As a vegetarian recipe developer, and someone who delights in the process of making recipes from scratch, I’m here to tell you that learning to cook dried chickpeas (which are sometimes called dried garbanzo beans) until creamy and tender is the back pocket recipe you need in your life!
Whether you want to prepare dried chickpeas stovetop, in a slow cooker, or using the oven, I share soaking methods, when to soak, and cooking times for each method. Ready? Gather your dried chickpeas! This recipe yields about 3 1/4 cups (equivalent to about two cans) of cooked chickpeas.
You will receive recipes and kitchen tips, along with information about our partners and offerings. For more details, review the Vanilla And Bean privacy policy.
A Back Pocket Recipe
Since we’re a vegetarian household, we eat a lot of beans. If you’ve made these Black Beans from Scratch or my Smoky Crock Pot Pinto Beans, you know how delicious cooking beans at home can be.
Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are a pantry staple that have a buttery-nutty flavor and creamy texture. They make their way into curries, soups, salads, and much more, so keeping this recipe in your back pocket means tender and creamy home cooked chickpeas are never out of reach.
Versatile and delicious, cooking dried garbanzo beans from scratch is economical and produces less waste when purchased in bulk. Whether you prefer a firmer or creamier texture, or even mushier chickpeas for hummus, cooking dry chickpeas at home allows you to achieve your desired consistency.
Three Ways to Cook Dried Chickpeas
In this dried chickpeas recipe, I’m sharing how long to cook chickpeas in a slow cooker, on the stovetop, and in the oven, when to soak, how to soak and recipes to use your home cooked chickpeas in.
If you’re simply looking for my favorite method of cooking chickpeas, jump to the recipe, look for the Slow Cooker Method, and grab your chickpeas and slow cooker!
This Recipe Is
- freezer friendly
- equivalent to about two, 15 ounce cans of chickpeas
- soak (overnight or quick soak) or no soak
If you make recipes with chickpeas, you’ll enjoy these creamy and tender home-cooked chickpeas.
About The Ingredients
- Dried Chickpeas – when choosing dried chickpeas, look for a uniform size, and creamy color without shriveled skin. Buy in bulk for best value, organic if you can.
- Fine Sea Salt – adjustable to taste, salt brings out the earthy mild flavor of chickpeas and seasons them throughout while cooking. If you prefer, you can salt after cooking, adjusting to taste as needed.
Optional Ingredients
- Bay Leaves – add richness and flavor similar to oregano or thyme.
- Fresh Garlic – a few plump cloves of garlic add earthy flavor, complexity and interest. Although fresh garlic is pungent, once cooked with the chickpeas, it becomes a rich background flavor.
Salt doesn’t toughen dry beans. Undercooking results in tough, dry beans. Salt actually tenderizes and seasons them throughout (note there are other variables that can lead to tough beans such as hard water, storage and/or age of beans).
________________________
How to Cook Dried Chickpeas
step by step
Do Chickpeas Need to Be Soaked Before Cooking?
It depends on the cooking method you use. I tested this recipe with and without soaking in the slow cooker, stovetop and oven, many times each. Here’s what I discovered:
- Soak Chickpeas when cooking on the stovetop or in the oven. Soaking chickpeas prior to cooking produces the creamiest, most evenly cooked, tender chickpeas when compared to unsoaked chickpeas. Unsoaked chickpeas weren’t as tender and I found some chickpeas cooked through while others had more of a tooth.
- No Need to Soak when cooking in the slow cooker (crock pot). If cooking in the slow cooker, you can skip soaking or if you prefer, go ahead and soak. The cook time is only reduced slightly if you do soak, and the results are similar. And, it’s so darn convenient to toss dried chickpeas in the slow cooker and let em’ do their thing while I do mine.
Two Ways to Soak Dry Chickpeas
There’s two ways to soak dry chickpeas. You can do an overnight soak in room temperature water for 8-12 hours, or quick soak in just boiled water for one hour.
________________________
Dried Chickpeas in the Slow Cooker
Preferred Method: Cooking chickpeas in the slow cooker either soaked or unsoaked is by far my favorite cooking method of the three. The slow cooker produces the most consistent results, and I can set it and forget it. The chickpeas are creamy, tender and there’s less splitting. Also, I don’t have to check on the chickpeas to potentially add additional cooking water.
In the slow cooker, timing will probably vary depending on the brand of slow cooker you have. Use these times as a guide. I use an older 6 quart round Corningware model that’s still going strong.
_______________________
Cooking Dried Chickpeas on the Stovetop
If I need a batch of chickpeas, but didn’t get em’ going in the slow cooker, cooking on the stovetop is my next go-to method. It’s quicker than cooking chickpeas in the slow cooker, or oven and results in tender deliciously creamy chickpeas. However, the chickpeas need to be soaked prior to cooking for best texture.
______________________
Cooking Dried Chickpeas in the Oven
Cooking in the oven is my least favorite method because not only does it tie up the oven for over an hour, but it heats up the kitchen. Not a problem during winter, but in summer, there are other ways. However, sometimes it’s nice to have a hands off approach if you’re juggling multiple tasks.
The chickpeas are done cooking when they’re tender, have a slight tooth, creamy interior yet are not mushy or falling apart. If you can easily squish a chickpea between two fingers, they’re done.
____________________
Enjoy Your Chickpeas In…
Use your home cooked chickpeas like you would prepared, canned chickpeas. Here are more ways to enjoy chickpeas:
Traci’s Tips
- Equivalents: This recipe yields about 3 3/4 cups (1.12 kilograms) in brine, or 3 1/4 cups (579 grams) drained. Or about 2, 15 ounce (425 grams) cans of chickpeas.
- Cooking Vessel: If not cooking dry chickpeas in a slow cooker, I recommend using a Dutch oven if possible. Dutch ovens have a tight fitting lid, to retain maximum moisture. I use my favorite 5.5 quart Dutch oven.
- Fresh Chickpeas: buy the freshest dry chickpeas you can get your hands on. Buying in bulk is economical, and stock is usually refreshed often.
3 Ways to Cook Dried Chickpeas Perfectly
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup (240 grams / 8.5 ounces) Dried Chickpeas
- 5-7 cups (1.2 kgrams – 1.7 kgrams) Water, room temperature. Amount will depend on method used to cook.
- 1/2 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt, or to taste*
- 2 Small Cloves of Garlic, optional
- 1 Bay Leaf, optional
Instructions
How to Soak Chickpeas:
- Pick through the chickpeas and discard any small stones or debris. Choose overnight or quick soak method to soak your chickpeas. (if using the slow cooker to cook, you can soak or not):Overnight Soak: soak your dry chickpeas in a large bowl covered in about two inches of water. This will give them room to expand (they'll double in size!) while staying covered in water. Soak for about 8 hours. Drain and rinse throughly before cooking in fresh water.Quick Soak: on the stovetop in a Dutch oven or soup pot, add the chickpeas and cover with about two inches of water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and lid. Allow the chickpeas to soak for an hour. Drain and rinse throughly before cooking in fresh water.
Slow Cooker Method:
- To a 6 quart slow cooker, add your drained and rinsed soaked or unsoaked chickpeas. Add 7 cups of water if unsoaked, 5 cups of water if soaked, salt, garlic and bay if using. Lid and set to low or high. unsoaked cook on high for 4 – 5 hours or low for 5 – 6 hourssoaked cook on high for 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 hours or low 4 – 5 hours
Stovetop Method:
- Soak the chickpeas using your preferred method, drain and rinse. Transfer the chickpeas, 5 cups of water, salt, bayleaf and garlic (if using) into a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven or heavy bottom soup pot. Bring to a boil, turn heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and simmer covered for 1 to 2 hours.As the chickpeas cook, you'll notice foam develop. You can skim it off or leave it. Skimming creates a less cloudy bean brine, but it doesn't affect the flavor.
Oven Method:
- Soak the chickpeas using your preferred method. When ready to cook, arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit (162 Celsius). Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Transfer the chickpeas to a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven or oven proof baker. Add 5 cups of water, salt, garlic and bay. Lid. Transfer to the oven and bake the chickpeas for 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours.
During Cooking:
- While the chickpeas are cooking, check on them periodically to make sure they have enough water. If the surface of the water falls below the beans, that's too far. Add more hot water as needed to keep the beans hydrated. If using a Dutch oven or a slow cooker, this isn't generally a problem.
The Chickpeas Are Done When..
- The chickpeas are done cooking when they’re tender, have a slight tooth, creamy interior yet are not mushy or falling apart. If you can easily squish a chickpea between two fingers, they're done.
How to Store:
- Refrigerator: remove the bay leaf and garlic and discard. Store cooked chickpeas in their cooking liquid for up to three days in the refrigerator.Freezer: remove the bay leaf and garlic and discard. Allow the beans to cool completely. Transfer beans and cooking liquid to pint or quart Mason jars leaving 1/2 inch head space at the top for expansion. Freeze for up to several months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then use as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Made it? Leave a comment below!
The most helpful comment may include recipe rating, feedback, any modifications or helping other commentors.
I found this very informative, but would really like your take on cooking them in a pressure cooker as well! Thanks for all you do!
Hi Roberta! Thank you for your note and suggestion. A pressure cooker isn’t an electric I have in my kitchen. Because of this, I’m unable to test recipes that utilize this method.
Great information using this method provides GREAT tasting chick peas.
Love hearing this, Tricia. Thank you for your note!
I followed the stovetop method and had a great result with 1 hour of simmering after 12 hours of soaking. As my first attempt at making garbanzos from dried, I might never look at buying canned because the taste and texture are much, much better than canned. Thank you, Traci!
Hi Sundeé! Thank you for your note and sharing your success! I love the texture of home cooked beans too. Hooray for first attempt!
Any advice on using the Instant pot to cook chickpeas.?
Hi Stephanie! Thank you for your note! The IP isn’t an electric I use or have in my kitchen, so I’m unable to advise.