The Good Bean provides a naughty but nice crunchy chickpea snack with Smoky Chili and Lime

Product: The Good Bean Smoky Chili and Lime Chickpea Snack – $2.99+

Forget chips.  Honestly.  Forget the over processed, unhealthy, and sometimes laden with chemicals and ingredients that you don’t recognize and probably shouldn’t be consuming after all.  There are other options out there that are not only healthier, but taste better?

Ever have kale chips?  They are easy to make…or, for a price, you can buy them already made in a variety of flavors.  But, healthier crunchy options don’t end there.

Ever have crunchy chickpeas?  You know…chickpeas that have been roasted in the oven so now they are hard and have this amazing crunch to them?  If not…you should.  And if you don’t trust yourself to make them right…no worries.  The Good Bean has taken the guess-work out of the preparation and is putting the amazing tastes of all-natural, roasted chickpeas on the shelves of grocery stores.  I found mine at Whole Foods, but have spotted them at other natural food stores.

Prior to today, I had already tried the Sea Salt and the Sweet Cinnamon versions of this snack.  This left two flavors still needing my attention.  Black Pepper (which I can’t find anywhere!) and Smoky Chili and Lime.  I love me some spice, so I saved the Smoky Chili and Lime version for the end of my roasted chickpea journey (or at least until I can find the Black Pepper variety around here).  It would be my afternoon snack, the one that would see me through the tail-end of my day at work.  And with the success of the previous two flavors…I was quite happy to try this particular one.  I mean…come on…it’s spicy, right?

The Good Bean’s Smoky Chili and Lime flavor was apparently inspired by the fantastic flavors that are found in Spanish and Mexican snacks.  They chose to use Spanish Paprika, which provides a great smokey flavor without a lot of heat, to pair with the smoky chili flavor in their spice mix.  The Good Bean states that this specific chili…is the “naughtily assertive Mexican Chipotle.”  But…don’t worry.  To tame the chilies and keep the heat under control, The Good bean blended in lime…just to give an extra zing to the chickpeas and to take away just a smidge of the heat.  After all…you want to be able to taste the snack…not your tastebuds burning.

Which now brings me to how they taste.  I’m…on the fence.  While I have raved about the other flavors I have tried…this one is just…different.  And that’s saying something coming from me.  Here’s why.  I love spicy foods.  I love the burn and the heat.  And, yes, The Good Bean’s Smoky Chili and Lime Chickpea Snacks definitely has a generous spice coating on each roasted chickpea…but the lime…the lime seems to overpower everything.  In fact, I commented that I felt like I was eating a fruity cereal more than a spicy snack.  Considering this was the flavor I was looking forward to the most, it’s a huge let down.  If I wanted to eat Fruity Pebbles, I would have bought them.  The fact is…I bought a snack that promised heat with their usual rich chickpea flavor.  And all I really get is a hint of the spice…and then a whole lot of lime.  Talk about a let down!

So…with that in mind, let’s discuss ingredients and nutrition.  One serving of The Good Bean Smoky Chili and Lime Chickpea Snacks is 1/4 cup (or 35 ounces).  This serving provides you with 150 calories and 3.5 grams of fat.  Like the other flavors, this one is also cholesterol free and has only 260 mg sodium.  You also get 6 grams of filling fiber and a great 6 gram hit of protein with each serving.  And with only 5 grams of sugar per serving, you can feel good about your choice.  These snacks are all low in carbohydrates, contain nothing over-engineered, nothing artificial, are low in fat, gluten-free and also nut free.  The Smoky Chili and Lime variety contains roasted chickpeas, brown rice syrup, spices, coarse salt, lime juice concentrate, gum arabic, non-GMO and expeller-pressed canola oil.  These particular snacks are also considered clean eating.  WIN for my new diet.

Don’t get me wrong…the Smoky Chili and Lime variety is good enough…it just wasn’t what I had expected it to taste like.  Way too much lime for my tastes and not enough of that smokey chile flavor that is promised on the package.  Still…a healthy and nutritious choice for a snack.  Same satisfying crunch as a chip…but giving you so many more healthy benefits without the added fat, cholesterol, and unnecessary ingredients.  The Good Bean puts out very good products that they should be proud of.  I am happy to have this sort of snack in my life.  And maybe…maybe they have inspired me to give roasting chickpeas at home on my own a try.

Just maybe…