2-Ingredient Protein Candy - Chickpea and Chocolate Clusters (2024)

Protein chocolate candy that is made from just 2 ingredients – chickpeas and chocolate. This vegan protein candy is easy to make and inexpensive.

A great filling snack that’s perfect for a mid-afternoon pick me up or a pre workout snack.

The chickpeas are dry-roasted so that they are crispy,crunchy and low-fat. This recipe is vegan, oil-free, no added sugar, gluten-free, nut-free, seed-free and suitable for nutrient dense plant-based healthy diets.

Each protein candy cluster contains just under 5g of plant protein when made with very dark chocolate. This is just the base recipe and you can add any ingredients you like, such as seeds and dried fruit.

I personally love this recipe with a few tablespoonsof sesame seeds and dried unsweetened cherries. The sesame seeds add crunch, texture and earthiness while the dried cherries add a slightly tart sweet and sour flavour that works really well with dark chocolate.

Chickpea and Chocolate Vegan Protein Candy Video Recipe

Play recipe on YouTube

I’m using 84% dark chocolate for this protein candy as its low in sugar and its dark bitter flavour is very satisfying in a small amount with crunchy chickpeas. You can use whatever chocolate you like. If you can’t get chocolate chips then just chop up a bar of chocolate into chunks.

In England you often can’t get high-quality chocolate chips easily so I’m using bulk bought specialist dark cooking chocolate as its VAT (value added tax) free.

There is no need to add any oil to the chickpeas – just dry-roasting them will remove all the moisture and make them crispy but still not too hard on your teeth.

I recommend to only use chickpeas in this protein candy recipe as they remain firm and still a great texture once dry roasted whereas other beans and pulses become soft and dusty. I tried with butter beans and they virtually disintegrated into dust!

Adaptations

As mentioned earlierI like this recipe with sesame and dried cherries added but its really endless the different combinations you can make with this recipe.

I’m keeping this vegan protein candy recipe basic as a base for people to add what they like and have to the mix.

Spices such as cinnamonand cayenne pepper work well. Seeds like pumpkin,coconut and sunflower are great additions. As is just about any dried fruit and nuts. I’ve made this with raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, goji berries and vine fruit and it was really nice.

See the raw chocolate fruit and seed bites for an idea of ingredients.

As with all my recipes this protein candy recipe is full of natural ingredients and they can vary significantly. If you have a choice then the chickpeas that are large and soft work best for this as they are softer and crumble easily when dried. Just be careful when tossing as they bake as they will crumble easily when eaten.

Although I know it can be pretty potluck when you open a tin of chickpeas as to what size and type they will be. I do find chickpeas from a jar taste better and you can tell the size, but they seem to be treated with stabilisers unlike tinned chickpeas.

If you like roast chickpeas then check out my Smokey Roast Chill Chickpeas recipe. For another simple two ingredients,chocolateprotein recipe seemy 2 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse.

Dark chocolate is healthy and has many health benefits. Choose dark chocolate that’s at least 80 cocoa solids as its high in antioxidants and low in sugar.