It’s quite easy to cook dry chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo Beans. Chickpeas are a great addition to any meal and the main ingredient used in hummus. The addition of onion, garlic, salt, and a bay leaf to the instant pot makes these chickpeas incredibly flavorful.
Soak: Soaking is key and important for all legumes. Soaking not only cuts down the cooking time, but also makes the beans more digestible due to the release of lectins during the soaking period. Due to this, I do not recommend cooking the chickpeas in the same water that the beans were soaked in. More lectins are also released during cooking (I once used the cooked chickpea water as a soup base, and though a delicious vegetable soup was made from it, it was not very digestible.)
When soaking dry chickpeas, please place in a big enough container with enough water, it will more than double in size overnight. When I soak 6.5 cups of dry chickpeas for over 12 hours, I usually end up with almost 16 cups! See picture below.
I cook chickpeas in bulk, so I can have them on hand in the freezer for any recipe; hummus, steamed vegetables, salad, etc.
Storing Cooked Chickpeas:
This is how I store my cooked chickpeas (in the freezer, or fridge), depending on when I will use. I often use these 16-ounce containers to store soups, overnight oats, oats, etc.
Ingredients are for 15 to 16 cups of soaked chickpeas: with about 18 cups of water. Feel free to manipulate ingredients based on chickpea and water amount. If you’re making 8 cups instead, you don’t need to cut bay leaf in half, use the whole leaf with 2 smaller cloves of garlic, half of an onion, and 2 teaspoons salt.
I do advise cooking in bulk! It’s an amazing time saver, especially while on the Daniel Fast.
Disclosure: This website contains affiliate links on products I use or recommend. I earn commission if the links are used. This does not change the price on the item for you. Please see our private policy for more information.
How To Cook Dry Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans (Instant Pot)
Description
These chickpeas are made in an instant pot with 4 simple ingredients, onion, garlic, salt, and a bay leaf. You'll have a steaming pot of cooked chickpeas in less than an hour.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Place soaked chickpeas in instant pot, along with enough water to cover beans by at least 1 inch of water. Add onion, garlic, bay leaf, and sea salt. Give it a little stir and cover pressure cooker.
-
Allow to pressure cook for 35 minutes.
-
Allow slow release/natural release for 5 minutes before using the quick release knob/lever. Once all the pressure has been released, open instant cooker and test beans for doneness according to your preference.
I do a quick release at 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes because otherwise the beans would only be soft enough for hummus, and not other dishes, like a vegetable stir fry or steamed vegetables. -
Store 3-4 days in airtight container in refrigerator or 2-3 months in freezer.
Note
- To freeze leftovers, make sure to pour in some of the liquid from the instant pot in the containers as well or the beans will dry out, which is not good especially if they will be used to make hummus.
- To defrost frozen chickpeas, microwave in 30 second increments until liquid is melted and can be drained off. Another option is to remove it from the freezer and allow to melt overnight in refrigerator.
