How to make healthy choices every day

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

My husband and I come from two different worlds: a potato chip world and a tortilla chip world. I distinctly remember the moment we realized this, on our honeymoon, deep in a Whole Foods vortex deciding which chips to buy for our three-week road trip across California. We were undoubtedly surprised and perhaps a little dismayed that we had committed our lives to each other without discussing this one rather important preference, but in the spirit of everlasting love and compromise, we pretended like it was no big deal. We bought two bags of chips and ate them separately. We remain happily married to this day.

I guess growing up in North America has had a real influence on me (shocking, I know). Tortilla chips and salsa was a classic childhood snack, especially at backyard barbeques, birthday parties and sleepovers. We would take a family-size bag out on picnics, road trips, and sometimes my dad would toss a few in my lunchbox, right beside the Wonderbread sandwich and fun fruits. Not joking. Anyway, I don’t really eat a lot of chips these days (another shocker), but that doesn’t mean that the occasional one doesn’t somehow sneak past my lips from time to time. I’m only human.

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

This idea to make tortilla chips from chickpea flour literally came out of nowhere. I don’t even remember what I was doing when the lightening bolt struck me, but it was fast and furious and I dropped absolutely everything to make them immediately, almost like I didn’t want the inspiration to get away on me! Thirty minutes later, the chips were in my belly. So fast and easy, I couldn’t believe it. Which lead my overly-excited mind, hepped on folate and molybdenum, to turn towards nachos. I mean, why wouldn’t I go there?

These chickpea tortilla nachos are crisp and golden, just like tortilla chips, but with a more satisfying and substantial heft to them, delivered by pure chickpea goodness. They are so filling and rich that it’s impossible to overeat them (that is not a challenge). And with really just two ingredients, how can you go wrong?! I’m going to experiment with making large rectangular flatbreads out of this dough too, which will be prefect for lunches, maybe with some seedy add-ins, spice blends, and I am dying to try a Doritos knock-off! I have a Cool Ranch makeover itch that needs to be scratched, if you know what I’m sayin’.

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

Snack smarter!
If you’re an enthusiastic snacker like myself, you’ll relate to the challenge in finding snacks that are balanced, healthy, and actually sustain you for some time until the next meal. “Food satiety”, is the measure of how full food makes us feel and how long it keeps our appetite at bay. Although calories definitely contribute to the of feeling fullness, a high calorie count does not always reflect the satiating power a food has. Factors that effect food satiety also include fiber, protein, and water content. And it is surprising that high fat foods, which are typically very caloric, tend to have lower satiating power.

Because of their high fiber and protein content, along with their remarkable ability to stabilize digestion, chickpeas and things made with chickpea flour (like these chickpea tortilla nachos) fall into the category of serious filler-uppers, even though they only contain a moderate amount of calories. It’s a win-win. One serving of these chips (about one-quarter of the recipe / 12 chips) delivers 11 grams of protein (!!!) and 5 grams of fiber for under 300 calories. Not that I am a numbers girl at all,  it can be helpful to take note of these things, especially if you are someone interested in weight management.

Other snacks that rank high on the food satiety scale are popcorn, pears, raspberries, oatmeal, beans, avocado, and chia seeds. Fill up on these guys to get, well, full.

If you’re buying chickpea flour for the first time, know that it’s available at most health food stores and natural grocers, where it can sometimes be sold under the names garbanzo bean flour and cici flour. Your most reliable source however, is an Indian grocer or market, where it is typically labeled besan or gram flour

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

So yea, nachos. The chips kind of demanded it. And I had more legal fun making a mountain of food than you could ever imagine. Layer upon layer of black beans, lime, avocado, onion, toasted pumpkin seeds, chili…bah! And the cilantro avocado crema is soooo delicious – not essential – but a major flavour and texture bonus. You can dollop it throughout the nacho pyramid as you build, kind of like tasty spackle, or put the crema into a squeeze bottle for drizzle fun. Everyone loves drizzle fun. The plate comes together like you’re witnessing some sort of awesome miracle take place, and then you get to eat it.

