My Plant-Based Family

Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget

Replace Salt with Lemons

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

by 8 Comments

A special thanks to Sunkist for sponsoring today’s discussion.

Do you keep a salt shaker on your table? We used to keep salt on the table until I realized my family would add salt to their food before even tasting it. Salt is a dangerous habit in America. A few years ago we cut out oil and decreased our salt consumption. We still use small amounts of salt but not near as much as before.

A few things helped us reduce our salt intake…

  1. We added other flavors and seasonings like Sunkist Lemons instead of salt.
  2. We allowed time for our palate to adjust.
  3. We bought low-sodium substitutes of some of our favorite products.

We missed salt the most in crunchy snacks. The following recipe uses Lemon instead of salt. The salt is not missed at all.

Decrease Salt by seasoning with Sunkist Lemon's

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
  • 1 Sunkist Lemon (juice and zest, about 1/4 cup)
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

Do

  1. Drain and rinse chickpeas and gently towel dry them.
  2. In a medium bowl mix remaining ingredients and stir well.
  3. Add chickpeas and allow them to marinate while oven preheats to 400 degrees.
  4. Stir regularly.
  5. Pour chickpeas into a baking pan (with sides, not a cookie sheet) covered with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for about 1 hour.

I recommend you bake for 25 minutes then stir well. Bake for an additional 25 minutes and stir again. Then bake for 10 minutes, stir chickpeas then bake for 5 minutes between stirs until chickpeas are golden brown and crisp. DO NOT BURN.

Serve

These Lemon-Pepper Chickpeas are a fun snack or a great addition on a salad. No one will guess it’s salt-free.

Decrease Salt by seasoning with lemon juice

For more inspiration on using lemon instead of salt take a look at this Sunkist S’alternative info graphic.

Flavoring with Lemon instead of saltSunkist lemons are grown in California and Arizona and available all year round. In addition to helping boost flavor and reduce sodium intake, lemons can be used in a number of ways – from household cleaning to healthy living. I always keep a bowl of lemons on my counter. I use them for cleaning, in drinks and especially in food.
season with lemon

Please take a minute and visit Sunkist to discover recipes and more information about sodium and sodium alternatives.

Which tips are your favorite?