This recipe nothing new. You’ve seen it posted a million times on a million blogs (OK, maybe I exaggerate!). And I wasn’t going to post about it, but it turned out SO WELL so I kinda felt like I had to. I’ve made the oven roasted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) before and although they were pretty good, they didn’t have the crispy crunch that I had been lead to believe they would. Sure they were crisp on the exterior but the interior was rather pasty. These beans are crunchy through and through! In fact, if I hadn’t “unfried” them, I would not, could not, have believed that they were not deep fried. Yes, you read that correctly, my dear friend: they are UNFRIED.
Some time back, I cooked for a short testimonial-piece for the T-Fal ActiFry Express XL appliance (not published yet) where I had to cook twelve dishes in advance for an on-location motion shoot with a local celebrity. The great folks at T-fal gave me an ActiFry Express XL for the job. I started cooking at 5am so that food would look fresher than cooking it the night before and left just in the nick of time to get there (far end of town). We got the house at 12:30 and had to be out at 3:30! It was challenging, to say the least, particularly because the kitchen was the commercial set! I had to prep on the floor in the hall, and at one point, in the garage so that I could have access to an electrical outlet! That profession kitchen truck would have come in very handy!
JT and I are not big on fried foods, so this cool appliance is perfect for us and recently I needed a cocktail snack for the cottage and I wanted something healthy with protein and crispy garbanzo beans (chick peas) popped into my head. I thought the beans would be perfect for the ActiFry (see notes). So I purchased two 540 mL (19 oz) cans of low sodium chick peas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and dried them on a clean towel and popped them into the non-stick coated ActiFry. The result was magical, it did not dehydrate the beans (which sometimes makes them a bit leathery), it actually fried them in 1 tbsp oil! They are crunchy through and through! And the next best part? I didn’t have to turn on the oven because it was 30° C (86° F) outside and humid! And cleanup was a cinch (I vacuumed it and wiped it out with a soft cloth).
I know that this recipe will be a repeat for all parties from now on!
“Unfried” Garbonzo Beans (or chick peas)
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Makes ~250 g or 2 cups unfried garbanzo beans (chick peas)
Ingredients:
- 540 mL (19 oz) cans of low sodium chick peas
- 1 tbsp dehydrated onion powder (see notes)
- 1 tbsp granulated garlic (see notes)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- dash of sesame oil
Directions:
- Combine all of the spices and salt and mix well.
- Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans (chick peas) and lay out on a clean towel to dry for 30 minutes).
- Add the dried beans to the ActiFry bowl and drizzle in the oils. Set the timer to 45 minutes and close the lid. Start, allow the paddle to rotate a full circle and open the lid and sprinkle about 1/3 of the spice blend onto the beans. Close the lid and allow the paddle to go around twice. Repeat until all of the spice blend is used up. Close the lid and wait for the magic to happen.
- Test the beans around 35 minutes and then about 5-minute increments. You want a crunch, much like the crunch you get when you eat potato chips. Keep it going until you achieve a great, crunchy bean.
- Pour the beans out onto a clean cookie sheet (with sides) and allow to cool. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge until needed (it was too humid to store in the pantry).
Notes:
- I keep a container of Kirkland Signatur Chopped Onion and I combine it with Kirkland Signatur Granulated Garlic (not garlic powder) and blitz it in a coffee come spice grinder for this purpose (great on popcorn too!).
- Be creative and come up with your own blend of spices, like garlic, ginger and sea salt.
- I did not have time to use dried beans but feel free to soak, dry and ActiFry dried beans, I’m sure the result would be the same.
- Although the ActiFry paddle moves around at a very slow pace, I find larger things get a bit beat up without the stationery tray but it’s perfect for these beans.
Disclosure:
Eva Taylor/Kitcheninspirations received T-fal ActiFry Express XL from Group SEB, Toronto; this recipe was developed by Eva Taylor for Kitcheninspirations, and the opinions expressed in this post are that of Eva Taylor/Kitcheninspirations.
