Chickpea Pasta

Chickpea Pasta is easy to make, satisfying, creamy and comes together in no time. Made with coconut milk, chickpeas and wonderful seasonings, it is a dish that the whole family will love. Once you have tried it, you will make it on repeat, because it has seriously all the flavor that everyone can’t get enough of in a pasta dish.

What I love about chickpeas is that you can make anything amazing with them. 

Starting from simple Roasted Chickpeas, to soups like my Sweet Potato Curry or the Mulligatawny Soup, and salads, such as Chickpea Salad or Couscous Salad.

And what makes all of this even better is that you can find chickpeas everywhere and that they are so budget friendly.

Reasons to love this Chickpea Pasta

First, you can use any pasta that you like, it works perfectly with any short shaped or long pasta. Use even leftover pasta like I do.

The textures are really good: you do not only ave chickpeas, but I add a bit of spinach to the final result.

You won’t believe how creamy the coconut milk makes everything. I know I said that often non dairy cream cheese is one ingredient that is truly one of my favorites for creamy sauces (see Creamy Mac and Cheese). Therefore let me tell you coconut milk is such an amazing ingredient like in my Lemon Pasta.

Chickpea Pasta is a really inexpensive recipe that you can easily double for a bigger family or if you have more friends over.

What you need for this Chickpea Pasta Recipe

Pasta, of course: Spaghetti, linguini, penne, bowtie, to give you some options, are wonderful and amazing.

As I said before, chickpeas are really cheap and they make a great foundation. They taste great and have an amazing texture. I really like how versatile these are.

Olive oil: Any oil can be used, but in my gusto olive oil is one of my favorites. It has lots and lots of flavor.

Coconut milk makes our sauce really creamy and rich. Please always use full fat coconut milk from a can. You can use light coconut milk, but it will less creamy and rich.

Lemon juice and zest will make our sauce pop and add bright flavors to it. Lemon zest really intensifies everything and that my friends is so good.

Garlic and chili flakes: garlic for great flavors and chili flakes for a little bit of a heat which is great, because it compliments the other ingredients in no time.

Spinach: I use fresh spinach, but frozen can be used. Keep in mind and make sure to thaw completely. Drain frozen spinach always to get any excess liquid properly removed.

Parmesan: I use vegan and you can use store bought or homemade Vegan Parmesan Cheese (3 ingredients, 1 min). Anyways either way is delicious.

How to make Chickpea Pasta

As you can see in my step by step pictures, I start with leftover pasta. If you haven’t any ready, cook some pasta according your package directions.

Now, get a large pan and heat olive oil. Add chickpeas and garlic and cook everything for 3 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Further, add in parmesan and coconut milk with the lemon juice and zest.

Finally mix in the spinach and cook everything for 4 minutes more, then add pasta back. Season with chili flakes and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Serve and enjoy.

Tips and tricks

Leftovers can be eaten and stored in the fridge for 5 days.

For reheating leftovers: You can reheat them on low temperature on the stove or use the microwave.

Freezing: you can store after cool down completely in a container and freeze for 3 months.

To save time, you can cook your pasta 2 days in advance and make the sauce from scratch when needed.

Remakes of the Chickpea Pasta? Share them on Facebook. 

Enjoy, Florian.