With so many vegan chickpea recipes, these orange chickpeas are one of my favorites! They’re packed with fresh orange flavor, ready in 15 minutes and are perfect for meal prep. Sweet, tangy and picky eater approved!
I’ve said this before, but I’m saying it again! I’m on a mission to make a chickpea dish out of all of the popular Chinese dishes. So far we have Sesame Chickpeas, General Tso’s Chickpeas, and now this Orange Chickpea buddha bowl, so what should be next?!
These easy recipes are perfect for a quick weeknight dinner because they are all so easy to make. Plus, they’re a great source of plant protein and there are (clearly!) so many ways to add flavor to chickpeas.
This recipe was inspired by my orange cauliflower, but I made a few tweaks to the sauce so it compliments the chickpeas better. Just as easy and delicious though!
How to make this recipe
First, mince the garlic and add to a pan with 1 tbsp of oil. Let it saute for about 2-3 minutes or until it starts to brown slightly. Be sure to stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
Next, add in the fresh orange juice, tamari, rice vinegar, honey, ginger and hot sauce. In a separate bowl, whisk together the arrowroot powder and the water.
Add the arrowroot mixture to the orange juice mixture on low heat and whisk together to ensure no clumps form. Using low heat is important because if the heat is too high, the mixture will thicken too quickly and you may end up with a goopy sauce.
If this does happen, no worries, just transfer the mixture to a blender to smooth it out before proceeding to the next step.
Once the mixture starts to bubble, add in the chickpeas and stir to coat them nicely. Bring the mixture to a low boil to let the sauce get nice and thick. Avoid stirring too much as this will slow down the thickening process.
The sauce should be nice and thick within 5-10 minutes. If it’s not, whisk together another tablespoon of arrowroot and tablespoon of water and add it in.
Serving Suggestions
I personally love these orange chickpeas with rice or quinoa and steamed broccoli. You can also enjoy these on their own, or with some chicken, salmon, the options are endless!
There will be some extra sauce so you can stir fry extra veggies right into there and make like a simple orange stir fry. SO good with broccoli, purple cabbage, bok choy, baby corn, bell peppers etc.
Flavor Tips
The recipe calls for freshly squeezed orange juice because it will yield the best flavor. You can absolutely sub for regular orange juice, but you may want to add orange zest for extra flavor.
I do not recommend leaving out the orange zest as it adds a really great orange flavor that orange juice just ins’t very good at (sorry OJ). I like this zester to grate it in while the sauce is thickening.
Not related to flavor, but the cornstarch in the recipe is there to thicken the sauce and a very important component in this recipe. You can sub for tapioca or arrowroot starch as well, but definitely don’t leave this out!
Do they keep well in the fridge?
Once prepared, these chickpeas will store in the fridge for about 3-5 days. I have not tried freezing them, but I do think they would freeze just fine.
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Vegan Orange Chickpeas
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 2 cans chickpeas
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp sweetener of choice maple syrup, honey, brown sugar all work
- 3 tbsp low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tbsp cornstarch can sub 2 tbsp arrowroot
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tsp hot sauce or to taste
- 2 tbsp orange zest
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas and set aside.
- Whisk the corn starch and water together and set aside.
- To a saute pan, add the mined garlic, ginger and olive oil.
- Saute for 2-3 minutes or until the garlic starts to brown.
- Add the orange juice, sweetener, tamari/soy sauce, hot sauce, rice vinegar and whisk together over low heat.
- Slowly add in the cornstarch mixture while whisking the sauce.
- It will start to bubble after about 30 seconds, let it simmer while whisking to let the sauce thicken, then stir in the chickpeas and orange zest and mix until the chickpeas are well coated. Continue to heat as the mixture thickens.
- Let simmer for 5-10 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
- Serve warm with rice, quinoa, and steamed veggies. Enjoy!
zoe says
Sooo good! keeps for days and I made it into a stir fry with the leftover rice!
Kai says
Soooo good and easy!! I had to add a bit more cornstarch (directly into the pan) but other than that it’s delicious and quick to make. Thank you!
Fiorela Olaechea says
Great flavour! I love it ❤️ besides making this was so fast.
Eva says
This is REALLY a delicious dish! Great flavor!
Claire Cary says
Thank you Eva! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Tim G says
The chick pea revolution continues! Chick peas with Black Bean sauce?
Althea says
This dish is phenomenal. I couldn’t believe the flavor. It’s incredible. I’m actually in a daze at how tasty it is. I love chickpeas and I think they are the best vehicle to show off vegetarian flavors. Thank you so much. I’ll be sharing this on my blog. I’ll send you the link when it’s live. Twenty stars!
Claire Cary says
Thank you Althea!! You are so sweet, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I do not allow full republishing of recipes on other blogs, but you are welcome to share a link back here!
sheenam @ thetwincookingproject says
this looks absolutely healthy and yummy. Cant wait to try this recipe.
Claire Cary says
Thank you Sheenam! Hope you love it 🙂
Julia Joseph says
In the instructions you say to put rice vinegar but no mention of rice vinegar in the ingredients section. I’m trying to make the recipe now 😭
Claire Cary says
Hey Julia! So sorry about that, it’s just 1 tbsp of rice vinegar. The recipe has been updated now 🙂