Chickpea Flour Recipe: 5 Ways to Use Chickpea Flour

Chickpea flour is a type of pulse flour made from dried chickpeas, a member of the legume family, along with the lentil. Depending on the chickpea variety used to make the flour, it is also known as garbanzo bean flour, besan flour, or gram flour. The chickpea flour sold in grocery stores is stone-ground to a fine powder, but you can make your own by pulsing dried chickpeas in a food processor or spice grinder.

Chickpea flour is a popular flour in gluten-free baking, where bakers use it to make treats like chocolate chip cookies, banana cake, flatbreads, muffins, and biscuits.

Chickpea flour is a great resource to have in any kitchen. Here are a few ways to use it:

1. 1. In crêpe recipes: Along the Ligurian Sea, chickpea flour is used to make a thin pancake or crêpe. In Nice, France, this is known as socca, while in Italy it’s known by many names: cecina, torta de ceci, farinata, or fainâ.
2. 2. In fried dishes: Chickpea flour lends a light-yet-hearty consistency to the batter for Indian pakoras (spiced fritters) and a crumbly, moist crumb for deep-fried falafel.
3. 3. In desserts: Gram flour (made from gram chickpeas) is used in various sweets across the Indian subcontinent, like laddu, a combination of flour with ghee and sugar that occasionally features nuts and dried fruit.
4. 4. As a thickener: Chickpea flour is incredibly absorbent, making it an ideal binding agent in homemade veggie burgers or a flavorful thickener in stews and soups.
5. 5. As an alternative to traditional flour: Chickpea flour is higher in protein, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber than other gluten-free flour (like rice flour) or whole-wheat flours (like all-purpose flour). Chickpea flour is naturally quite dense, so experiment with ratios before substituting it entirely in a dish.