Crispy Chickpea Tacos

Tex-Mex is always a standard fast dinner in the Macheesmo house, but recently I’ve been craving a veggie taco that was still big on flavor. These Crispy Chickpea Tacos hit all the right marks: Crunchy and spicy with plenty of bright slaw and creamy sauce.

I usually roast chickpeas if I want them crispy, but I wanted these tacos to be super fast so I thought I’d try just cooking them in a hot skillet for a few minutes. It worked great and made this into a solidly under-30-minute dinner.

If you’re in a Tex-Mex rut, give these a shot. They are a nice switch from the standard taco bar.

Crispy Chickpea Tacos

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Yield

4-6 tacos

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

25 mins

These fast and delicious vegetarian tacos are plenty filling and have great toppings: a quick slaw and a creamy avocado sauce.

Ingredients

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 avocado, topping

Medium flour or corn tortillas

Radicchio Slaw

1/2 fresh radicchio, sliced thin

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/4 red onion, sliced thin

1 serrano, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

1/2 cup queso fresco

PInch of salt and pepper

Sour Cream Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 lime, juice only

Pinch of salt and pepper

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Directions

1. For the slaw, rinse and slice radicchio very thinly and toss with red pepper, sliced onion, sliced pepper, cilantro, a pinch of salt and pepper, and crumbled queso fresco.
2. For the sour cream sauce, stir together lime juice and sour cream and season with salt and pepper.
3. Drain chickpeas and rinse well. Then toss with olive oil, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
4. Add chickpeas to a medium skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas turn crispy on the edges and brown a bit. You don’t need to cook them obviously so just look for some nice color and crispiness to them.
5. Remove chickpeas and add a few spoonfuls to a flour tortilla with the radicchio slaw, sour cream sauce, and fresh avocado.

Crispy Chickpea Tacos

There are three parts to these tacos. None of the parts are particularly difficult and all of them bring something nice to the table.

The main chopping work goes into the slaw. I used radicchio which has a nice bitter crunch to it, but you could also use red cabbage if you want.

Just slice everything pretty thin so there aren’t any huge chunks.

It’s the slaw.

I also like to toss in some crumbled queso fresco so this becomes almost like a salad that’ll go on the tacos.

Such a great mix and really nice colors.

Queso mix!

For the chickpeas, rinse them well and then toss them with the olive oil and spices. You can go big on the spices here!

Seasoned chickpeas

Add them to a skillet over medium heat and cook them until they get browned and crispy on the edges.

You obviously don’t need to cook the chickpeas. You could eat them raw, so you’re more looking for a color/texture on the chickpeas. This is about right!

Crisp them up!

Taco time is pretty straightforward now. Spoon in some chickpeas, scoop some slaw on top, and drizzle the whole thing with sour cream sauce and fresh avocado.

These crispy chickpeas tacos are really different and a breath of taco fresh air. Give ’em a try!