Chickpea Pesto Pasta
This chickpea pesto pasta uses chickpeas to create a lusciously creamy "hummus" pesto sauce, which is absolutely perfect served stirred into pasta with some roasted cherry tomatoes on top. It's a quick summer dinner ready in less than 30 minutes!
I was inspired by this recipe when looking at recipes for hummus pasta, and it occurred to me - why not blend up chickpeas and use the creamy, silky texture of hummus as a base for a creamy pesto pasta sauce? I tested it, and wow! The perfect quick, easy summer dinner.
Another similar recipe to this that you might love is my pesto alfredo with crunchy chickpea croutons. You might also like these creamy pesto beans! If you have leftover chickpea pesto, try making these easy pesto eggs!
Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card for the exact quantities you'll need for this recipe - below I've added some notes on each ingredient plus a few potential swaps in case you can't have a certain ingredient.
- Chickpeas: I used canned chickpeas for this recipe, drained and rinsed. If you're using dried chickpeas be aware that the time to soak and cook them will significantly increase the cooking time in this recipe!
- Basil: You can't have pesto without fresh basil leaves!
- Spinach: I also added spinach to this recipe for added nutrients and to help bulk up the pesto.
- Pine nuts: Pine nuts add an essential savory taste to any pesto. If you don't have pine nuts, almonds, cashews, or any other nut will also work! If you can't have nuts, simply omit them.
- Hard cheese: I use a hard cheese such as Pecorino in this recipe as a vegetarian-friendly substitution for Parmesan cheese. To make this recipe plant-based, swap out the hard cheese for nutritional yeast.
- Lemon: We'll use the juice of about half a lemon in this recipe.
- Garlic
- Seasoning: We don't need a lot of seasoning for this recipe as the other ingredients pack such a big flavor - simple salt and black pepper will do.
- Oil: Ideally, you'll want to use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. It really does make a big difference in how your pesto will taste!
- Pasta: Use whatever pasta shape you prefer for this recipe - I opted for penne pasta here.
- Tomatoes: Finally, the addition of some roasted cherry tomatoes at the end of assembling your hummus pesto pasta gives the recipe some acidic sweetness, perfectly off-setting the creamy pesto hummus.
I also topped my dish with some fresh mozzarella - this is optional but is a nice addition to the meal!
Chef's Notes
A food processor is the ideal tool for blending up all of your pesto ingredients, but it's not necessary. I've made this recipe in both a Nutribullet and - as in the recipe video - with a hand stick blender, which is less than optimal but still works perfectly fine!
The end result when you've made the hummus pesto will resemble hummus in texture and thickness - that's why we reserve about ¼ cup of the starchy pasta water to help the sauce mix into the pasta. If it's still too thick, use more water until you've reached your desired consistency.
Storing
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. You could also store any leftover hummus pesto in a jar in the fridge and use it for other things - such as on toast, in salads, baked with more spinach and eggs, or as a dip with chips!
FAQs
Why isn't my hummus pesto green in color?
If your hummus pesto hasn't turned that signature pesto green, you may have added too many chickpeas.
Add more basil and spinach and blend until you achieve the desired color (but as long as it tastes good, it doesn't really matter!).
Chickpea Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 400 g canned chickpeas , drained and rinsed
- 30 g fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup spinach
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 10 g hard cheese
- 1.5 tablespoon tahini
- ½ lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 300 g penne pasta
- ½ cup starchy pasta water
- 20 cherry tomatoes
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200C | 395F. Halve your cherry tomatoes and place them face down on a baking tray drizzled with a little olive oil and flaky salt. Add ⅓ of the tin of drained chickpeas to the baking tray too. Roast for 20 minutes.132 g canned chickpeas, 20 cherry tomatoes, 1.05 tbsp olive oil
- Meanwhile, cook your pasta according to the package instructions.300 g penne pasta
- While the pasta is cooking and the tomatoes are roasting, make your hummus pesto. Add the drained chickpeas, basil, spinach, garlic, and pine nuts to your blender or food processor and blitz into a fine paste.268 g canned chickpeas, 30 g fresh basil leaves, 1 cup spinach, 1 garlic clove, ¼ cup pine nuts
- Add the olive oil, lemon juice, seasoning, tahini, and hard cheese, and blend in pulses until smooth. You may need to add a splash of water (1 tablespoon at a time) to achieve the correct consistency. Don't worry if your hummus is quite thick - as long as it is smooth, you can add some pasta water later to thin out the sauce.10 g hard cheese, 1.5 tbsp tahini, ½ lemon, salt and pepper to taste, 1.95 tbsp olive oil, ½ cup starchy pasta water
- Drain your cooked pasta, and add 3-4 heaped tablespoons of the hummus pesto and ¼ cup pasta water. Stir until combined, then top your pasta with the roasted cherry tomatoes and chickpeas.
- Serve!
Nutrition
Notes
Private Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Try this simple tomato burrata pasta or this tasty fajita pasta next.
Keen to try this but wondered how much tahini to use in Step 4? It's not listed in the ingredients.
Sorry, thank you for spotting! Have updated accordingly - 1.5 tbsp is perfect but adjust as you like!
@By The Forkful, thank you!! This was soooo good. Creamy and delicious. Will be making this again. =)