Sprouted Chickpea Hummus Recipe

I like to make this hummus with raw, sprouted chickpeas. It's a nice change from classic chickpea hummus. The rawness comes through as a fresh flavor that is not at all harsh. My husband describes it as "wheatgrass-y," which he promises is a compliment.

If you are concerned about the safety of eating raw beans or just like the flavor of cooked beans better, by all means, cook them first. Sprouted chickpeas cook in about 15 minutes and are more easily digested than unsprouted chickpeas.

Growing your own sprouts feels more like prepping food than actual gardening, which I think is key to not screwing it up either. All you need are beans, a jar, some cheesecloth, a rubber band, and water.

I've been happily growing alfalfa sprouts this way for a while now. A batch of sprouts takes just a few days and little maintenance. And what a reward to be able to eat your own harvest. Alfalfa is a legume just like lentils, chickpeas, and mung beans—they can all be sprouted with the same grow-in-the-jar method.

You may be picturing alfalfa sprouts and mung beans sprouts in your local Chinese take-out. These looked more bean than sprout; I was a little wary. How palatable (and digestible) could they be? My sprouted lentil actually had a pleasant crunch and fresh, slight sweetness. It was a little like biting into a fresh, raw cob of summer corn.

The sprouting process releases dormant enzymes that make the beans more easily digestible and in some cases, even more nutritious. The sprouts that are easiest to grow are also commonly eaten raw: mung beans, alfalfa, lentils, chickpeas, and adzuki beans. 

Other beans such as fava, kidney, black, navy, and pinto beans—typically the larger beans—can also be sprouted with this method but are generally considered difficult to digest and potentially toxic in their raw form. They cook much faster than their unsprouted counterparts and are still more digestible. You can also sprout nuts, grains, and other seeds, but we won't get into all that here.

As with many raw or not fully cooked foods, there have been some cases of food-borne illnesses from eating contaminated sprouts and a lot of subsequent debate over the safety. Some people feel it's not safe to eat any raw sprouts, especially for those with a compromised immune system.

Before growing sprouts, you should decide for yourself how comfortable you are with the potential risks, and whether you'd prefer raw or cooked sprouts.

Once your sprouts are all grown, they make crunchy, nutritious additions on sandwiches, soups, salads, and tossed into stir-fries.

Whole raw chickpea sprouts aren't really my thing, but they do make a wicked hummus.

If you prefer cooked sprouts, the alfalfa won't take the heat well, but other sprouts are delicious when cooked. Mung bean sprouts can be added to a dish in the final few minutes of cooking. Sprouted lentils are fully cooked after four or five minutes of steaming. Sprouted chickpeas and adzuki beans need around 15 minutes of cooking.

Here's how to sprout your own chickpeas (or any bean), step-by-step:

Rinse and pick over beans

Mung beans and lentils are the easiest and fastest to sprout. Alfalfa, chickpeas, and adzuki beans are also good for beginners, but need a little more time.

Contaminated seeds are usually the source of sprout-related illness outbreaks, so getting clean seeds is essential. Choose whole (split red lentils, for example, won’t work) and untreated beans that are meant for sprouting or eating. Reputable health food stores and online catalogs (such as sproutpeople.org and sproutman.com) are your best bet. The ones sold in gardening packets are likely to be chemically treated and should not be used for sprouting.

Wash them and remove any damaged beans and foreign objects.

 Place beans in jar with water

Fill the glass jar with cool, clean water. The beans will expand as they soak and take up even more space as they sprout, so give them plenty of space in the jar. Two tablespoons of alfalfa seeds for a 3-cup jar is plenty. Other beans should not take up more than 1⁄4 of the jar.

Soaking

Cover with a drainable cap and soak for 8 to 12 hours. Cheesecloth secured with a rubber band or the outer ring of a canning lid works well, though you can also buy special sprouting jars that come with a mesh cap.

Soak the beans for 8-12 hours at room temperature. A general rule of thumb: the larger the bean, the longer the soak.

 Rinse and drain

Drain the water out through the mesh cap. Give it a rinse with fresh water and drain again. Find a spot away from the sunlight. Place it upside-down at an angle on a dish rack or wire cooling rack so the remaining moisture is released through the opening of the jar. Make sure air can circulate around the opening.

Repeat

Rinse and drain the beans with fresh water at least twice a day, up to four times a day if the beans seem to be drying out completely.

Keep doing this until the sprouts grow to the length you want. Lentils and mung beans have been the fastest-growing in my experience – they just take a day or two after the initial soak. The whole process can take anywhere from 2 – 5 days. These lentils are just about done.

Let alfalfa sprouts grow to about an inch. Mung bean, lentil, chickpea and adzuki sprouts are good at around a half-inch, but it’s a matter of preference.

Final step for alfalfa

If you put a jar of sprouted alfalfa in a sunny window for a couple of hours, the tiny leaflets will develop some chlorophyll and turn green. Rinse in a large bowl of clean, cool water. Remove the hulls that float to the top.

Wash and Eat

Give your sprouts a final rinse and drain them well in a colander before refrigerating. Sort out any unsprouted beans. Place them in a container or plastic bag lined with paper towel, seal, and refrigerate.