Skip The Soak And Make Chickpeas Faster With A Pressure Cooker

Thanks to their nutty, earthy taste, chickpeas taste incredible in a wide variety of dishes. From hummus to mushroom and chickpea burgers, the legumes are versatile. They're also a pain to cook. Unless you go the canned route, chickpeas have to be soaked for hours on end before cooking. Of course, you can bypass that by using a pressure cooker.

With the appliance, the necessary step of softening chickpeas prior to cooking is taken away. Pressure cookers trap steam inside, causing pressure to build up and cook food faster. Typically, after an overnight soak, chickpeas must be boiled for around one to two hours. In the pressure cooker, they don't need to be cooked for much longer than 50 minutes.

Their cooking time is dependent on the texture you're after. For al dente chickpeas to put in salads or grain bowls, cook them on high pressure for 45 minutes and finish off with 10 minutes of pressure release. For soft chickpeas in recipes like Instant Pot hummus, let them cook on high pressure for 50 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of pressure release.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, don't fret: You don't have to wait overnight for cooked chickpeas. One of the best methods for cooking chickpeas quickly is quick-soaking them. Rather than having them sit in water and waiting to cook them, boil the chickpeas for two minutes. Let them sit for an hour, drain them, and then boil it once more for around an hour.

To soften the chickpeas quickly, try adding about a teaspoon of baking soda to them. Although you can add it to the water while they're soaking or as they're boiling, baking soda has a bitter taste that you'll want to rinse off prior to eating.

If you find that your chickpeas take a suspiciously long time to soften, check to see how old they are. Older beans tend to take a longer time to cook, so it's best to ensure that your chickpeas are as fresh as possible.