These 42 chickpea recipes will make you forget you’re eating a plant-based meal

Give chickpeas a chance

While dining at It’s Greek to Me in Hilton Head (one of my all-time favorite restaurants on the planet) I ordered a simple chickpea salad. Chickpeas, artichokes, tomatoes, and capers on top of romaine tossed in greek dressing. Seems like an easy and filling dish to make for work lunches, right? The idea sparked a google and Pinterest adventure, which resulted in uncovering about a thousand recipes with chickpeas on the www…. some really odd, some really complicated, and some that sounded gross. (I did not include those on this list.)

FYI
Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans

In case you’re interested in why you’re seeing chickpeas everywhere…

have you watched forks over knives? It’ll instill the fear of God into you that you should be all aboard the vegan diet train. Here’s why it’s cool to be vegan –

Millennials – Chickpeas are growing in popularity as people focus more on health. (Thanks, in large part, to millennials’ healthy demands.)
Plant popularity – Plant-based diets (no longer called “vegan” in 2019!) are one of the fastest growing eating trends.
Demand – Demand for chickpeas in the US doubled between 2015 and 2016, according to Farmlead. And it’s not all just for hummus! (Although hummus is delicious!)
Health – Thrive Market’s guide to chickpeas notes chickpeas are high in fiber, high in protein, have anti-inflammatory properties and are loaded with micronutrients. In other words, chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) are healthy. Chickpeas are also starring in snacks like The Good Bean crunchy chickpeas with sea salt and Banza pasta.