Creamy Chickpea Pasta
on Nov 22, 2024, Updated Jan 28, 2026
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You know I love to turn a classic on its head. Introducing a twist on pasta e ceci, The Modern Nonna Way 👀. I took all the flavors of the beloved Italian pasta and chickpea soup and transformed it into pasta drenched in a creamy, luscious sauce. Chickpeas and fragrant aromatics, like garlic, rosemary, and an optional kick of Calabrian chile, are blended until silky smooth and combined with a generous handful of parmigiano—the good stuff! 😉 Mix with your favorite pastina (small pasta shape) for a cozy meal that will leave you warm and satisfied.
Why You’ll Love Creamy Chickpea Pasta
The whole family will love my modern take on pasta e ceci. 🧡 Instead of the traditional soup recipe, featuring whole chickpeas and mini pasta, I blended everything but the pasta to make a thick, creamy sauce, then folded in pastina. The beauty of this recipe is you can enjoy this as a decadent sauce, or thin it out with broth or water and, voila, it’s a silky bowl of soup. 🪄 Kids will love this recipe—they’ll never guess the cheesy, garlic-y sauce is made from beans and 3 types of vegetables. 🤫 Save this recipe for your next cold winter day, when warming comfort food is an absolute must.
How to Prepare
🔪 Using a sharp knife, dice an onion, a celery rib, and smash 5 cloves of garlic.
🧅 Add olive oil to a pot on medium heat. When it is shimmering, add in the onions, celery, garlic, and a sprig of rosemary.
🌶️ If you’d like, drizzle in a touch of Calabrian chili oil for spice.
🧂 Now, let it cook for 5 minutes as you stir. After the veggies have softened, add in the chickpeas, salt, and pepper.
🔥 Next, pour in the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies have fully softened.
❄️ Now, take the pot off the heat, let it cool a bit, remove the rosemary sprig, and then transfer the rest of it carefully into a blender.
🌀 Blend until smooth.
🧀 Pour the blended chickpea cream back into the pot and add the grated Parmesan cheese. Please use good quality Parmigiano Reggiano cheese here only. Stir and set aside.
🫧 In the meantime, boil the pastina of choice in a large pot of salted water.
💧 Once boiled, reserve some of the pasta water and strain the rest of the pastina.
💦 Add the pastina into the creamy chickpea sauce with a splash of that pasta water (or until desired consistency).
😋 Serve with extra hot pepper oil on top (or a drizzle of finishing olive oil) and enjoy!
Nonna’s Tip 💦
To adjust the consistency of this luscious sauce, add the reserved pasta water gradually until you reach your desired consistency.
Variations and Substitutions for Creamy Chickpea Pasta
- If you don’t have 🌶️ Calabrian chili paste, feel free to add a piece of chili pepper or even chili flakes for heat.
- Use whatever pasta shape you’d like: small pastina, large penne, spaghetti. Any pasta will work!
- You can absolutely make this Creamy Chickpea Pasta recipe with your favorite gluten-free pasta.
- Make this recipe dairy-free with your favorite non-dairy parmesan substitute. I haven’t tried it personally, so let me know in the comments if it works!
- Make this recipe totally vegetarian using a 🥕 veggie broth instead.
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Creamy Coconut Chickpeas
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Chickpea Crouton Salad
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Kid Friendly Tips
This Creamy Chickpea Pasta dish is perfection for little eaters. It’s not only cozy and comforting for those with sniffly noses, but it’s also creamy, cheesy, and utterly delicious. I’m telling you, they’ll just think this is a big bowl of 🧀 mac and cheese! They’ll never know the sauce is actually a super-healthy blend of protein- and fiber-rich 🫘 beans, plus three different 🥕 veggies. If making this dish for kids, I suggest using a small pasta shape or pastina, and leaving out the chili oil altogether.
Best Served With
- I love a nice fresh 🥗 salad when I eat pasta. Try my Fennel Salad or Simple Green Salad.
- Serve with seasonal vegetables such as grilled asparagus, steamed broccoli, or 🫑 roasted bell peppers.
- Slices of baguette or my cheesy roasted garlic bread.
Common Questions
Yes, you can certainly use any veggie broth you love rather than bone broth.
Not at all! You can leave the chickpeas as is and toss with the cooked pasta, or mash lightly with a fork.
Yes, you can absolutely use your favorite gluten-free pasta in this Creamy Chickpea pasta recipe.
I love this Calabrian Chili Paste. It’s the perfect amount of spice!
Creamy Chickpea Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 celery rib, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 teaspoon Calabrian chili oil, or any spicy oil (optional)
- 1 can organic chickpeas, small can
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon salt, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper, to taste
- 1 cup pastina, any small pasta shape
- ½ cup parmigiano cheese, grated
- splash of pasta water, at the end
Instructions
- In a pot on medium heat, add the oil. Let the oil come to a shimmer and add in the onions, celery, garlic, and a sprig of rosemary.
- Optionally, drizzle a touch of Calabrian chili oil for spice. You can use a piece of chili pepper or even chili flakes if you like heat.
- Now, let it cook for 5 minutes as you stir. After the veggies have softened, add in the chickpeas, salt, pepper, and broth.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies have fully softened.
- Now, take it off the heat, let it cool a bit, take out the rosemary sprig, transfer the rest of it carefully into a blender, blend until smooth.
- Pour the blended chickpea cream back into the pot and add the grated Parmesan cheese. Please use good quality Parmigiano Reggiano cheese here only. Stir and set aside.
- In the meantime, boil the pastina of choice in boiling salted water. I decided to use baby shells today but any tiny pasta shape will work.
- Once boiled, reserve some of the pasta water and strain the rest of the pastina.
- Add the pastina into the creamy chickpea sauce with a splash of that pasta water (or until desired consistency).
- Serve with extra hot pepper oil on top (or a drizzle of finishing olive oil) and enjoy!
My Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is great.
Thank you, Emily!
Alright Nonna, excellent recipe! Thank you so much for sharing.
I had to make some ingredient adjustments due to allergies/dietary restrictions, but was still a hug in a bowl. 🙂
We have poultry allergy in our house as well as gluten intolerance. So we swapped the chicken broth for mushroom broth (could be a more flavorful vegetarian alternative) and the pastina with gluten free stelline. We also didn’t have Calabrian chili oil available at our local grocery store so I found a spicy chili oil alternative that was also gluten free.
Stirred in some mixed sautéed mushrooms (after blending the sauce) to make it a bit heartier and served with some gluten free Brazilian cheese bread. My husband is sold and can’t wait for me to make it again!!
I absolutely love all your improvisations!! What a delicious hug in a bowl 🥹 So glad the hubs approved. 💗
Super delicious! Made it for my bf when he was sick and I only had an insta pot to work with. He LOVES it <3
Aww thanks Sky! Hope your bf is feeling better 💕
I am OBSESSED with this creamy chickpea pasta! It’s like a warm hug in a bowl-comforting, delicious and totally satisfying. Packed full of flavor!