Dear Eva – like some other blogger friends, I too seem to experience some ?? WordPress?? problem occasionally. Despite being a follower, I have not seen your posts for some time. I wondered what’s happening – and when I saw you just now on another Bloggers site commenting, I thought I better let you know. I have not forgotten you 🙂 🙂
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Hi Carina, unfortunately WordPress often drops blogs that I’ve been following. I’ll re follow, thank you for bringing it to my attention. Hope you will enjoy becoming reacquainted.
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Love this recipe! Looks very tasty ♥
summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
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Interesting device. I like a good crunchy cocktail snack. GREG
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Hi Greg, doesn’t everybody?
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I’ve been looking at ActiFry-type appliances, Eva, but my kitchen is a cluttered mess right now. Something will have to go out before I bring anything new in. (That’s what I keep telling myself.) I’m glad to see this post, though. When the time comes, I’ll give ActFry’s models a closer look. If it can cook a mean chicken, I am so there! I really do enjoy fried chicken but only prepare it about once a year. ActiFry could be a game changer. Thanks!
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Hi John, I know what you mean about kitchen clutter. When we did the Reno, nine years ago, I cut my ‘unused’ appliances/gadgets right down and it opened a huge amount of space in my new cupboards. Nine years later, they are chuck full again, go figure.
It does fry chicken nicely but the paddle beats up the chicken breading a bit, you need to get the stationery basket so that the breading stays put. Unfortunately, I don’t have one but I may see if they will send me one, fried chicken sounds incredible right about now.
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The ActiFry is new to me. And sounds really interesting! I can usually get my oven roasted chickpeas to come out OK, but the insides sometimes are a bit blah. This sounds perfect! Thanks.
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Hi John, I must Admit it does a fab job on the chickpeas, no mushy centres.
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Guess I will need to invest in an ActiFry if I want to enjoy these healthy snack.
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It’s a pretty big investment Norma, so I’d suggest you would really have to love fried food to make its cost per use lower.
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My brain is working overtime about where these beans will go. I just need an acitfry!!
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Hi David, they are a French company so I’m 100% sure they are available in the UK. We tested one that hadn’t been converted to North American electricity so I had to go in to t-Fal’s head office, they have a European outlet.
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Eva, your chickpeas look so luscious! I actually bake them with gochujang seasoning, the recipe I found on a Korean blog (I posted it a year ago I think, but not sure about the year…. time passes by so quickly) and would loooove to have this fryer. I’ve been dreaming about it for years but it’s so expensive here! I guess I’ll wait until it’s no longer such a novelty, maybe the price will fall down.
Anyway, it’s a fantastic snack for a glass of wine (or more!).
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The Actifry is quite expensive here too so I was very excited when T-fal gave it to me. It really made the chick peas very well, so crunchy. I’m going to take a look st your recipe now, thank you.
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I love these chickpeas! They’re so delicious and well done making them without the oven. I can’t wait til it’s so hot you don’t want to turn the oven on haha.
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Hi Lorraine, I will be very happy for you when it’s winter here, but I am looking forward to cooking/baking again.
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Sounds interesting, Eva. Good fibre!
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Thanks Liz.
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They are one of my favourite snack…I made some with black pepper and garlic salt last week…so simple and delicious. Love yours with smoked paprika too.
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Thank you kindly Angie, they really are so versatile and tasty.
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I made them once in the oven but they varied in degree of crispiness … some were dry and crumbly while others were still hard and crunchy. Yours sound much better. 🙂
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Hi Maria, I’ve made the oven version before too and although I like that they are healthy, they lacked the crunch that these beans delivered. The Actifry did a great job with them.
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Unfortunately, I don’t have an Actifry and don’t plan to get one so I’ll have to pass on the new technique. 🙂
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I understand, it’s quite expensive.
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