How to cook and freeze dried chickpeas

How to cook and freeze dried chickpeas makes them readily available. You are probably thinking that it is too much trouble and you'll just buy them in cans.

I did that for a while until some disconcerting facts began to emerge. Firstly if you read the label, all sorts of chemicals have usually been added; sugar and salt too. And now there is disturbing evidence that the plastic which is used to line the cans causes malignant-disease.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 9th January, 2025.

I keep asking myself if I am becoming a neurotic but, no, I do not want to increase the risk of getting tumours and autoimmune-diseases; it is already quite high enough in my family. And in any case chickpeas are a quarter of the price if you process them yourself.

We use them as an alternative form of protein, adding them to our meaty stews and soups; and for our authentic hummus recipe, seen above. I also use them for thickening in our green chilli or curried green beans, for example instead of refined cornstarch.

Once you know how to cook and freeze dried chickpeas, it takes about fifteen-minutes of your actual time; once every month or two is not too bad.

Two of the steps however do take time but you don't have to sit and watch them imbibing water. Just start the process in the evening and go to bed. Next day, once the pressure-cooker is beginning to spurt steam, turn it down and do something else for half an hour.

How to cook and freeze dried chickpeas

How to cook and freeze dried chickpeas are simple tasks taking no more than fifteen-minutes of your time; you have them instantly ready for hummus, soups and as a thickener, for example.

I'm as sad as the rest of you about the research concerning red meat. Up to a point you can have your steak and eat it; by adding plenty of vegetables and salads to your dinners. Smaller portions and locating grass-fed beef may still turn out to be reasonably healthy compromises.

But in the end we need to be enjoying smaller portions of red meat and readily embracing vegetable-protein substitutes; chickpeas are my favourite and soybeans the least.

In a sense our chickpeas are our alternative to minimally-processed plant protein about which doubts remain in the literature.

Broad-beans are my favourite green legume; and they have the largest amount of vegetable protein after soybeans; about a quarter.

The process can be divided up into five individual steps, none of them arduous or time-consuming; and made a great deal easier with a pressure cooker.

You should have one anyway; one of my favourite kitchen appliances.

Otherwise they take a long time to cook; and tend to boil over.

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight and then rinse
   
2. Pressure-cook for 25 minutes
   
3. Rinse
4. Drain
5. Freeze

You start off by locating dried chickpeas, or garbanzo-beans as they are sometimes called; that incidentally may be the most difficult part of the process. I purchase at least half a dozen packets at a time from an Indian shop.

A kilogram costing less than two-dollars, lasts us about a month. Hummus really makes a salad and if you love baking bread as I do, then a dollop turns your loaf into low GI.

Let's look at these individual steps.

Soak the chickpeas

To soak the chickpeas simply pour a couple pounds of the dried legumes into a large pot, cover over-generously with water and go to bed; I do it in the pressure cooker. That chore takes me all of two minutes in the evening; not too onerous, eh? 

Next morning you will discover they've swollen to double the size, and you may have to add more water.

We used to rinse and drain them once or twice; folk say they give less gas but in fact we have no trouble. However they then have less flavour.

It also limits the work of any phytates in the chickpeas; they inhibit the absorption of minerals. That's another two-minutes of your time taken up. Pour off all the surplus water.

One little advantage is all that water which they absorbe; together with the natural fibre in chickpeas, you'll find that your woes on the toilet are likely to be far less. Constipation and the attendant colo-rectal diseases is a serious problem for many people enjoying mainly grocery store food.

More water and extra fibre are the solutions to chronic-constipation. There are huge benefits once you know how to cook and freeze dried chickpeas.

Cook your chickpeas

To boil your chickpeas, I make a plea for a pressure-cooker, otherwise they take a long hour and a half; and often bubble over and make a mess.

Add plenty of boiling water, almost covering the chickpeas as they seem to go on absorbing the liquid during cooking. Bring them up to pressure and get on with something else for twenty-five minutes.

To save electricity and do your small bit to reduce climate change you can, after coming to pressure simply leave them overnight in the old cardboard wonder-box.

That might take you five-minutes; nine in total so far.

Turn off the heat and start your breakfast. Once the pressure has dropped, add plenty of fresh cold-water and rinse them several times to remove more of the phytates if they concern you; there will be loss of flavour.

Here are more details about other ways of cooking chickpeas; fermenting them for example.

Consider too the glycemic response to legumes should you be concerned about their starch content.

Now you can see that whilst how to cook and freeze dried chickpeas might appear intimidating it is really very simple.

---

Newsletter

Our newsletter is entitled "create a cyan zone" at your home, preserving both yourself and Mother Earth for future generations; and the family too, of course. We promise not to spam you with daily emails promoting various products. You may get an occasional nudge to buy one of my books.

Here are the back issues.

Drain your chickpeas

To drain your chickpeas use an ordinary colander; it's not critical that they are completely dry but it does make it easier to separate the frozen seeds if you want only half a packet, for example.

Rinsing and draining could take you up to five-minutes. I used to do it at least three times but no longer; those phytates, lectins and oxalates.

Freezing chickpeas

Freezing chickpeas at last has arrived; you've no doubt been wondering when I would get there.

Using a small plastic cup, scoop your cooked chickpeas into packets and fasten with a rubber band; we now use clothes pegs. Drop them into the deep freezer.

This made seven generous packets from a kilogram of dried garbanzo-beans, as they are sometimes called. Keep one of them back to make your first "quick hummus."

Copy and paste into Site Search for more information.

So fifteen minutes or a little longer, once a month is all it takes once you know how to cook and freeze dried chickpeas; it is a very small chore and will significantly boost the family's well-being.

Nutritious choice foods

Choice-foods, made with a minimum of effort is what my Bernard Preston site is all about; freezing chickpeas is one tiny part of the whole.

It's not sensible, nor even possible to rate one vegetable over another; they all have their virtues, many of the specifics not yet revealed. But chickpeas score very highly on my list of choice foods because they enable us to reduce our reliance on red meat for protein; that will also help to save the planet from the ravages of climate-change.

Freezing chickpeas simply reduces the hassle-factor; using them becomes so easy.

Processed red meat is the real devil; avoid it at all costs if you value your well-being. Sadly that means bacon and ham too; keep them for high and holy days only.

And unlike soybeans, chickpeas are very nice; they are not the world's favourite vegetable high in protein for nothing. We eat them virtually every day in one way or another. Hummus is often the most popular.

Do you see that dollop of hummus below? It really makes a salad, together with a squirt of olive oil and fresh lemon-juice.

Thickening foods

Thickening foods need not be problematic for those who dislike using cornstarch and all-purpose flour. Mashed chickpeas work just fine.

• How do you thicken curried green beans?
  

Interestingly I have been eating corn on the cob every-day for the past month and haven't put on an ounce. Fresh from the garden they are a delight; whole grains in moderation are not fattening.

Though the critics rave about raw beets, I prefer to turn them into borscht. Bernie's beetroot soup is another dream; slow food, made fast. There again you need that pressure cooker, or they take an age. Greenies like us can do it using solar power; you could too, but that is a big home-project.

Solar pressure cooking is just as easy on the induction-stove, or any hob in fact.

Low GI bread

Low GI bread with added hummus is so easy; it takes me five-minutes to mix the dough. By freezing chickpeas you just make the process more simple and quicker.

Since we make a large-tub of hummus twice a week using this freezing chickpeas technique, it's so easy to add a tablespoon or two to the dough.

To reduce the glycemic-index of any food, simply add fat and protein. To make low GI bread, I just mix in a couple tablespoons of hummus, and a dollop of butter to the dough.

If you make sourdough, then add the hummus the next morning just before starting the bread-machine; it goes off quickly.

In fact on the fourth-day, the last of it always goes into the sourdough recipe; it doesn't keep.

I've discovered there is a marvelous synergy of green living; having a pressure-cooker for the dried beans, means you also have a ready source of frozen chickpeas available for hummus, which greatly improves the taste and nutrition of your homemade bread.

Interestingly, with your salad, a smear of raw honey on 100pc wholemeal bread actually helps lose weight. The pollen-granules get through the light filter; that is where the bees get their protein and fat.

In the context of the whole meal, a little natural honey, a teaspoon or two, has little glycemic affect. That research was done on completely unprocessed nectar; I can't vouch for the stuff from the supermarket.

Have no concern about the phytates in wholemeal-flour and chickpeas; they do bind small amounts of iron and zinc for example, but in the overall context of our food the effect is minimal. Would you rather get all your protein from red meat?

• Are phytates bad?

Authentic hummus recipe

Making an authentic hummus recipe is a chore if you don't have the frozen legumes readily available. Since we enjoy condiment almost every day with our salads, freezing chickpeas is a task for each month.

It's so quick and easy; and this hummus recipe is equally simple.

Useful links

Did you find this page interesting? How about forwarding it to a friendly book or food junkie? Better still, a social media tick would help.

Address:

56 Groenekloof Rd,

Hilton, KZN

South Africa

Website:

https://www.bernard-preston.com

Create a Cyan Zone at your home; one which complements blue areas for longevity with green for protecting Mother Earth.