And just for the record my potato chip-loving husband devoured these tortilla chips. He would like to add that he is not a convert, just appreciative.

Chickpea Tortilla Nachos

I hope you guys dig this recipe as much as I do. These chips are going to be a new staple in my house! I can’t wait to really start playing with different flavours and add-ins – let me know if you do the same.

xo, Sarah B

Show me your chips on Instagram: #MNRchickpeatortillachips #MNRnachos



143 thoughts on “Chickpea Tortilla Nachos”

  • Actually, it was delicious, but might I suggest cutting the salt. When I read 1.5 tsp I immediately thought that was too much…did scant but might have gone for more like 3/4-1 tsp.

  • Phenomenal as usual. And in full confession, I made these with Heidi’s (101 cookbooks) sweet potato vegan nacho cheese. Big treat big treat!

  • Wow, I love this. I’ve made homemade tortillas, but never thought of chickpeas! I have never tried chickpea tortilla chips, but I love chickpeas.. I sooo want to try this! Like, today! lol..

  • Great blog! One of my favorite go to sites for inspiration. Every recipe I’ve tried so far has turned out great! Tried it today, it is delicious! Needed a bit more water for my dough. If you lift the rolled out dough between the two sheets of wax paper to the light you will be able to see how thick the dough is by how much of light passes through it.

  • You are a beautiful human for creating this recipe. I’ve gone gluten-free for health reasons, and I miss my nachos! I have a chickpea tortilla recipe, but I figured fresh chips couldn’t hurt. I’ll be feeding these to my gaming group tonight!

    • My only suggestion is for those with inconsistent rolling skills, consider pressing it like a tortilla, then cutting that in triangles.

  • Absolutely fantastic! I added a pinch of turmeric to give it a slightlzy yellower colour. A new standard recipe in my kitchen. Love how I can also easily change taste to more oriental/italien/… if desired. Thank you so much (:

  • I love these cracker/chips. I just ate guacamole for the first time in years. You made my dreams come true. Thank you!!

  • I wish I had read the comments before making these. I put in 1 1/12 tsp salt and it was so salty I threw them all away. 🙁 But I’m excited to try again!

  • Your photos are absolutely stunning!! I envy you! Great composition and lighting, and all the other good stuff too. Really looking forward to trying my hand at these bad boys this upcoming weekend. Your mention of the Indian grocer comment is encouraging me to try a palak paneer style nacho…. we’ll see how they turn out. Thanks again!

  • Thanks so much for posting this recipe Sarah. I made the nachos last night and couldn’t believe how easy the recipe was. I didn’t have black beans so improvised with a kidney bean salad/salsa. Brilliant!

  • Hi Sarah.
    Is there a substitute for chickpea flour? My body does not agree with legumes unfortunately.
    But these look delicious and I would love to make them!
    Thanks so much x

    • yes I did try it with olive oil and it is very tasty. The dough was a little bit tough to roll but I am not sure whether it has something to do with the olive oil.

  • All 3 of us (myslef, my 21mths old daughter and my hubby) love these nachos. I made them soooo many times already! Thank you <3

  • Have you tried adding using half part cornmeal and half part chickpea flour to give the chips more of a true tortilla taste/texture?

  • Wow! This look amazing. As a Mexican Nachos are kind of a weird thing to eat, because even though most people think they are a Mexican staple, they are actually not, they are more tex-mex, however I would definitely eat this nachos over any others I’ve seen. 🙂

  • I just made and devoured these! They were so good I was barely able to contain myself from downing them all in one go before I made the toppings, which I only got so far as the avo cream. Thank you, this recipe is so so yummy! A life saver after a long day. Thank you. Xxx

  • Would it be possible to make these in a dehydrator for a raw food preparation? Is there a tweak to the prep to suit a raw/dehydrator preparation?

  • Hi Sarah,
    Thank you for another amazing recipe! I had to cut eggs and gluten out of my diet this year, and it’s been difficult to find foods that don’t crumble to pieces or taste like glue. Your recipes always come out beautifully! I am so thankful for the resource. The tortilla chips were so easy and fun to make! I’m going to serve them with raita in the future. With great respect for your work!

