Hummus
Smooth chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon and garlic, finished with olive oil and red pepper.
The Turkish pantry
Chickpeas (cooked)
Choose the cooked form, check salt and match its tenderness to soup or hummus.
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Tender, cooked mature chickpeas, ready to drain and use. Dry chickpeas, roasted leblebi and chickpea flour are separate forms.
Types & forms
Home-cooked
Chickpeas boiled until tender; measure the cooked amount when the recipe asks for cooked chickpeas.
Canned or jarred
Already hydrated and cooked. Check whether the stated weight includes the packing liquid.
Dry chickpeas · comparison
Need soaking and cooking before use; do not replace cooked chickpeas with the same weight of dry seeds.
What to look for when buying
- Choose plain chickpeas rather than a seasoned prepared dish. Compare sodium and added ingredients on the label.
- For a recipe specifying drained chickpeas, use the drained amount rather than the total package weight.
Prepare & cook
- Drain and rinse canned chickpeas when the recipe directs. A firmer cooked chickpea can hold its shape in soup; hummus needs a soft texture.
- When starting from dry seeds, follow the soaking and cooking method for that product. Check tenderness rather than assuming that every batch cooks at the same speed.
Store it well
- Refrigerate cooked chickpeas promptly in shallow covered containers, within two hours or one hour above 90°F. Use within three to four days.
- Freeze extra cooked chickpeas in labeled portions. Thaw in the refrigerator; store unopened cans according to their label.
Substitutions depend on the dish
For soup
Cooked white beans change flavor and shape; use an adaptation designed around their tenderness.
For hummus
Chickpea flour or crisp roasted leblebi cannot replace the cooked chickpeas directly.
Nutrition
Cooked mature chickpeas, boiled without salt [1]
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 164 kcal |
| Protein | 8.86 g |
| Total fat | 2.59 g |
| Saturated fat | 0.27 g |
| Carbohydrate | 27.4 g |
| Dietary fiber | 7.6 g |
| Total sugars | 4.8 g |
| Sodium | 7 mg |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Calcium | 49 mg |
| Iron | 2.89 mg |
| Potassium | 291 mg |
| Vitamin D | 0 µg |
Unsalted boiled chickpeas, not dry seeds or a salted canned product. Drain as the recipe directs; packaged products can have different sodium values. Values are rounded for readability; “not reported” does not mean zero. A “<” value is below the source’s measurement limit.
Nutrition values come from the reference source named above. They are published reference values, not our own measurements. Actual products and cooking methods may change the values.
At the Turkish table
Our hummus blends cooked chickpeas with tahini. Toyga and tutmaç soups use them as whole legumes. These are uses in the linked recipes, not claims of a single origin for chickpeas or hummus.
Cook with Chickpeas (cooked)
Yogurt, Wheat and Chickpea Soup
A creamy yogurt soup with tender wheat, chickpeas and dried mint butter.
Lentil, Noodle and Yogurt Soup
Short wheat noodles, green lentils and chickpeas in a smooth yogurt broth.
Beef and Chickpea Rice
Layers of shredded beef, caramelized onion, rice and chickpeas, cooked in broth and turned onto a platter.
Chicken Soup with Tiny Meatballs
A tomato-based soup with chicken, chickpeas, rice and tiny meatballs, flavored with dried mint.
Chickpea Rice
Buttery rice with tender chickpeas, inspired by Istanbul’s street-side pilaf carts. This version uses cooked chickpeas and water, with no chicken topping.
Chickpea Wrap
Warm lavash wraps soft chickpeas with sumac onions, parsley and sweet red pepper. Cumin and Turkish red pepper flakes season the filling, while olive oil softens the sharp onion mixture.
Eggplant and Beef Casserole
Roasted eggplant layered with minced beef and tomato, with an optional chickpea variation. The optional chickpeas reflect a documented Afyonkarahisar variation. This oven adaptation roasts the eggplant instead of frying it and has no béchamel topping.
Gaziantep Yogurt Soup
Tiny rice-and-lamb balls, chickpeas and tender lamb in a yogurt broth finished with mint butter. Gaziantep yuvalama is a substantial celebratory dish, often described locally as a meal rather than an everyday soup. This home adaptation uses rice flour for the small balls; traditional preparations may grind soaked rice with meat.
Lamb, Lentil and Chard Stew
A Van-style pressure-cooker stew of lamb, green lentils, wheat, cooked chickpeas and chard, finished with strained yogurt, garlic and red pepper butter.