Instant Pot Chickpeas are ready in 1 hour with no soaking. Not to mention they taste way better than from a can. And without BPA.
Cook a batch at a time, freeze and use in soups, salads and stews. And of course, make hummus. Need more inspiration? Check out my most popular collection of 30 healthy Instant Pot recipes.
Pressure Cooker Chickpeas
I have been making Instant Pot chickpeas from day one I got Instant Pot. Isn’t the whole idea behind an electric pressure cooker to save time, money and eat healthy?! Exactly. My other Instant Pot batch cooking staples are black beans, quinoa, brown rice, eggs and bone broth.
Your Instant Pot is perfect for cooking dried beans without any soaking! Pressure cooker chickpeas come out whole on the outside, soft inside and so creamy. OMG, freshly cooked chickpeas are super-duper tasty. Way better than canned stuff.
Why I Love Cooking Chickpeas in Instant Pot
I stopped buying canned beans many years ago. After we started prioritizing organic food and learnt about BPA, I knew even organic canned beans were not the best option. Their price is outrageous! It’s similar to kombucha that costs 30 times more to buy. Crazy!
I used to cook dried beans on the stove for years. Now it’s Instant Pot chickpea recipe time.
So that’s why. To save money and stay healthy.
Are Chickpeas Good for You?
Chickpeas aka garbanzo beans are a nutrition powerhouse. They are mostly known for their high protein and fiber content. While low in fat and moderate on calories. All of this is especially important for vegetarians and anyone because eating less meat is good thing.
High fiber and protein content help control healthy blood sugar level and keep you full longer thus controlling the weight (source). So, eat your chickpeas, friends. Just common sense.
Recipes to Use Cooked Chickpeas In
- Chickpea avocado salad
- Chicken chickpea stew
- Garlic hummus
- Quinoa falafel
- Instant Pot turkey chili
- Sweet potato hummus
Tips for Buying and Cooking Beans
- Look in bulk – Bulk section of a grocery store is anyone’s gold mine. Especially immigrant’s, I know firsthand. That’s where same foods do not pack on an extra cost of packaging.
- Buy organic – If you can afford, buy organic beans and legumes. They are sprayed in a field with harmful for our health pesticides that we end up putting into our bodies. Plus, organic beans do not cost much more than conventional. Or I buy on Amazon when I am stuck at my studio for a week without leaving the house (trust me, happened more than once).
- Fresh is best – Apparently there is such thing as “old” beans and rice. They take longer to cook. So once you find your reliable source of beans and my recipes work for you, stick to those beans haha.
- Don’t add salt – Apparently salt can prolong cooking time. We don’t need more salt anyways.
How to Cook Chickpeas in Instant Pot
If you are new to pressure cooking, check out my Instant Pot guide. It explains what happens, why and how to avoid failures. If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet but are thinking about buying one, I explain which Instant Pot to buy in my humble opinion.
- Add 1-3 cups of chickpeas with keeping ratio of 1 cup beans: 3 cups water in mind.
- Cooking time is 25 minutes on High Pressure.
- Let pressure come down on its own for at least 10 minutes.
- Release remaining pressure by turning valve to Venting. Or just let it come down on its own completely.
Tip: I do not recommend to release pressure right after garbanzo beans finished cooking. It will make chickpeas mushy and broth will spray all over your countertop.
Freeze for Later
Cooked beans refrigerate well for up to 5 days.
I like to freeze chickpeas and use instead of canned. 15 oz can = 1.5 cups drained beans.
To freeze chickpeas, transfer beans with a slotted spoon to a large colander placed in a sink and drain. Then measure 1.5 cups into the sandwich bags, let air out, seal and freeze for up to 6 months.
To thaw: Place on a counter for a few hours or in the fridge overnight. Or place in a bowl with hot water for 5 minutes and then drain (that’s me). Easy-peasy.