  • I am really keen to make this but am wondering if I could substitute olive oil for the coconut? Coconut oil isn´t very easy to find here in Portugal and the few places that stock it are very expensive, whereas great quality EVOO is readily available. Not sure what my chances are of getting a reply but thought I´d try anyway… 😉

  • I sneaked in some red pepper in the tortilla chips and was blown away. By far the best version of Doritos (and perhaps also nachos..) that I have eaten!!

  • Dear Sarah
    I am a big fan of yours and have already cooked quite some of your recipes. But I must say: these chips, they “hit it out of the “kitchen””. They are unbelievable. Many thanks for posting them!

    Further would I love to “challenge” or also express my greatest interest (or pay you, haha) you into thinking more about dorritos (and cheetos for that matter. cheetos I miss you) and how to come up with a knock off.

    Best wishes
    Emilia

  • Just made these for the second time. Used half the salt and added garlic powder and paprika instead of black pepper. YUM!

  • Thank you so much for this recipe Sarah! I made this tonight for dinner and I absolutely adored it; as well as everything else I have made from your blog. Thank you so much for always posting such beautiful and delicious recipes that continue to inspire everyone! Keep up the good work! xxxx

  • It looks good. I’ve made socca similarly. The only thing I would do differently is add a few spoons of yogurt and let it ferment overnight…it makes the chickpea flour more digestible.

  • I just made these and I’m totally stuffed! I think next time I’m reduce the salt by half and sprinkle some on top instead for extra crunch. This is a very useful recipe. Thank you!

    • Love the idea of cutting the salt! I don’t need any more of that for sure. Feel so bloated. Like the Pillsbury Dough Boy (which I did dress up for Halloween once for) But I’m too old for that! Pumpkin seeds are just the best~ closely followed by avocado. So filling!!!!

  • As a child, I was also a HUGE tortilla chip fan, but I also had a guilty pleasure for Cheetos. As I became a teenager, my love for chips started to shift to grapes, popcorn and sugar nuts. BUT, these chickpea tortilla chips are perfect for smarter snacking! I’ve been meaning to try chickpea flour for a long time and I’d love to use it very soon!

  • DELICIOUS!! Genius recipe!!:D Thank you soo much!
    Made the nachos with smoked pepper-just great!! My boyfriend couldn’t get enough of them:D

  • I loved this idea! It’s one of the more creative recipes I’ve seen in a long time across all the veggie food blogs I follow. I made them last night and they were a huge success. My husband who doesn’t like garbanzos even loved them, and the avocado creme is divine. One note – I followed the recipe exactly, and the salt was WAY too much. I had to double the batch to get it right. So, I think start with .5 to .75 tsp and go to taste. I also found they needed about 20-25 min in my 375′ oven, but maybe mine were thicker. Thanks for another inspired recipe!!!!

  • Hi there, this looks fab! Have to try it one of these days!
    I have just made a re-make of your sauce with white beans from your cookbook. I made it with cauliflower instead and it turned out really great. I have posted the recipe on my blog and have of course also added your link. Thank you for the inspiration!
    x Isabel

  • Looks very nice 🙂 We have never really made homemade chips before. It looks like it would make a great, light dinner. I think I will follow some of the other suggestions and cut the salt back a bit.

  • Hi Sarah, I’m sorry but I have to agree with Natalie (March 9th). I made them with 1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt and find them (inedibly) salty.
    For the record: I have loved everything else I’ve made from your blog!
    Greetings from a Canadian in Germany, Jennifer

    • I thought so too! I usually love salt on chips but this was intense. I wonder if maybe the amount listed was a typo?

