First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Regardless of your views on Thanksgiving (I’ve seen a few anti-Thanksgiving posts throughout my social media channels this week) I hope you were able to spend the with those you love, eating delicious food and saying thanks.  In an effort to continue to stay on schedule I decided I simply HAD to get a post out today despite spending lots of time feating all week. So while I plan on getting together a few new festive posts (already have my eye on some candy canes for a Christmas-time dessert recipe) I decided to feature an old standby for today’s recipe– crispy baked chickpeas.

Yes, you read that right. Baked chickpeas. Seriously, one of the simplest and easiest recipes I do. They’re not exactly a meal on their own, but I like to add them to lots of dishes like salads or a roasted veggie quinoa bowl, or simply snack on them like you would corn nuts. Corn nuts? Yes, I used to eat them occasionally years and years and years ago. A slightly salty, crispy snack is something I’m always up for. And if you go the chickpea route, there’s absolutely  no icky preservatives or additives you can’t pronounce. Just healthy snacking.

I most recently made chickpeas to go on top of my curried creamed kale to make it into a full meal and this particular mix of seasonings went perfectly with the kale to compliment the flavors. The great thing about baking chickpeas, aside from how easy they are to make, is how versatile they can be. Want to add curry powder? Do it! Some cumin or cayenne? Go right ahead!

I swear, once you get hooked on them the possibilities are endless. For this recipe I went with garlic powder and liquid smoke for a slightly smokey yet garlicky flavor. Baking the chickpeas spread out on a pan will help them get extra crispy. Like any baked veggie, the longer you bake, the crispier they get. So bake, bake away if you’re looking for something to snack on while watching football or hoping for a chip-like replacement. Try them out for your next Netflix binge/mindless snacking marathon.* Your body will thank you.

*I’m not the only one who Netflix binges while eating whatever’s in the house, right?