Honey Paprika Chickpeas

Why You’ll Love These Chickpeas

• Crispy around the outside but still soft in the middle.
• Sweet honey and smoky paprika are ridiculously good together.
• Everything comes together in one frying pan.
• They’re ready in around 20 minutes.
• The roasted peppers add sweetness without needing loads of ingredients.
• You can eat them hot, warm or at room temperature.
• They’re surprisingly filling for something made mostly from cupboard ingredients.

 

 

Ingredients

You’ll need:

• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for finishing
• 1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• ⅓ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• Small handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped

How To Make Honey Paprika Chickpeas

Get The Chickpeas Really Dry

This bit sounds boring. Unfortunately, it matters.

• Drain the chickpeas thoroughly and rinse them under cold water.
• Tip them onto a clean tea towel or several sheets of kitchen paper.
• Pat them really well until they’re as dry as possible.
• If any loose skins come away while you’re drying them, pull those off and discard them.
• Leave the chickpeas sitting uncovered for five minutes while you prepare everything else.

Wet chickpeas steam when they hit the pan. Dry chickpeas actually fry.

And we definitely want the second one.

Season Them

• Put the dried chickpeas into a large bowl.
• Add the smoked paprika, sweet paprika, cumin, garlic powder, chilli flakes, salt and a decent grind of black pepper.
• Toss everything together until the chickpeas have a light, even coating of seasoning.

Don’t add the honey yet.

It goes in towards the end because honey can burn surprisingly quickly in a hot frying pan. We’re after sticky and caramelised, not tiny scorched chickpea pebbles.

Pan-Fry Until Crispy

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat.
• Once the oil is hot, add the seasoned chickpeas.
• Spread them into a fairly even layer rather than leaving them piled in the centre.
• Let them cook untouched for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Toss or stir them, then leave them alone again.
• Continue cooking for around 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You’ll notice the chickpeas gradually changing.

Some will turn deeper golden brown. Others will develop little dark paprika-speckled patches. A few might split slightly. That’s all good stuff.

Don’t obsess over making every chickpea identical. You actually want a mixture of textures here.

Add The Peppers And Tomatoes

Once the chickpeas are nicely browned:

• Add the chopped roasted red pepper.
• Add the sun-dried tomatoes.
• Toss everything together.
• Cook for another 2 minutes.

The peppers don’t need much cooking because they’re already soft. You’re basically warming them through and allowing their edges to catch against the hot pan.

The sun-dried tomatoes are especially good here because their intense, slightly tangy sweetness works with the honey without making the finished dish taste sugary.

Make Them Sticky

Now comes the good bit.

• Reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Drizzle the honey over the chickpeas.
• Add the lemon juice and red wine vinegar.
• Toss quickly so everything gets coated.
• Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

The honey will loosen when it hits the warm pan before becoming sticky again as it coats the chickpeas.

Keep everything moving during this stage.

You should end up with chickpeas that look glossy and slightly caramelised, rather than sitting in a pool of sauce.

If the pan becomes sticky very quickly, take it off the heat. There’s enough residual heat in there to finish the glaze.

Finish Them Properly

Transfer everything into a serving bowl while it’s still warm.

Scatter plenty of chopped parsley over the top, then finish with a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil.

And I do mean finish with it rather than cooking all of the olive oil into the recipe. That final drizzle has a completely different flavour. You actually taste the fruity, peppery olive oil rather than it disappearing into the seasoning.

A little extra flaky sea salt isn’t a bad idea either.

Neither is another squeeze of lemon.

Taste first, obviously.

The Trick To Getting Chickpeas Crispy In A Pan

There are three things that make the biggest difference: dry chickpeas, enough heat and enough room.

If you’ve ever tried frying chickpeas and ended up with something soft and vaguely damp, one of those things was probably missing.

After rinsing canned chickpeas, there’s quite a lot of moisture clinging to them. Patting them dry before frying immediately gives you a better chance of getting some colour.

