These cinnamon toast crunch roasted chickpeas taste just like the cereal. Made with maple syrup, coconut oil and cinnamon, they’re a much healthier way to snack.
I feel like roasted chickpeas were super hot as a food trend back in 2012 when I originally wrote this post and recipe for cinnamon toast crunch roasted chickpeas.
Evidence –> this recipe for spicy cinnamon roasted chickpeas published two months prior.
I’m not saying they’re not as good these days but I feel like we’ve sort of forgotten about them as a snacking option as of late.
Or, maybe it’s just me.
Regardless, they’re back in my life and I figured what better time to re-do this recipe a bit.
I was majorly into roasted nuts back in 2012 too – check out these spiced rosemary maple cider nuts for another throwback.
How To Make Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
I’ve learned a thing or two in the last 6 years, one of which is that the tediousness of peeling chickpeas is worth it…sometimes.
In hummus? Not worth it to me – I don’t mind if there’s a little bit of texture in my hummus.
For a roasted chickpeas recipe?
Worth it – those peels can sometimes enable sogginess after roasting and ain’t no one got time for that in a roasted chickpea.
Roasted = crispy and if you want crispy, you need to peel.
It’s 10 minutes of your life (seriously, I set a timer to see exactly how long peeling a 15oz. can of chickpeas would take and it was 10 minutes and 24 seconds with an interruption of taking the tissue out of my dog’s mouth that she stole from the garbage).
I’m telling you, it’s worth it.
My brother would flip for these.
He was the cinnamon toast crunch kid, I was the lucky charms one. We were not allowed to touch each other’s cereal boxes.
It was like the one treat my mom let us have in the house from time to time and there was an unspoken understanding that we didn’t mess with the other person’s stash.
25 or so years later though thanks to Trader Joe’s knock off, I’ve developed quite the affinity for the tasty cereal treat (one of my favorite bedtime snacks to round out my macros for the day) and when I say these cinnamon toast crunch roasted chickpeas taste JUST like it, I’m not even exaggerating.
I’ve also even made my own healthier version in this homemade cinnamon crunch cereal.
Thanks to maple syrup and coconut oil though you can feel a little bit better about snacking on these chickpeas instead of pouring bowlfuls of cereal from a box.
Ps- try these chocolate chip peanut butter chickpea blondies if you want another way to enjoy a sweet and decadent chickpea based dessert!
Another Trick for Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
In addition to peeling the chickpeas, this new method in the recipe tells you to let the oven cool with the chickpeas still in there, this really helps them crisp up and STAY crispy.
Don’t skip that part either.
If you don’t attack the whole baking sheet like Ulysses and I do and happen to have leftovers, the best way to store them to retain crispiness is in a paper bag, NOT a tupperware container.
Hope you give these a try and if you’d prefer a savory roasted chickpea option, check out these BBQ chickpeas instead – happy snacking!
Try out these recipes with roasted chickpeas too:
Caesar salad shrimp stuffed sweet potatoes with roasted chickpeas
Mediterranean roasted lamb – it’s a sheet pan meal with roasted chickpeas in the mix!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Roasted Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 15 ounces canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed and thoroughly dried
- 1/2 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F convection roast or 425°F if you don’t have a convection roast setting.
- Spread chickpeas out on a dry dish towel and peel skins off. This will take about 10 minutes, it’s tedious but worth it for crispy roasted chickpeas that won’t get soggy!
- Spread peeled chickpeas out on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, shaking the pan once so they don’t stick.
- Meanwhile, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla in a small bowl.
- Remove chickpeas from oven pour the coconut oil mixture over top, season with the cinnamon and sea salt and toss to combine making sure all the chickpeas are evenly coated.
- Return baking sheet to the oven and roast an additional 12 minutes, tossing once half way through baking.
- Turn the oven off, open the door a few inches and let oven cool with the baking sheet still in the oven.
- Once cooled, chickpeas will be crispy and ready for snacking! Store in a paper bag to retain crispiness but there likely won’t be any leftover to do so!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
These look great! How long would you be able to store them for? I’m planning to make a batch for snacks for my toddler. Thanks.
a couple of days in an airtight container but honestly, they’re best (crispiest) served immediately.
Someone said they used dried chickpeas for this recipe. Would this work well and if so, how would you prepare them and how long would you cook them?
I haven’t used dried beans before so I’m not quite sure. I’d assume you’d need to soak them and cook them first.
Im going to experiment with this as we are trying to switch to homemade cereal. Any idea how this recipie would freeze? I know somethings things loose there crunch when frozen think that would be the case?
I honestly don’t think these would freeze well at all. Pretty sure they’d turn to mush after defrosting.
Even though it is SO hot today, I am giving these a try. Using natural peanut butter because I am out of tahini. I made sure they were dry and removed most of the chick pea skins too so i think they will dry out a bit more. I also made sure to really spread them out on the cookie sheet so the moisture could evaporate. They are delicious.
I NEED to make these soon! I used to love any kind of sugary breakfast cereal like cocoa crispies, cinnamon toast crunch, peanut butter captain crunch… I think the list could go on forever :)
Hi Gina,
Thanks for the good recipe! I used dried chickpeas – had to stir them every 8-10 minutes for 45-50 minutes to get them nice and crunchy. I used half brown sugar and half white sugar. I added some salt as soon as I got them out of the oven to bring out the sweetness – delicious!
love the addition of salt at the end! Glad you liked them :)
And just in case anyone is wondering, these are better as a snack than with milk as a cereal – my dear fiance thought he was going to have the best breakfast ever this morning… not the case! ;) Haha!
oh my gosh, I can’t believe he tried them as “cereal” haha! I know I named it after the cereal, but I never intended it to be eaten that way! Chickpeas + milk is kinda making me cringe right now. ;) Poor guy!
Silly boys! ;)
I just made these and they were awful! They weren’t sweet at all. Not sure what I did wrong but I just threw the entire batch in the trash.
Jenny- sorry they didn’t turn out for you. I’m not even sure how it’s possible they wouldn’t have been sweet considering 2 of the 3 ingredients (besides the beans) are cinnamon & sugar. That’s really weird and hasn’t happened to me at all in the 3 times I’ve made them since this post.
I had the exact same experience, no sweetness. Trashed.
please compost if you don’t like them
Hello there!
I am totally perplexed at what happened when I made these! I am trying to use dried beans instead of canned. (apparently using canned anything can cause cancer…along with everything else in the world) Anyways, I soaked my beans and they still didn’t seem as creamy as a canned bean :( I proceeded with the recipe, sort of ( I only used Trader Joe’s cookie butter, and chick peas and they weren’t crunch at all they were sort of mealy. The flavor was great though! Do you think its because I didn’t use the canned bean? HELP! I want to eat tons and tons of these asap!
Hi Valerie- I’ve never used dry beans that I soaked so I can’t really say if that’s the issue. Were the beans completely dried before you tossed them with the cookie butter? If they’re not dry, they will definitely come out more mushy than crunchy. I also haven’t roasted with cookie butter, so I’m not sure what that might do to them. It’s hard for me to say what went wrong when I haven’t made it that way exactly. They will definitely crisp up a bit if you follow the recipe but don’t expect them to be as crispy as nuts, b/c they’re definitely still beans! :)
No worries, I will try again! I have faith.
WHOA!! I am a cinnamon FREAK! (And a chickpea lover). This looks amazing!!
Any suggestions for a sub for tahini? Would just sesame seeds work? Or a different seed/nut butter? Just trying to think of what I have on hand…
Try almond butter if you have it. I wouldn’t go the sesame seed route because they won’t give it the same kind of coating that the liquidy tahini does. Almond butter should work :)
Great idea for a quick snack. Except I would substitute stevia for the sugar.