Save Broth for Soup
Do not discard the liquid. Again, it’s any immigrant’s goldmine. It is a delicious and nutritious veggie broth. Use as a base for making any soup. Especially, bean mushroom soup.
More Instant Pot Batch Cooking Recipes
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- Instant Pot brown rice
- Instant Pot quinoa
- Instant Pot yogurt
- Instant Pot bone broth
- Instant Pot shredded chicken
- Browse all healthy Instant Pot recipes.
Instant Pot Chickpeas
Cook Instant Pot Chickpeas from dried with 1 min prep. Freeze for later, avoid BPA and save money.
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 26 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: North American
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, rinsed & drained
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- In Instant Pot, add chickpeas and water. You can eyeball water just enough to cover chickpeas by an inch.
- Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cooking on High for 25 minutes (8 quart model) or 30 minutes (6 quart model).
- After 25-30 minutes, Instant Pot will beep, display will say OFF and now let it bring pressure down for 10 minutes. I do not recommend to do Quick Release by turning pressure valve to Venting position. It will make chickpeas mushy and chickpea broth will spray all over your kitchen.
- Open the lid. That’s it!
- Freeze for Later: I like to transfer chickpeas with a slotted spoon to a large colander placed in a sink to drain the chickpeas. Then I measure 1.5 cups (equal to a 15 oz can drained) into the sandwich bags, let air out, seal and freeze for up to 6 months. To Thaw: Place on a counter for a few hours or in the fridge overnight. Or place in a bowl with hot water for 5 minutes and then drain. Easy-peasy.
- Broth: Do not discard the liquid. It is a delicious and nutritious veggie broth. Use as a base for making any soup. Especially, bean mushroom soup.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
Thanks for the great recipe. I used my Instant Pot for the first time to make these chick peas and they turned out perfect!!. Love how easy this was to make and really appreciate the information on the ratio of beans to water – that was something I struggled with soaking and cooking beans on the stovetop or slow cooker. I’m a convert, will not go back to fixing beans that way now that I know how super easy it is to cook with the instant pot following this recipe. I did have a question though, do you save and freeze the liquid for soup base?
★★★★★
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback, Lynn! Dried beans are my 2nd favorite feature after frozen meat of IP.
YES! I do save broth for soups, forgot to mention. And freeze.
Skeptical as I am that no soaking is just as good as soaking, I will try this. The aquafaba is liquid gold, yes!! I have been convinced that the broth is better after cooking soaked beans rather than washed dry beans. I will report back. I always cook 1 pound of chick peas that I now know is 2.5 cups, so I’ll stick to that. It’s a large amount of beans and great broth. I fill the IP to just above the soaked beans because they’re not going to get any bigger when cooking and because I want rich, undiluted broth. Now I will follow your directions of 1C dried beans = 3C water, so 7.5 cups of water for 2.5 cups of dried beans. I will report back, Olena! Giving this 5 starts because you’re probably going to be right! (I’m very curious as to how far above the cooked beans will be the water level. The less water, the tastier the broth. So let’s see!)
★★★★★
Yes you are right. SHould be fine with less water. It’s just a guideline.
Worked completely fine! In a large steel bowl, 2.5C dried washed chickpeas and 7.5C water. I let the beans sit on the counter for an hour in the cooking water because I wanted to use IP for something else first. The beans expanded and there was of course less water in the bowl when I lowered it into 6-quart IP. After 30M HP, I let it sit for 2 hours because I was busy, tried a few beans — cooked to perfection — and lifted it out of IP. Ended up with 4C of aquafaba, which is interesting to know that 3.5 cups of water are in those 2.5 cups of beans, highlighting even more why these beans are so healthy. They’re a water-filled food, a very very good thing! OLENA, YOU’RE FABULOUS!
★★★★★
Happy to hear.:)
Perfect Instant Pot chickpeas. Not mushy at all. Perfect cooking time. Thank you!!!
★★★★★