Chickpea Recipes – The Flexible Chef’s Complete Collection
I went out shopping for dried mushrooms and came home with several jars of organic chickpeas instead. That is how a lot of the cooking at Casa Adora starts – not with a plan, but with whatever ends up in the cupboard.
In Spain they are garbanzos, and they turn up in stews, soups and salads all over the country. Dried chickpeas are cheap, but the soaking and cooking is a faff, so jarred organic ones are my go-to now. These chickpea recipes are what came out of that cupboard.
Chickpeas do a lot of work. They thicken a stew, carry the spices in a curry, mash into a side that stands in for potatoes, and grind into flour for flatbread. In some of these dishes they are the whole point; in others they sit quietly in the pan next to the meat. Most are cooked at Casa Adora or in Florie the van.
Chickpea Recipes – What You'll Find Here
Houmous and pâté for one, stews and one-pot suppers, a curry and a khichdi, chicken and lamb dishes, salads and sides, and falafel, flatbread and bread made with chickpeas or chickpea flour. Most are simple chickpea recipes for one or two, and many are easy chickpea recipes you can cook in a single pan. Many are vegetarian, and several are vegan – each is labelled: [V] for vegetarian, [Ve] for vegan.
Jump to: Hummus & Pâté · Stews · Curries & rice · Chicken · Lamb · Salads & sides · Falafel & flatbread
Hummus & Pâté
[Ve] Homemade Hummus Recipe (Houmous for One) Jarred organic chickpeas, tahini, lemon and a little garlic, whipped smooth in five minutes with no cooking. Makes two ramekins: one for today, one for tomorrow's lunch.
[V] Chickpea Pâté for One (Two Ramekins) Garlic softened in ghee, chickpeas warmed in their own liquor with smoked paprika and cumin, then mashed coarse with a fork and finished with lemon and basil. Swap the ghee for olive oil and it is vegan.
Chickpea Stews & One-Pot Suppers
[Ve] Campervan Mushroom and Chickpea Stew Mushrooms dry-fried until they brown, then simmered with leek, onion, carrot and chickpeas in the juice from a tin of tomatoes, finished with lemon and parsley. Made from larder odds and ends at a free área de autocaravanas in Córdoba province.
Garbanzos a la Riojana – A Traditional Spanish Stew Chickpeas with chorizo, pancetta or ham, peppers, tomato, paprika and saffron, simmered for about thirty minutes in one pan. Cooked in the campervan on a rainy afternoon at a free pitch in Llanes.
Shin of Veal Stew with Chickpeas and Gremolata Veal shin braised slowly with chickpeas, tomatoes, wine and stock, lifted with a parsley, lemon and garlic gremolata. Cooked from the freezer between Christmas and New Year – and it is not osso buco.
Sausage and Chickpea Simmer – A One-Pot Winter Warmer Sausage and bacon lardons braised with onion, carrot, pepper and tomato in stock, red wine, Dijon and Worcestershire sauce, with the chickpeas going in near the end. The paprika sausages from Andalucía work well.
Chickpea Curries & Rice
[V] Chana Masala – A Chickpea Curry Worth Making Again A weeknight chana masala for one: chickpeas simmered in a restaurant-style base gravy with cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala and chilli, finished with amchur or lemon for tang.
[V] Chickpea Khichdi with Fresh Red Chillies and Ginger Basmati rice and chickpeas cooked together with cumin seeds, onion, red chilli and ginger, with the chickpeas added part-way through so they stay creamy. Use olive oil instead of ghee to make it vegan.
[Ve] One-Pan Chickpea Rice Bowl – Cooked in the Campervan Rice simmered with chickpeas, onion, garlic, peppers, cherry and sun-dried tomatoes and smoked paprika, with lemon juice and hummus stirred in at the end. Cooked late one night on the gas ring at Magacela. Use vegetable stock to keep it vegan.
Chicken and Chickpea Recipes
Whole Roast Chicken with Chickpeas and Vegetables A whole free-range chicken roasted in one tray with chickpeas, red onion, courgette, carrot, peppers and lemon, all coated in a toasted coriander, cumin and paprika paste. A comforting early-October supper that needs no side dishes.
Dry Brined Roast Chicken: A Bog Standard Bird, Done Properly A plain 1.6kg shop chicken, dry brined and roasted over a vegetable bed in a frying pan, then served on a quick stew of white beans, chickpeas and pepino made with the pan juices.
Chicken Albóndigas with Carrot, Apple & Chickpea in Tomato Broth Tender chicken meatballs with mashed chickpeas, carrot and apple, simmered in a smooth, sieved tomato broth. Adapted from José Pizarro's parsnip version, with carrots because parsnips are hard to find in rural Andalucía.
Lamb with Chickpeas
Slow Roast Lamb with Chickpea Mash A leg of lamb rubbed with cumin, paprika, turmeric, garlic and herbs, slow-roasted for about three hours with white wine and stock, and served on a smooth chickpea mash with softened onion, garlic and hot paprika.
Chickpea Salads & Sides
[V] A Chickpea Salad in the Sun – Easy, Fresh, Meat-Free A no-cook salad of chickpeas, feta, red pepper, cucumber, red onion, spring garlic and parsley with a lemon and Dijon dressing. Made in the campervan in Béjar to the sound of birdsong.
[V] Roasted Cauliflower Orzo with Chickpeas and Feta Cauliflower and chickpeas roasted with smoked paprika on one tray, then tossed with orzo, olives, feta, parsley and a lemon and Dijon dressing. Serves two.
[Ve] Chickpea Mash Recipe for One Chickpeas warmed with garlic, lemon zest and olive oil, then mashed with a masher and a fork for texture, or blended smooth in a jug blender. A fluffy vegan side that stands in for potato mash.
Falafel, Flatbread & Chickpea Flour
[V] Spicy Falafels with Goat's Cheese & Salad Pittas Spicy falafel patties made from a tin of chickpeas, garlic, cumin, coriander, harissa and flour, fried until crisp and stuffed into warm pitta with crumbled goat's cheese and salad. A quick weeknight lunch.
[Ve] Chickpea Flatbread for Vanlife Cooking A gluten-free flatbread of chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, whisked into a batter, rested, and cooked thin in a hot pan – no oven needed.
[Ve] Rosemary and Sea Salt Chickpea and Buckwheat Bread A gluten-free, yeast-free loaf of chickpea flour, ground buckwheat, mixed seeds, rosemary and sea salt that rises with bicarbonate of soda and cider vinegar, so there is no proving. Inspired by a loaf in Dominique Ludwig's No-Nonsense Nutrition.
[Ve] What Is Socca? Socca is a thin, crisp flatbread of chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt. This post explains it, and why rotating grains beats simply replacing wheat bread.
This chickpea recipes collection grows whenever another jar comes home from the shop – and there is still plenty to cook.
If these chickpea recipes filled a few suppers, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.
Footnote
These chickpea recipes are part of my Veg, Fruit & Pulses hub – plant-forward cooking from Casa Adora and the road. For more meat-free cooking, see my Veggie & Vegan Recipes.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef
