Creamy Chickpea Pasta

By The Modern Nonna

on Nov 22, 2024, Updated Jan 14, 2025

5 from 3 votes
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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.

Table of Contents

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.

Top-down view of a wooden board with ingredients for a chickpea pasta dish: chopped onions, pasta, celery, chickpeas, garlic, grated cheese, olive oil, broth, rosemary, and small bowls of salt and pepper.
Chopped onions, celery, and garlic cloves are being sautéed in a black pan with a sprig of fresh rosemary.
A black pot containing chopped onions, celery, garlic, and chickpeas. There's a sprig of rosemary on top, and the mixture appears to be ready for cooking.

🔥 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!

A black pot filled with chickpeas, chopped onions, and celery is being poured with a light broth. A sprig of rosemary and cloves of garlic are visible among the ingredients.
A close-up of a creamy, light brown sauce or batter being stirred in a black frying pan with a wooden spatula. The mixture appears smooth and thick, with a slight sheen on its surface.
A black pan filled with creamy cheese sauce and small shell pasta. The pasta is partially mixed into the thick, smooth sauce, creating a rich, cheesy dish.

Nonna’s Tip 💦

To adjust the consistency of this luscious sauce, add the reserved pasta water gradually until you reach your desired consistency.

A bowl of creamy pasta soup garnished with a sprig of rosemary and freshly cracked black pepper, with a wooden spoon resting inside. The setting is cozy, featuring stacked wooden logs and a lit candle in the background.

Variations and Substitutions for Creamy Chickpea Pasta

  1. If you don’t have 🌶️ Calabrian chili paste, feel free to add a piece of chili pepper or even chili flakes for heat.
  2. Use whatever pasta shape you’d like: small pastina, large penne, spaghetti. Any pasta will work!
  3. You can absolutely make this Creamy Chickpea Pasta recipe with your favorite gluten-free pasta.
  4. 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!
  5. Make this recipe totally vegetarian using a 🥕 veggie broth instead.

Similar Recipes

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

Common Questions

can I make this recipe vegetarian?

Yes, you can certainly use any veggie broth you love rather than bone broth.

do I have to blend the sauce?

Not at all! You can leave the chickpeas as is and toss with the cooked pasta, or mash lightly with a fork.

can I make this with gluten-free pasta?

Yes, you can absolutely use your favorite gluten-free pasta in this Creamy Chickpea pasta recipe.

what chili paste do you use?

I love this Calabrian Chili Paste. It’s the perfect amount of spice!

A creamy bowl of gnocchi soup garnished with fresh rosemary. The soup is in a white bowl, and a wooden spoon rests inside. A cozy, rustic background with stacked firewood adds warmth to the scene.

Creamy Chickpea Pasta

This creamy chickpea pasta is every Nonna's best kept secret. A modern take on the beloved pasta e ceci. We blend it all together to create the most luscious sauce that's perfect for picky eaters as we sneak in the veggies 🤐.
5 from 3 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Makes: 2 portions
Author: The Modern Nonna
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Equipment

Nakiri Knife
Cutting Board
Large Sauté Pan
Measuring Cups + Spoons
Liquid Measuring Cup
Blender
Rotary Grater
Large Pot
strainer

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
US Customary – Metric

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!

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1 portion, Calories: 590kcal, Carbohydrates: 77g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 2274mg, Potassium: 612mg, Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 246IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 422mg, Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
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Hi! I'm Sneji. Nice to meet you!

I am more commonly known as “The Modern Nonna” on social media where I create easy home cooked meals with a modern twist. I was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria and learned how to cook at the best culinary school in the world – my grandma’s kitchen. I lived in Greece on the Island of Crete with my parents for a while and then moved to Toronto, Canada when I was in grade 5. I started to really cook and experiment with food 11 years ago when I was 21 years old. Everything I currently know is a reflection of some part of my life…

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5 from 3 votes

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5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    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!!

    A person holding a bowl of creamy, chunky soup with pieces of meat, seated on a cushioned surface. A spoon is placed in the bowl, ready for eating.

    Reply

    1. I absolutely love all your improvisations!! What a delicious hug in a bowl 🥹 So glad the hubs approved. 💗

      Reply

  3. 5 stars
    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!

    Reply