Genuinely hungry or just bored, late-night hunger surges can be easily ignored. At times like these, it's easy to get tempted by the leftover bag of chips or unhealthy sweets left in the fridge that you left for eating after. But these high-calorie and high-fat snacks that offer pleasure for the time being can worsen your sleep afterwards. This is why it is better to stick to low-calorie and healthy snacks like chickpeas that help aid sleep.
Chickpeas are one of the best snacks to have before bed. It contains several vital nutrients along with Vitamin B6 and tryptophan, an amino acid. Both of these compounds are known for inducing sleep and improving sleep cycle. Vitamin B6 helps the body to convert tryptophan to melatonin which is a hormone that gets produced in the brain in response to darkness. When the body is unable to produce melatonin naturally, foods that aid its production can help. Chickpeas, with its excellent nutrient content and ability to induce sleep can help you feel full throughout the night and improve the quality of sleep too.
Along with being extremely nutritious, chickpeas are deliciously flavourful and have so many possibilities to be transformed into delectable snacks. So, if you are feeling hungry tonight, try these chickpea snacks.
7 Chickpea Snacks To Curb Late-Night Hunger
1) Roasted Chickpeas
One of the easiest snacks you can make with soaked chickpeas is by simply roasting them golden. You can try a bunch of different seasonings to add flavour to these chickpeas and also coat them with some flour to add a delightful crunch.
2) Chickpea Salad
Boiled chickpeas can be a perfect protein to add to your salad. With sleep-inducing vegetables and fruits like leafy greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado, cherries, mango and pineapple, you can form a flavour-packed snack to mix up with your chickpeas and eat it as much as you like.
3) Chickpea Chaat
For the cravings that call for something fun and savoury, this chana chaat is an excellent choice that combines taste with health. By combining chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander, spices, tamarind chutney, mint chutney, sev and papdi with boiled chickpeas, you can easily make yourself this delightful treat.
4) Chickpea Fritters
Crispy fritters are an all-time favourite for busting hunger pangs with a delightful crunch. With chickpeas, you can make perfect protein-packed fritters with no oil using an air fryer. Just mash your chickpeas and combine it with coriander, seasonings and some chickpea flour. Make flat disks and air fry to golden perfection.
5) Chickpea Cutlet
You can call this another form of chickpea fritters, but this time coat it with some seasoned bread crumbs to add a crunchy crust. Try out different interesting shapes like this one to make the making process more fun. You can also add a cube of cheese in the middle to create a delicious surprise in every bite.
6) Hummus
Hummus is made with blended chickpeas seasoned with salt and other spices that create a perfect dip for your chips and crispies. For the best healthy chips to try late at night, go to the article below and make yourself a guilt-free snack.
7) Chickpea Trail Mix
Chickpea trail mix provides nutrition of all sorts by combining different roasted nuts, dry fruits and seeds. You can also add sleep-inducing berries like strawberries and goji berries to improve your sleep. Additionally, you can add dark chocolate chunks and grated coconut for more flavour.
Chickpeas are loved by all for so many reasons. No matter what you make with them, they will turn out equally amazing in every recipe. Give all of these flavourful chickpea recipes a try when you're feeling hungry late at night, and savour the healthy goodness as you fill your stomach.