  • Just made these and also am finding them way too salty. Will def cut that back. I think i was a little worried about overworking the dough to start with, and I think more water would have been better…I mixed until the dough just came together, but I think that made it impossible to roll as thin as they really need to be to be crunchy like chips…the second half i added some extra water and the dough seemed less crumbly, but still prob not enough to make it thin enough…I won’t give up – I will try again soon…

    • Hard to tell how thin to roll them…now i understand why they are so salty, it’s because they are too thick…some of my second batch was the right thickness and they taste great – unfortunately, there are not enough of them…haha. But now i know…add the extra water to make a dough that is more pliable!

  • Dear Sarah
    This recipe looks wonderful! I am going to try it tonight. I wondered about your molybdenum reference in the description; are some of these ingredients a natural source of molybdenum or do you take a supplement? I take molybdenum drops in order to ease my candida die-off symptoms but I don’t really know much about it and would love to hear about your experience with it?
    Thank you for the beautiful blog!
    Anna

  • Hello SARAH,

    Too good 🙂

    Those nachos are really going to be something crunchy and tasty.
    Thank you for these pictures and the recipes brought up by you.

    Keep blogging.

    Shantanu sinha

  • Love, love these! They really attend to that desire for something deliciously crunchy, while being simply wholesome. I too found them to be a bit too salty – I would cut the salt some on the next batch. In trying to attain the thinness they so deserve, I found that dividing the dough in two helped a lot, because as you said, the thinner, the crunchier. I can’t wait to experiment with additions. Thanks yet again Sarah!

  • You’re right about rolling the dough super thin — I ended up using my tortilla press lined with a sliced ziploc bag and easily got thin chips. I also used Herbmare and found them a little salty, will def use fine grain salt next time. Everyone loved the nachos! Awesome recipe!

  • Team tortilla chip all the way here. I love your idea of making the chips out of chickpea flour- I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for it. My husband and I love to make loaded nachos for dinner on days after rough Mondays, but I don’t always love how I feel after a bout of them. I’ll be making these next time the craving strikes.

  • I just tried these and, having followed the recipe to the letter, I found them exceptionally salty. Is the amount stated correct?

    • Hi Des,

      Sorry to hear that! You’re the first person to mention this out of those that have tried it so far. I use a fine grain sea salt for this recipe, so if you’re using a different type of salt, that could be the difference. If you want to make them again, just use 1 teaspoon of salt, or to your taste. Hope that helps!

      xo, Sarah B

  • I just made these and can I just say…. LIFE CHANGING!!! Even more epic than your life altering bread. These held together amazingly well.

  • I cannot WAIT to make these, how brilliant you are!! I wonder about adding nutritional yeast and some mustard to them, to add a spicy and cheezy zing!

  • I am so excited!!!! A healthy substitute for tortilla chips. I am addicted to the healthier varieties you can find in health food shops, but barely dare to have them in the house they disappear so fast. I will be making these this weekend. Sarah, please indulge any urges you have to experiment with other flavours, your genius is so gratefully received…

  • I can’t believe how gorgeous these chips are!
    I’d personally take a tortilla over a potato chip any day. You just can’t beat that crunch and dip-ability.

  • Oh my what a recipe – thankful greetings from total mexican food lovers, this couple will so cook this next weekend! <3 🙂

  • YESSS! I will definitely try making these this weekend! I’m so excited, i’ve been thinking on cutting back on grain. I have PCOS and grain makes me gain weight fast. But i was sad at the thought of giving up tortilla chips.

    These will be much much better, healthier, and filling. Thank you!

  • Hi Sarah,

    Another beautiful piece of food art! I bet they are hefty but I sure would like to try snacking on a few… will give a go, thanks for posting an easy recipe!

    Besma | Curiously Conscious

  • I am 100% with you on team tortilla chip! These look like a fun and delicious spin on them. I’ll probably add some cheese to my nachos, though, cause that’s how I roll 😉

  • I just made these. I think could have rolled them thinner though, although at the time it did not seem possible.
    How could one use these as a regular tortilla, like to fill with chicken, tomatillo and ancho sauce, etc?

    • Hi Marianne!