Then use a wide pan.

If you squeeze two tins of chickpeas into a tiny saucepan, they’re going to sit on top of each other and steam. A large frying pan gives more of them direct contact with the hot surface.

And finally, stop stirring them every three seconds.

I know.

It’s tempting.

Leaving them alone for a couple of minutes at a time gives the outside a chance to actually brown.

Don’t Add The Honey Too Early

Honey is brilliant here, but timing matters.

If you add it with the raw chickpeas and then fry everything for 10 minutes, there’s a decent chance the sugars will burn before your chickpeas have had enough time to crisp.

That’s why the chickpeas get fried with the dry spices first.

Once they’re browned and crispy, turn down the heat and add the honey.

You only need another minute or two.

The honey clings to all those rough little crispy surfaces and creates that gorgeous sticky paprika coating without taking over the whole dish.

What To Serve With Honey Paprika Chickpeas

These can go in a surprising number of directions.

For lunch, spoon them over a thick layer of hummus and add cucumber, tomatoes, olives and warm pita bread.

For dinner, they’re brilliant alongside:

• Lemon rice
• Couscous
• Bulgur wheat
• Roasted potatoes
• Grilled vegetables
• Greek-style salad
• Warm flatbreads
• Tzatziki
• Whipped feta

You can also turn them into a quick grain bowl with rice or couscous underneath, cucumber and tomato on the side and a spoonful of garlicky yoghurt over everything.

That one is particularly good when the chickpeas are still warm and the yoghurt is fridge-cold.

Turn Them Into A Wrap

This might actually be my favourite way to use leftovers.

Warm a flatbread and spread it generously with hummus. Add the honey paprika chickpeas, shredded lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and a little red onion.

Then add either tzatziki or a simple lemony yoghurt sauce.

Wrap it tightly and you’ve got lunch.

The chickpeas lose a little of their original crispness after being refrigerated, but inside a wrap that honestly doesn’t matter much.

Can You Make Them Spicier?

Absolutely.

The recipe has a little chilli rather than a huge amount because I don’t want it competing with the smoky paprika.

For more heat, add:

• Extra chilli flakes
• Cayenne pepper
• Aleppo pepper
• Fresh sliced red chilli
• A spoonful of harissa

Harissa is especially nice if you want to push the Mediterranean flavours a little further.

Just remember that some harissa pastes are already quite salty, so taste before adding additional salt.

Can You Make Them Without Honey?

Yes.

Maple syrup is the easiest swap and keeps the recipe vegan.

It gives you a slightly different flavour but still creates that sticky sweet-smoky coating.

You could also leave the sweetener out entirely. The chickpeas will be more savoury and won’t have quite the same caramelised glaze, but they’ll still be delicious with the paprika, peppers, lemon and olive oil.

Storing Leftovers

Keep leftover chickpeas in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

They’ll soften as they sit, which is completely normal.

To bring some of the texture back, put them into a dry frying pan over medium-high heat and cook for a few minutes until hot. You can add the tiniest drizzle of olive oil if they look dry.

I wouldn’t microwave them unless speed is the priority. They’ll taste fine, but you lose most of those lovely crispy edges.

Once reheated, add fresh parsley and another small drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

A Few Final Tips

Give the chickpeas room in the pan. If your frying pan is small, cook them in two batches rather than cramming everything together.

Keep an eye on the paprika too. Spices can catch on very high heat, so if you notice the seasoning becoming dark before the chickpeas are browned, lower the heat slightly.

And once the honey goes in, stay by the stove.

That’s not the moment to answer a message, start unloading the dishwasher or suddenly remember the washing machine finished 40 minutes ago.

It takes barely two minutes.

Then straight into a bowl, parsley everywhere, extra-virgin olive oil over the top and maybe one last pinch of flaky salt.

Sticky, smoky, crispy, a little sweet and ridiculously easy.