Homemade chickpeas are a must for making hummus, Italian Chickpea Soup, or anything else you love to make with chickpeas. I like to make chickpeas in a pressure cooker because they get softer than when boiled, and they cook much faster than boiling. But I included instructions for either method.
Make sure to keep plenty of dry chickpeas on hand so that you can soak some the night before you are going to cook them. When chickpeas are rehydrated, you can cook them right away or hold in the refrigerator until ready to cook. If you’re looking for an amazing source of dried beans, check out Rancho Gordo. They have the freshest and best tasting beans with many heirloom varieties.
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Homemade Chickpeas
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 8 hours 35 mins
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
Description
Although this recipe calls for 1 cup dry chickpeas, I recommend making at least a triple batch so that you have enough chickpeas to make a big batch of soup to share with friends, or so that you can freeze some away to use for recipes later on.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry chickpeas
- spring or filtered water
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- 1-inch piece kombu
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Rinse chickpeas and place in glass bowl. Cover with water about 1-2 inches above the chickpeas and soak overnight.
- Drain the chickpeas and place in a pressure cooker with enough fresh water to cover 2 inches above the beans.
- Boil for 5 minutes uncovered. Skim off foam that collects on the surface with fine mesh simmer.
- Add garlic and kombu. Place lid on the pressure cooker and allow to come up to pressure. If there is more than one setting on the pressure cooker, use the lower pressure setting to avoid having chickpeas break apart. Turn heat down to low, and cook chickpeas for 18 minutes.
- Remove pressure cooker from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Once the lid has unlocked, add sea salt and simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes.
Notes:
- If you do not have a pressure cooker, simmer beans for 90 minutes, or until beans are soft but not falling part. Then add sea salt and simmer a few minutes more.
- If you cannot find kombu sea vegetable, you can use a bay leaf instead. I like to use Atlantic kombu from Ironbound Island Seaweed which is locally available at Wheatsville Coop.
