How to Cook Chickpeas Perfectly Every Time

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are incredibly nutritious and versatile, and so easy to cook. Follow this advice and you'll get perfect beans every time!

How to prep the beans

Dried garbs must be rehydrated before they are consumable—yes, even before roasting them. Typically you'll do this by covering them with water for 8+ hours (doing this step before you go to bed will always get the job done!). Alternatively you can use a pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot, in which case no pre-soak is necessary.

After they've been softened during this soaking process, there will likely be a transparent skin that will slough off the beans. This is totally safe and fine to eat and is 100 percent digestible, but some folks prefer to clear it away. This is entirely a personal preference, so give it a try both ways to see what you like best.

The most important rule in cooking chickpeas is to never add salt to your water.  This is a finishing step and is to be done only after the garbanzo beans have reached the desired tenderness, and even then is only a matter of taste. Cooking the beans in salt may result in a toughening of the outer shell and can impede the bean softening.

Stovetop cooking (pre-soak)

The classic method of cooking chickpeas on the stovetop after soaking them overnight is the easiest but most time consuming way to prepare your beans. The biggest upside to this technique is that you are able to sample the beans throughout the process and can really dial in the timing to achieve your desired tenderness level.

1. Soak: The night before you'd like to cook them, put the chickpeas in a large bowl or pot. Add enough water so all the beans are covered with at least one inch of liquid. Leave them soaking until you're ready to cook, but no longer than 24 hours or the beans may start to sprout.
2. Cook: Replace the overnight water with fresh, and in a pot at least twice the volume of the beans, cook them over medium heat for about an hour. At the 45 minute mark start testing the beans to see if your desired firm/tenderness has been reached. You will want a soft chickpea for puréeing into hummus. Aim for a more firm texture (al dente) to add to salads and soups.

Pressure cooker or Instant Pot (no soak)

A pressure cooker such as the Instant Pot is a game-changer in our world of dried pulses. Not only does it speed up cooking time since there is no need to soak the beans before cooking, but because they are cooked in steam, more nutrients stay with the food rather than being released into the cooking water and poured down the drain. 

When using an Instant Pot the total cook time for garbanzo beans is down to about 50 minutes. This is the perfect duration to give you a great hummus bean—it's nice and soft and easy to purée. However, if you are looking for a more firm bean for salads or soups you will want to shorten the cook time to around 44 minutes and make adjustments from there to cook to your preference. Remember, if you want to be sure not to overshoot the cook time you can always stop the Instant Pot early and finish the beans on the stovetop.

1. Rinse the dried chickpeas before adding to the Instant Pot. We put them in the wire basket that comes with the appliance to make it easier for this initial rinse and at the end when straining out the excess water. It's fine to cook them directly in the pot, you will just have the extra step of straining the cooked garbs at the end. Note that the beans will approximately double in size during cooking so be cautious how many you put in the pot—they can grow out of control quickly!
2. Add water to the Instant Pot, enough to cover the chickpeas by an inch of water.
3. Set the manual pressure cook button to 45 minutes for soft, hummus-ready chickpeas. If you are looking for a more al dente bean set the timer to 38 minutes.
4. Once time is reached, do a quick release on the steam. The quick release lasts about 8 minutes. When the float valve drops you can open the Instant Pot and proceed with your meal preparation!

Give these techniques a try to decide which way you prefer, and maybe both will find their way into your regularly scheduled kitchen programming. Happy chickpea cooking, friends!

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