Dried chickpeas need to be soaked overnight in water to soften. Then the chickpeas need to be boiled soft. The easiest way to do this is with the help of a pressure cooker. Dried chickpeas are a great choice if you are looking for a budget-friendly recipe option, and this is also your choice if you want to avoid artificial preservatives. The con is, that dried soaked chickpeas take forever to cook through (min 30 mins with a pressure cooker). You can also use canned chickpeas instead of dried chickpeas, and they are convenient and already soft out of the can, but they contain preservatives.