RECIPE: The Gambler's Garbanzos

A delicious snack mix with A DEADLY SECRET.

If you’ve never roasted chickpeas before, you’re missing out on a surprisingly satisfying and ridiculously easy-to-make snack food. They’re crunchy and filling, and take well to any number of spices.

First, drain, rinse and dry 2-3 cans of chickpeas. I spread mine out on paper towels and let them air-dry for about half an hour.

Separating them into smaller batches, I tossed the beans with a small amount of oil and a variety of spices — a different one on each batch. Smoked paprika is my favorite, but I also tried a spicy beer cheese rub, cinnamon, and garam masala.

Oh, except the small last batch. I had something else in mind for that.

“You know, it’s hard to know what you’re getting from Amazon, this might not even be that spicy,” I mused, moments before trying to peel back the inner foil lid of the jar with my teeth, and immediately setting my mouth on fire. This stuff is as dangerous as advertised.

Each batch went into a 450-degree oven for 25-30 minutes, until the peas were crunchy and not at all soft in the center. Then, I tossed all the batches together, for a snack mix of assorted flavor profiles.

Yes, even the Ghost Pepper ones. You see, mixing those in adds an element of surprise and danger to our gameday snacking. Who knows which pea is going to be the one that bites back?

This is a great prank to play on family and friends, and The Action Cookbook Newsletter accepts no responsibility for you doing so.

— Scott Hines (@actioncookbook)

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This recipe appeared in the January 31st email newsletter, a Super Bowl preview titled “The Seven Snackurai”. If you landed here from somewhere else, do yourself a favor and check that out.