      Happy to her you tried them, but yes, you have to roll them super thin! Try dividing the dough, or add one more tablespoon of water next time. Hope that helps!

      xo, Sarah B

  • I have Sarah’s cookbook and am enjoying trying out her recipes. Part of the reason that I bought the book was due to my frustration at finding a few incomplete recipes on her blog. I’ve noticed that Sarah never replies to any comments left on her food blog. I understand that Sarah leads a busy life, but why have a food blog and not interact with the people who are following you in an attempt to lead healthier lives? (For example, Deb Perlman on Smitten Kitchen.com replies to all questions and has extremely thorough instructions.) Anyone who’s intimidated or a ‘beginner’ in the kitchen needs at least a little guidance. Having options for substitutions in a recipe is also easier on the home cook, rather than searching out ingredients that aren’t local/available. Just some ‘food for thought’. (no pun intended:)

    • Hi Kathy,

      Thanks for your feedback and support – I really appreciate it!

      As you acknowledged, I lead a busy life, and share as much of my time and energy as I can on the blog. I figure that it’s better to post a recipe here than not at all, since many people can get something from each post even if there isn’t always two-way communication. We are doing our best, all the time, including myself 🙂

      In light,
      Sarah B

  • My husband and I love Nachos, and we make socca all the time….I’m totally stoked to have a new way to use our chickpea flour!

  • Sarah – You did it again!! Your imagination is limitless and these chickpea nachos look absolutely amazing. Would love to see what creative dips go well with these chips! Thanks so much for sharing. Will need to give hear a try soon

  • As a Cali girl I’d like to think I’m somewhat of a nacho expert…and when I saw all the layers upon layers of goodness sandwiched between the chickpea tortilla chips, well, it was love at first sight! They’re gorgeous, impressive, beautiful and healthy – a winning combo that’s begging to be made. Thanks!!

  • We’ve been enjoying socca pizza (inspired by the recipe in your book!). I’ll definitely be giving this thinner crispy version a try. Nacho night coming up!

  • OMG! What a wonderful recipe! So delicious ingredients, and such beautiful pictures. I’m hungry, and I want to cook this immediately!
    I am looking forward to cook that recipe, and am very excited about the individual tastes.
    Thanks for the healthy inspiration!
    Best regards from Berlin.
    Torsten

  • Amazing–totally can’t wait to try these! I love all these flavors, and love having filling snacks for tossing in my work bag. Oh, and I’m more of a tortilla chips on the regular kind of girl, but must admit that when there are potato chips in my presence–like at a party–there’s no stopping me. 😉

  • Hi Sarah,
    I use garbanzo flour in a lot of recipes that I prepare for myself and clients and have been curious regarding the digestibility of chickpea flour. My understanding is when cooking chickpeas it`s best to soak for 8hrs at least and then cook. Garbanzo flour (from my understanding) is raw and ground chickpeas so just wondering how that goes when making a recipe like this one or farinata etc. Would it be best to make the dough ahead of time and soak overnight or is there not enough moisture to make a difference. Any advice much appreciated.

  • Can’t wait to try these, they look great!

    Sarah have you heard of anyone having difficulty updating your app from the most recent update? I keep trying to update it but I’m not able to.

  • Add beans to anything and I’ll eat it. I’m always wondering what kind of healthy snack I should serve to my friends when they come around, so I’m really happy that you made this recipe. I’m gonna try it out 🙂

    • The dailybites blog cited in your link goes nowhere, and seems to be a thinly veiled attempts to get people to click on a link to an online slots (gambling) site. There are no links to the recipe you mention, or to a recipes page. It seems to be a one page blog.

  • Ooh so excited to see this ! My 12 year old daughter is a snack addict and I am always trying to find healthy alternatives here in India …..thank you!

  • oooh brilliant! my little one will LOVE these. she’s more of a salt than sweet girl, so I’m always on the lookout for crispy, crunchy, super healthy snack ideas. these would go perfect in her lunch box. thank you sarah!! xo

  • This is such a beautiful thing! I make homemade tortillas very often so I really love the fact that these are homemade chips. What an awesome and filling way to snack smarter!

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