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You will love these pan-fried Cajun chickpea fries made from chickpea flour. They are golden crispy brown on the outside and creamy, tender and delicious on the inside. Serve with my vegan cilantro lime dip for a fun gluten-free appetizer or party snack.
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Looking for a snack-type food that takes little effort, and satisfies your cravings for French Fries? Make Chickpea Fries! Just look at them – all golden crispy brown on the outside and creamy, tender and delicious in the middle! Delicious!
To make these fries we whip up a thick polenta-esque mixture of chickpea flour, water, and some garlic powder, then chill, slice, fry, and dunk!
These would be fantastic on their own as we pan fry them up until golden and perfect. But when dunked in the cashew-based vegan cilantro jalapeño lime sauce, they become completely irresistible!
Chickpea fries are a snack that is sure to satisfy your cravings for salty finger food and they are pretty cheap to make. Chickpea flour is just one of those kitchen staples that is ALWAYS great to keep on hand. If you want to learn more about chickpea flour, check out this blog post.
Cajun Chickpea Fries with Cilantro Jalapeno Lime Cream Dip
Ingredients
Chickpea Fries:
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 1 1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 salt, + more for to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
To add later
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tbsp cajun spice blend
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder, or granulated garlic
- 1/4 tsp salt
Cilantro Jalapeno Lime Dip:
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 TBSP lime juice
- 1/2 cup packed cilantro
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp pickled jalapeno
- 1/2 tsp or more of salt
Instructions
For the Chickpea Fries
- Blend the Chickpea Flour, water, salt, and garlic powder until smooth. Then add to a sauce pan over medium heat and cook. The mixture will get lumpy, stir occasionally and it will eventually and even out to a thicker custard like state. Continue to cook for another 2 mins after it has thickened evenly. Transfer the mixture to a greased 7-8 inch pan or spread over parchment and even out on the top using parchment paper.
- Chill for 20 minutes, and slice the chickpea into fry size slices.
- Add the chickpea fries to a skillet over medium heat with 2 tsp of oil and panfry until most of the edges are golden.
- Take off heat and add in the cajun spice, garlic, salt (only if your Cajun blend doesn’t have salt), in pan, and toss well to coat. Taste and ajust to salt and spice.
For the Dipping sauce:
- Blend all the ingredients until they're smooth and creamy. I usually soak the cashews in hot water for 15 minutes, and then blend, and then blend the mixture for 1 minute, let it sit for 10 minutes in the blender, then blend again. That gives a really creamy depth. Taste and adjust salt and lime as needed.
- Serve the freshly pan fried chickpea fries with the Cilantro Jalapeno Lime Dip.You can also serve these fries with salsa, ketchup or my tahini dip for a Nutfree variation.
Video
Notes
- To make the cilantro lime dipping sauce nutfree, use 1/2 cup firm tofu.
- The chickpea fries can also be deep-fried, or brushed with olive oil and baked at 400 F until golden.
- Feel free to use your favorite seasoning – think Ranch seasoning, Taco, or Fajita Seasoning, Lemon Pepper…the possibilities are endless.
- To use Besan, use 1 1/4 cup besan for the fries. They will set slightly softer and more delicate but will crisp up on pan frying
- Another great dip for these would be my garlic tahini dip.
- Add a seasonal twist by adding some mashed kabocha squash to the batter as I did in this chickpea kabocha fries recipe!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for chickpea fries:
- Chickpea flour forms the base of the batter and we cook it with 1 1/4 cup of water and season it with salt and garlic powder. Besan doesn’t work as well here as the chickpea tofu mixture is softer with besan. You can use besan, use 1 1/4 cup of besan. The fries will be softer.
- Once pan fried, we toss them in cajun spice which adds more flavor and a gorgeous color.
- The base of the cilantro-lime dip is made by blending raw cashews which we soak in hot water to soften them.
- Fresh lime juice adds some zing which is so nice paired with the nutty and earthy chickpea fries.
- Cilantro, garlic, and pickled jalapeños take this dip south of the border! This creamy sauce is also amazing with tacos, nachos, or sweet potato fries.
- this recipe is vegan Glutenfree soyfree, and Nutfree with an alternate dip.
Tips
- The chickpea fries can also be deep-fried, or brushed with olive oil and baked at 400 F until golden all over.
- These can be frozen to store.
- Feel free to use your favorite seasoning – think Ranch seasoning, Taco, or Fajita Seasoning, berbere, Lemon Pepper…the possibilities are endless.
- Another great dip for these would be my garlic tahini dip.
- Add a seasonal twist by adding some mashed kabocha squash to the batter as I did in this chickpea kabocha fries recipe!
How to make Chickpea Fries & Dip:
For the Dipping sauce:
Blend all the ingredients until they’re smooth and creamy. I usually soak the cashews in hot water for 15 minutes, and then blend, and then blend the mixture for 1 minute, let it sit for 10 minutes in the blender, then blend again. That gives a really creamy depth. Taste and adjust salt and lime as needed.
How to make chickpea fries:
Blend the Chickpea Flour, salt, and garlic powder until smooth. Then add to a sauce pan over medium heat and cook. The mixture will get lumpy, stir occasionally and it will eventually and even out to a thicker custard like state. Continue to cook for another 2 mins after it has thickened evenly. Transfer the mixture to a greased 7-8 inch pan or spread over parchment and even out on the top using parchment paper.
Chill for 20 minutes, and slice the chickpea batter into fry size slices.
Add the chickpea fries to a skillet over medium heat with 2 tsp of oil and panfry until most of the edges are golden.
Take the pan off the heat and add the cajun spice, garlic, and some more salt (only add salt if your Cajun blend doesn’t have salt), straight into the pan, and toss well to coat. Taste and adjust salt and spice level.
Serve the freshly pan-fried chickpea fries with the Cilantro Jalapeno Lime Dip.
Can these be made ahead of time?
Yes, you could make the batter ahead of time and add it to the pan to firm up in the fridge for up to 2 days – maybe even longer as long as you keep it refrigerated. Before frying, bring them back to room temperature so they will fry evenly and not be too cold for the oil.
Fabulous idea! I would put the seasonings in the fries as well as some on when you cook them. The best thing about chickpea fries is you can season from the inside out
tasty!