My oven is broken. I cook for a living, so this is what they call a classic crappy situation. The oven turns on, and it heats up, but it can’t regulate the temperature inside. If I set it to 425F, it heats up to 550F and locks automatically. This is not what you want to happen when you have a sheet pan full of cauliflower and broccoli roasting for dinner. The error code that popped up indicated two possibilities – one, a temperature sensor, that was a simple part replacement that even I could do. The other possibility was an electronic control board that costs 3 times as much as the temperature sensor. I put on my big girl pants, consulted YouTube and recruited my mom to help, and installed the temperature sensor.
My oven is still broken. The DIY-er in me is pretty darn ticked. So, until I can get it fixed, I figured I’d share a quick recipe that I photographed back in the good old days, when my oven worked. Let’s make some easy roasted chickpeas.
Beth, are you ever going to get off the chickpea train? You already told us how to cook them in an pressure cooker. And then you put them in peanut butter cups. And buffalo-ed them and stuck them into lettuce wraps. Are you obsessed with chickpeas or something?
Obsession might be taking it a bit far. In all honesty, if I told you that I was done with the chickpeas for a while, I would be lying. But I think you’re going to like what I do with them next. We’ll come back to that. First, let’s roast.
I almost didn’t even share this recipe/method, because it’s so simple. But then I remembered that you need simple, easy recipes that you can go back to again and again. So far, those are the posts that you like from me the most, according to the app on my phone that tells me which posts are the most popular. In case you’re curious, the top three are How to Cook Spaghetti Squash, How to Cook Perfect Quinoa, and Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup. So here’s another one for your arsenal.
First, preheat your oven to 400F. I’m so jealous of you right now. Then, rinse and drain 4 cups of cooked chickpeas and pour them on a sheet pan lined with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Pat the chickpeas dry, and remove the towel. Do you have to do this drying step? Yes. Will I know if you don’t? Yes. I moonlight as Big Brother.
Next, pour on two tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of oil. You only need a tiny bit of oil to keep the chickpeas from sticking to the pan. Believe me when I tell you that trying to pry up a chickpea that has fused to a sheet pan is no picnic. And that tiny little teaspoon of oil will keep that from happening. Toss the chickpeas around in the soy sauce and oil, then spread them out into a single layer and roast for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan once halfway through the roasting time.
They look good enough to eat, don’t they? I love how the soy sauce caramelizes a bit and creates those brown roasty bits on the sides where the chickpeas were in contact with the sheet pan. Yummy easy roasted chickpeas, fresh from your oven. Not mine. Because mine is broken. Cue the whining.
Oh, remember when I said I wasn’t quite done with chickpeas for a while? Here’s what’s next.
Thai Chickpea Pizza. With sweet potato peanut sauce. Yep, that happened. So you should go roast up some chickpeas to get prepared. Once you do, come back and tell me how it went here in the comments or tag me @passtheplants and hashtag #passtheplants on Instagram. I need to live vicariously through you and your working oven. Thanks in advance.
And now, I will go to bed and dream about all of the things that I can’t bake in my oven. Before you feel too badly for me, at least those calories don’t count. 🙂

Easy Roasted Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 3.5-4 cups cooked chickpeas (2 15 oz. cans (drained))
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce (use Tamari for gluten-free option)
- 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil or other neutral-flavored oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Pour the chickpeas on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer, patting dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel.
- Add the soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of oil, gently toss to coat.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy.
I own a lot of cookbooks and very few have roasted chickpea recipes. .so thanks.
I WONDER….can you substitute BRAGGS LIQUID AMMINO ACIDS [my substitution for soy sauce, salty but no salt] and have it taste as good?
I don’t see why not! 🙂
You could also use the oil out by like Ning the pan with parchment or a silpat. I also like to toss in garlic powder and hit Hungarian paprika.