Easy Oil-free Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas are easy and ready in 10 minutes. They are smoky, spicy, salty and slightly sweet and make the perfect topping over sweet potatoes or avocado toast!
These easy Oil-free Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas I’ve made so many times over the past several months and have shared them many times on Instagram. People have asked repeatedly for the recipe and I’m finally sharing it. The recipe is so ridiculously easy and simple and takes only 10 minutes to make!
I created these because I love to top my potatoes with something hearty and since I eat sweet potatoes usually a few times a week, I wanted some hearty and delicious chickpeas that took just minutes to prepare. And I wanted them to have lots of flavor. Any time you top a sweet potato, you need those pops of flavor to stand out. But one of my favorite ways is over this Pimento Cream Sauce.
This smoky chipotle spice mix has it all.
- Smoky
- Salty
- Spicy
- Slightly sweet
To make these chickpeas, it couldn’t be simpler. I mean, so simple.
After making your spice mix, you’ll rinse your chickpeas well and add them to a large pan with water and salt.
Cook for about 5 minutes until slightly tender and all the water is gone and you begin to hear a dry popping sound.
Stir the chickpeas around constantly just to slightly brown them. Remove and add them to a bowl.
Add the spice mixture and toss to coat them well. The warmth of the chickpeas with intensify the spicy flavors and dissolve the sugar a bit.
My favorite way to eat these is over sweet potatoes, as that was my original reason for creating them. I top them with my favorite Lemon Pepper Cream Sauce, as it’s a wonderful compliment and contrast to the spicy chickpeas. These chickpeas are also really delicious topped on avocado toast! You could also add them into tacos with lettuce, tomato and your favorite sauce.
If you love chickpeas, be sure to try these other recipes:
- Vegan Caesar Smashed Chickpea Sandwich
- Vegan Chickpea Tomato Ragu Sauce
- Easy Vegan Quick Curry
- Sweet Potato, Chickpea and Spinach Coconut Curry
Oil-Free Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 2 15 oz cans low-sodium chickpeas drained and rinsed well (OR 3 cups cooked, 510g)
Smoky Chipotle Spice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
Instructions
- Whatever way you plan to serve these, like over a potato (yum!) then have your potato made first, as these come together super fast and are best eaten right away while warm.
- Make your spice mixture. Add all of the spices listed under "Smoky Chipotle Spice" to a small bowl and whisk well. Set aside.
- Add the drained/rinsed chickpeas to a large pan with 3 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Turn the heat to high and once it begins to sizzle, cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often until the chickpeas are slightly tender and you begin to hear a dry popping sound. This means all the water is gone.
- Once the water is gone and it's popping, stir constantly for 2-3 minutes so that the chickpeas begin to lightly brown.
- Remove from the heat and add the chickpeas to a bowl. You do NOT want to add the spices to the pan because they will not stick well to the chickpeas that way and will just clump so you must transfer them to a bowl first.
- Add the spice mixture and toss to coat the chickpeas well. The warmth of the chickpeas with intensify the spicy flavors and dissolve the sugar a bit. They should taste smoky, spicy, salty and slightly sweet.
- My favorite way to eat these is over sweet potatoes, as that was my original reason for creating them. They are also really delicious topped on avocado toast! You could also add them into tacos with lettuce, tomato and your favorite sauce. I personally love to serve these with my Lemon Cream Sauce chickpeas over a sweet potato. The whole combo is so delicious!
I tasted them first before putting on a sweet potato and they almost didn’t make it on; they were so good I didn’t want to stop eating them! A fast, easy recipe I can make with ingredients I have on hand. And soooooo delicious!!!
So happy to hear this!!
Hi Brandi
I like the sound if this recipe, don’t use salt atm.
Do you think I could substitute the sea salt with an alternative? Maybe sumac, what’s your thoughts?
Salt brings out the other spice flavors so I don’t know how sumac will compare, since I’ve never tried it! Without salt it may taste quite bland but you can certainly give it a try!
Holy smokes! Even without the chipotle chili powder (which I could not find at 3 groceries locally), these chickpeas are amazing! We had them over pasta with your pimento cream sauce, but they are perfect even by themselves. All 5 kids loved them . . .perfect combination of smoky, spicy, and sweet. Thank you for crafting such a great recipe, Brandi!
So happy it was such a hit!
Oh WOW! Just made this (again) into a Smokey Smashed Chickpea Salad!! The FLAVORS were SEW good. Thank you, Brandi, for creating the Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas recipe!
Just made this tonight for dinner. Served over a sweet potato.
Absolutely delicious! Will definitely be on the rotation.
That is awesome to hear, thank you for leaving a review!
I made this recipe yesterday for my husband. I don’t do Nightshades. I was planning on making myself some, with different spices. I can see why you’d love them on sweet potatoes.
Hubby was looking for more of a snack, so I roasted them in the air fryer and he was happy!
Thanks for all the great recipes. We’re enjoying everything I’ve tried.
Would you substitute coconut sugar with plain white sugar? Or maple syrup?
Love any and everything chickpea!!
Hi you can use regular!
regular sugar is fine!
Oh my goodness these are so yummy! I made them as a side dish, meat eating hubby had them with his dinner & loved them! I only added 1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder cause I’m so wimpy haha, but it was delicious! Thank you!
I’m so happy you loved these Tania, thank you for making them!
OMG this looks delicious! I love all things chipotle, My daughter was just diagnosed with food allergies and chickpeas is one of those allergies! I am so bummed,..,but I will definitely make this for myself! 😉 I like the idea someone had to use the seasoning on veggies ~ yay!
Thank you Julie! Yes, this seasoning is so good on so many things! I love it on potato wedges too!
I want to make this but I can’t do spicy. What’s not spicy to most is spicy to me. What would you recommend for seasoning/flavor?
I guess I would just leave out the chipotle spice. It’s meant to be spicy since it’s a chipotle recipe, so just leave it out and it will be much less spicy.
Hey Brandi! I can’t seem to find your lemon pepper cream sauce recipe? When I click the link, it brings me to the zucchini fritters, but I don’t see sauce recipe? I put it in your search box too. Can you help? Please and thank you:)
Tammy
Hi Tammy! It’s actually listed on that same recipe, if you look just beneath the fritter recipe it says “Creamy Lemon Pepper Sauce” and the ingredients there 🙂
That was so good!!!!! And so easy! Thanks for another amazing recipe!!!
Woohoo, so glad Lisa, thank you so much for making them!
Made these chickpeas last night and I loved them! I made up some more of the spice mix and used it on my popcorn tonight as well. Great stuff!
So awesome to hear that Lauren, thank you so much for sharing! On popcorn sounds like an amazing idea!
As with all of Brandi’s recipes these were amazing!
These are perfect to add to anything! Love them! I added them to a russet potato I baked in the oven and topped with salsa. Garbanzo beans are my favorite bean because they’re so versatile. I’m glad to find such am awesome recipe utilizing garbanzo beans. ❤️
Yay, so glad you loved them Jessica!!
This was the first recipe I tried from your website and it was a huge success. Easy and quick to make. My mom and husband both loved it. Thank you!
Yay! So glad to hear that Paula!!
Hi. I was wondering if there is a substitute for the chipotle powder? I can’t wait to try this hopefully today.
Hmm, the chipotle is the main flavor that gives it the spiciness but I guess you could try ancho chili powder, not sure. The chipotle chile pepper powder can be found at any grocery store though. There isn’t really a comparable spice except ancho chili powder. It has a similar smokiness but is not nearly as spicy.
My husband and I love all the recipes from the Vegan8 book. Just made the Smokey chipotle chickpeas, had them over butter nut squash with coconut butter, this book is the reason we have gone mostly vegan/vegetarian.
Thank you,
Thank you so much Chris! What a wonderful wonderful compliment!
These were absolutely INCREDIBLE! I made a double batch but it won’t last long! Next time I’m going to triple it. I had it for lunch over a roasted sweet potato with a cashew/cannellini cream drizzle on top. Perfect! My husband and I eat an exorbitant amount of sweet potatoes, and chickpeas + sweet potatoes + 365 Brand Tahini is my favorite meal combo. But now I’ll be eating these chickpeas on my sweet potatoes instead of plain chickpeas! You are the flavor QUEEN! Every recipe of yours that I’ve made has been just outstanding!
Aww, Eden, you are really making my day here with this awesome comment!! You are too sweet and I’m just tickled you loved these so much! I’ve been eating them, obsessively, for months, haha. You sound just like me: chickpeas, sweet potatoes, repeat. Over and over, haha! Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
PS I should have mentioned that ever since I bought your cookbook, my husband has been raving over your recipes as well! The other day as we were eating dinner he said “this is SOOO good, let me guess, another Vegan 8 recipe?” We are huge fans at our house! Our 20-year old daughter loves your recipes too, she can’t get enough! Thank you for continuing to share delicious and simple recipes! I can confidently recommend your website and cookbook to anyone and everyone, because I know each recipe will be a winner! I can only say that with ONE other food blogger/cookbook author! Major kudos to you!!
O my goodness! So yummy! And I burned my mouth because I couldn’t wait to taste them!😄 I’ll be making more of the spice mixture because I know I’ll need a little bit of it on just about everything!
SO happy to hear that Julee, thank you so much for the review! So glad you enjoyed them and the spice mix. Would you mind clicking the star rating too, it helps me out, thank you!
Anything smoky. Anything chickpea. Dang girl, these look amazing!
Thanks girl!
These sound really good. I can see where they would be good over sweet potatoes–I must say you are probably the number one sweet potato lover I have ever “met!” There was a series of books called The Sweet Potato Queens—you can be an honorary one, of the whole food plant based variety (I didn’t read the books, but somehow I don’t think they were eating WFPB).!
Haha, yes, I love sweet potatoes SO much! I love how much variety they have from savory to using them in baking and they go well with so many flavors…Mexican, Curry, it doesn’t matter. And the fact that they are so darn healthy is just the icing on the cake!
This seasoning is fantastic. I 5x the recipe and will be keeping it in a large jar to use on lots of different things. I love all the spice mixes you’ve created. They’ve all been fantastic. Thanks Brandi.
Yay!! So glad you loved it! I agree, it will be so yummy on so many things!
These are delicious!! I will use this recipe all the time. Thanks!
Yay Lori!! So glad you enjoyed them, thank you for making them so quickly!
These look delicious. Could you bake these to make crunchy chickpea snacks?
Hi Deb, I am sure they would be, but I don’t have a method for that since I created these to be a quick 10 minute recipe and I wanted them tender, not crunchy. I know there are lots of baked chickpea recipes online that you could always add the spice mix too, I am sure.