A collection of 20 easy vegetarian chickpea recipes that can be made with a simple can of chickpeas. Casseroles and curries, sandwiches and dips, and lots more!

Ahhh, the humble chickpea. They don’t look like much, but this little bean can do so much. If you’re feeling uninspired, perhaps this collection of vegetarian chickpea recipes will help you out.

What to do with canned chickpeas

I tend to use tins of chickpeas in my cooking, rather than boiling dried chickpeas from scratch. Canned chickpeas are such a useful and versatile ingredient to have on hand, and they’re really handy for throwing into dishes to add a bit of protein. You don’t need to plan ahead – just open a tin, and chuck them in.

Chickpeas can be used in hundreds, or even thousands, of different ways. The fact that they don’t have a huge amount of flavour on their own means they’ll go with just about anything. Make them Indian, make them Italian, throw them in a soup, mash them up, throw them up in the air a few times* – you get the idea. Whatever you end up using them for, they’ll be a great addition to your meal.

*maybe not this one

Are chickpeas healthy?

Chickpeas are packed with good stuff, so they’re a great addition to any balanced diet.

Like most other legumes, chickpeas are high in protein and fibre, and are very good at keeping you full for a long time. They’re also really high in iron (read more about iron for vegetarians here!), as well as other nutrients such as vitamin B-6, magnesium, potassium, and calcium.

Here’s a bit more detail about the nutritional content of 1 cup of cooked chickpeas:

If that’s convinced you to try to get more chickpeas into your diet, read on for some inspiration…

Vegetarian chickpea recipes

Which of these vegetarian chickpea recipes will you try first?

Here are a few other recipe collections you might enjoy: