Todd The natural food market has exploded with healthy chickpea snacks in the past five years. Roasted chickpea snacks have grown from being in very few grocery stores ten years ago to being in over half of all grocery stores now. Chickpeas make a great healthy snack since they are high in protein and fiber. A single cup of chickpeas contains 29% of the daily value of protein and 49% of the daily value of fiber.
Chickpeas are a legume that grows on a green bushy plant. Chickpeas are native to the Mediterranean region but are now grown all over the world. Montana and Washington grow almost 70% of the US chickpea crop. Chickpeas are more versatile than just being roasted. Chickpeas can be ground into flour and companies continue to innovate with chickpea flour. Many companies have started making snacks with chickpea flour that traditionally have been made with wheat and corn.
Now the best part, the snacks that companies have crafted from chickpeas.
Kibo Chickpea Chips
Kibo Foods is a new player in the chickpea snack game. They came on the market in 2018 with a single product, chickpea chips. Kibo Chickpea Chips are not like potato chips but are a lot closer to a light tortilla chip. Kibo Foods uses ground non-GMO chickpeas to formulate a crispy chip that is like a crispy airy tortilla chip.
Kibo Chickpea Chips have a great texture and the Himalayan Salt flavor accentuates the chickpea flavor. They are great for dipping in guac and salsa. Pico de Gallo and Mediterranean Herb have a bolder flavor, but the flavors aren’t too bold. Kibo Chickpea Chips have very limited distribution and Amazon is your best bet to try them.
Check out more information on about Kibo Chips in our detailed review.
Hippeas Chickpea Puffs
While Kibo Chickpea Chips are one of the small players in the chickpea snack field, Hippeas is the 500-pound gorilla. Hippeas is estimated to soon have $100 million in sales and are carried by most major grocery store chains. They have achieved this success since starting out in 2015.
Hippeas has figured out how to make the classic “cheese puff” out of chickpeas using custom made equipment. Hippeas Chickpea Puffs are light and airy, but also have the satisfying crunch that a puff should have. Hippeas has done this by developing fair-trade chickpea coops in Ethiopia which they source their organic chickpeas from.
Hippeas Chickpea Puffs come in a slew of flavors ranging from the classic puff flavor of White Cheddar to Nacho Vibes to Sriracha Sunshine,. They have done this while creating a product that is organic and vegan. They use a combination of citric acid and fruit and vegetable juice to create a great cheese flavor without actually using dairy. Amazon is a great place to buy Hippeas Chickpea Puffs.
Check out our review of all of Hippeas’ products.
Biena Roasted Chickpea Snacks
Biena Roasted Chickpea Snacks are not the original roasted chickpea snack, but they have mastered it to perfection. They developed their roasting process in their kitchen and started with distributing to a single store. They are now available in over half of the major grocery stores in the country.
Biena Roasted Chickpea Snacks come in six flavors, Habanero, Sea Salt, Barbeque, Honey Roasted, Rockin Ranch, and Sour Cream & Onion. The flavors are not the most exotic, but they are done really well. They accentuate the roasted chickpeas perfectly. Biena Roasted Chickpea Snacks are not over-roasted and have the perfect crunch.
Our detailed Biena Snacks review covers all of their products.
The Good Bean Chocolate Covered Chickpeas
The Good Bean is one of the oldest chickpea snack companies in the US, starting in 2010. Roasted chickpeas are their main seller, but I think that chocolate covered chickpeas are where they shine. The Good Bean has created three flavors of chocolate-covered chickpeas, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and mocha chocolate.
The Good Bean takes their non-GMO roasted chickpeas, dips them in chocolate, and then adds a thin candy coating creating a chocolate chickpea snack that does not melt in your hand. The nut-free chocolate-covered snack has a great texture combination of the crunchy chickpea combined with the smooth chocolate. The dark chocolate and mocha chocolate flavors are vegan and dairy-free.
Read our detailed review on The Good Bean and all of their products.
Field Trip Chickpea Butter
Field Trip Chickpea Butter is not hummus. Field Trip have mastered how to turn roasted chickpeas into a great tasting non-GMO “nut” butter replacement. I would not normally list chickpea butter as a snack, but Field Trip packs their chickpea butter in individual packets, making them perfect for eating on the go.
Field Trip takes roasted chickpeas and adds some roasted sunflower seeds to help create a perfect “not nut butter.” Field Trip Chickpea Butter comes in three flavors, Classic, Chai Spice, and Cinnamon Churro. Cinnamon Churro is my favorite flavor and the slight sweetness of the flavor complements the boldness of the chickpea flavor well. Field Trip Chickpea Butter has a very limited distribution and Amazon is often the easiest way to buy it.
Chickpea Snacks
The number of chickpea products on the market is pretty amazing. Currently deman for organic chickpeas is greater than supply so most of the chickpea snack products on the market are non-GMO, but not organic. If you are buying chickpea products because of a nut allergy, make sure to make sure that the product is not made in a facility that also process tree nuts. What is your favorite chickpea snack product?
