Crispy chickpeas are a classic air fryer snack. What used to be a 30-40 minute affair in a conventional oven is now quick to prepare in your countertop convection oven. They’re one of the first things you should make when you buy an air fryer, but if you haven’t tried them yet, I’m glad you haven’t. That means your first experience with air-fried chickpeas could be the ultimate experience, because I’m going to share a quick trick for getting the crispiest chickpeas every time: just toss them in cornstarch first.
Homemade airfryer chickpeas | savory or sweet!
See. I’ve baked and air fried quite a few chickpeas and the only issue I’ve had is the toughness. That’s not really a problem because I eat them anyway, but every now and then a batch comes out dry but still lacking that rattling crunch I crave. Coating the chickpeas in a light coating of cornstarch before cooking helps to crisp them up.
A quick dredge of cornstarch in hot oil before cooking transforms into a crispy, airy coating because the moistened starch molecules rearrange themselves a bit. As America's Test Kitchen explains, "The hydrated granules swell when first heated in the oil, allowing the starch molecules to move around and separate. As water is driven off during frying, these starch molecules lock together to form a stiff, brittle network with a porous, open structure." It's the same way you get a crispy crust on orange chicken, and the reason naturally starchy potatoes were born to fry.
Drain a can of chickpeas in a colander or strainer. You need to dry off the excess water from the chickpeas. Normally you would do this in the air fryer while it is preheating, but I think you would remove too much water. To make cornstarch crispy, it needs to be hydrated a bit first. Shake the colander and let the chickpeas air dry for 10 minutes or use a paper towel to pat off the excess aqua faba.
