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Crunchy, sweet, and totally delicious, these roasted chickpeas are perfect for snacking all year round! Great for after school noshing, late night munching, holiday party nibbles, or even topping yogurt and smoothie bowls. Quick and easy to make! Try these Cinnamon Sugar Crunchy Chickpeas today!
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If you love cinnamon and sugar together, you’ve gotta try these delicious crunchy chickpeas! They are roasted to perfection, drizzled with a bit of pure maple syrup and vanilla, then tossed with a sweet cinnamon sugar mixture.
Crispy, crunchy, sweet, and perfectly snackable!
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
Chickpeas ~ You gotta have chickpeas to make roasted chickpeas! I used canned for convenience, but you can certainly cook your own from dried. In my article about the best vegan chickpea recipes, you’ll find instructions for cooking chickpeas from scratch for a variety of methods, like stove top, slow cooker, and instant pot.
Want to try this with nuts instead? Try these Cinnamon Roasted Almonds!
Oil ~ I tested this recipe with and without oil. While these crunchy chickpeas turned out tasty both ways, the texture was far superior with a little drizzle of oil. I use just 2 teaspoons for the whole batch and it’s just enough to get them really crispy.
Liquid sweetener ~ Pure maple syrup is always my go-to liquid sweetener. The purpose here is really just to get the cinnamon sugar mixture to stick. You can use agave if you prefer or even another little drizzle of oil.
Flavorings ~ Pure vanilla extract, cinnamon and sugar are a sweet match made in heaven. You can skip the the vanilla, but don’t skip the cinnamon sugar as it’s the whole point of this recipe. Coconut sugar or brown sugar can be used instead of the cane sugar, but I personally think white cane sugar gives the best flavor and results.
If you prefer your crunchy chickpeas on the savory side, try my Garlic Herb Seasoned Roasted Chickpeas!
How to make the recipe
Rinse the canned chickpeas with cold water well to remove any excess starch and sodium (1).
Drain them really well then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a clean kitchen cloth (2).
Pat them until completely dry (3). You may need to change out the paper towels or kitchen cloth and dry them some more if the towels get too wet. It’s very important to get them as dry as possible so they roast up crisp and crunchy!
After patting them dry, you may notice the skins of the chickpeas starting to come off (4). Remove any loose skins as they may burn when roasting, but it’s not necessary to take the skins off of every one.
Drizzle with chickpeas with the oil and mix well. Pour them out on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet in one even layer and roast at 400°F for 40 to 45 minutes until crisp (5), stirring every 10 to 15 minutes to prevent burning. Check them more often toward the end of the roasting time as they can go from crisp to burnt quickly.
Once crisp, transfer the crunchy chickpeas to a bowl and add the maple syrup and vanilla extract; mix well (6).
Add the cinnamon and sugar (7) and mix well until thoroughly coated (8).
Place back on the baking sheet in one even layer, place the baking sheet on a wire cooling rack on the counter, and let cool completely. For even crispier results, you can place the baking sheet back in the oven (turned off!), crack the door of the oven a bit, and let them cool completely.
Storage
These Cinnamon Sugar Chickpeas are best eaten the day you make them.
Store completely cooled crunchy chickpeas in a paper lunch bag or glass jar on the counter for 2 to 3 days.
I do not recommend storing in a plastic container or plastic bag no matter how air-tight they seem to be. And don’t put them in the fridge.
Pro tips and tricks
~ Be sure to get your chickpeas really, really dry!
~ Remove any loose skins so they don’t burn.
~ Drizzle with a touch of oil. You don’t need a lot, but it makes a huge different in texture and helps the chickpeas get super crispy.
~ Shake the pan every 10 to 15 minutes while roasting to prevent burning. Check more frequently towards the end of roasting time as they can go from crisp to burnt quickly.
~ Wait to add the cinnamon sugar until after the chickpeas have roasted. The sugars will burn in the oven for this length of time.
~ To get extra crunchy chickpeas, turn the oven off and put them back in the oven on the baking sheet after tossing with the cinnamon sugar. Crack the oven door open just a bit and let the chickpeas cool completely in there.
FAQs
Chickpeas contain protein, fiber, folate, iron and more! They are a definitely a healthy food! Roasted chickpeas, however, are usually made with oil and this version of crunchy chickpeas also contains sugar. They should be considered an occasional treat, not something to indulge in every day.
To ensure really crispy chickpeas, you must dry them completely after rinsing. A little bit of oil tossed with the chickpeas before roasting makes all the difference in texture.
Yes! I almost always used canned chickpeas for convenience. Follow the instructions in this recipe for great results!
While removing all the chickpeas skins before roasting isn’t necessary, I do suggest getting rid of any loose stray ones. They are super thin and will likely burn if not attached to the chickpea.
More vegan snack ideas
- Spiced Rosemary Roasted Nuts (oil free!)
- Mexican Spiced Chocolate Covered Cashews
- Soft Baked Pretzels
- Sun Dried Tomato and Garlic Seed Crackers
- Mint Chocolate Chip Granola
- Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you tried it, please use the star rating system in the recipe card and leave a comment with your feedback. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For even more easy family recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook!
Cinnamon Sugar Chickpeas
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas
- 2 teaspoons neutral flavored oil like grapeseed or canola
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
- 1 ½-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas really well under cold water. Transfer them to a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth lined plate. Pat the chickpeas completely dry! You may need to change out the paper towels or cloth if they get too wet and dry the chickpeas again.
- Remove any loose chickpea skins as they may burn in the oven. It is not necessary to remove the skins that are still firmly attached to the chickpeas.
- Transfer the chickpeas to a clean bowl and drizzle with the oil. Pour them out onto the prepared baking sheet and roast for 40 to 45 minutes until crunchy, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes to prevent burning. Check them more often towards the end of the roasting time as they can go from crisp to burnt quickly.
- Once they are sufficiently crunchy, transfer them back to the bowl and drizzle with maple syrup and vanilla. Toss to coat evenly. Then add the cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
- Pour them back out onto the baking sheet in one even layer to continue to cool completely. To get extra crunchy chickpeas, turn the oven off and put them back in the oven with the door ajar and let them continue to cool in there.
- These are best eaten on the day you make them.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition values are calculated using online calculators and are estimates only. Please verify using your own data.
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