off. I don’t mind it when making hummus. I’ve only made garbanzo beans in my crockpot 3 times. I’ve used canned beans for chick pea salad a few times. I don’t care for the skin when I’m using the beans in other dishes such as curry etc. I tried the baking soda method when I made them this week. It did make the beans extra soft (cooling on low for 6 hours then switching to high) I was able to rinse off a lot of the skins. However, once they were done in the crockpot I was back to square one. Picking thru a bunch of skins.
Kathryn says
Hi Raven! I hear ya and I feel like those skins are always gonna be an issue, however you cook the beans. I pick away the skins that are loose after cooking and don’t worry about the rest.
Raven says
Thank you Kathryn! Chat soon.
Be Well,
R
Nebojsa V says
Actually, if you soak the chickpeas in cold water over night ( make sure that the peas are well covered with water, they will soak up good portion of it) and then just cook it for like 15-20 minutes and you’re done. No need to waste gas or electricity cooking it all night.
Marcus says
If so soak them all night, how long do you cook them in the crockpot for? Thanks 🙂
Kathryn Doherty says
Hi, I haven’t tried soaking them before cooking them, so I can’t say for sure. However, I just poked around on Googled and it looks like it would be about 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Hope that helps!