Investigation and Quality Improvement of Chickpea Flour-Based Spreadable Cheese Analogue Through Roasting and Rice Flour Incorporation

Raw chickpea flour-based cheese analogues often exhibit poor sensory acceptability, excessive firmness, limited spreadability, and legume off-flavours, reducing consumer appeal. This study aimed to develop and optimize a spreadable chickpea-based cheese analogue (CBCA) by fully replacing the raw chickpea flour fraction in the experimental formulations with roasted chickpea flour and rice flour. Four formulations were prepared: a raw chickpea control and three experimental variants with different roasted chickpea–rice flour ratios, while all the other ingredients were kept constant. Sensory evaluation was carried out with 60 untrained panelists using a seven-point hedonic scale, and the selected formulations were further assessed for physicochemical, textural, proximate, and storage stability. Roasting improved oil-holding capacity, supporting emulsion stability and reducing oil separation. Sensory evaluation showed significant differences among formulations (p < 0.05) for all attributes evaluated, with formulation 2 (F2), containing 35% roasted chickpea flour and 20% rice flour, receiving the highest overall acceptability. Texture profile analysis confirmed that F2 had approximately 50% lower hardness than the control while maintaining comparable cohesiveness, producing a softer and more spreadable matrix. F2 also showed the most favourable pH (5.51) and water activity (0.78), indicating improved product stability. Proximate analysis showed slightly higher crude fiber in F2, with marginally lower fat, protein, ash, and calcium than the control. During refrigerated storage, F2 showed better oxidative and microbial stability than the control. Overall, the optimized formulation (F2) achieved the best balance of sensory quality, spreadability, and storage stability, demonstrating that roasted chickpea flour and rice flour can be effectively utilized to enhance the quality and consumer acceptability of chickpea flour-based cheese analogues as a gluten-free plant-based alternative.