Pasta with Chickpeas and Swiss Chard
on Sep 17, 2020, Updated Feb 16, 2025
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With lemon and garlic, this pasta with chickpeas and swiss chard is a simple vegetarian meal that’s filling and ready in about 15 minutes.
There are two things my pantry is never without, at least one box of pasta and a can of chickpeas.
They are staples around our house, but I usually don’t cook them together.
When I think pasta, it’s garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and sometimes mushrooms or olives.
For chickpeas, I love spreading them out on a sheet pan and roasting them with sweet potatoes until the chickpeas are golden and crispy and the sweet are browned at the edges.
Last week was another busy one, and I didn’t do my regularly scheduled grocery run.
Instead I used what I had left in my weekly veggie box and raided my cabinets.
I figured why not pair pasta and chickpeas. Except it had to involve one cooking apparatus. There would be no preheating the oven.
I kept everything on the stove for this pasta with chickpeas and swiss chard.
A skillet and a splash of olive oil all that I needed to cook the garbanzo beans.
When I roast chickpeas in the oven, it takes about a half hour for them to get crunchy.
Spending that kind of time on an ingredient for a quick pasta dish just didn’t make sense. They needed to be fast, too.
After I opened the can of garbanzo beans and rinsed them off in a colander, I patted them dry with a paper towel and removed any loose skins.
This helps the chickpeas crisp up in the skillet. I love that texture contrasting with the spaghetti and the wilted chard.
How To Make Pasta with Chickpeas and Swiss Chard
To start, I put a pot on the stove and cooked the spaghetti.
On the next burner, I heated olive oil in a skillet.
Then I added the chickpeas and sauteed them gently shaking the pan, so they would brown on all sides. Some were darker than others in spots, but I didn’t mind.
After the chickpeas, I squeezed in the juice of a lemon and added a couple minced garlic cloves.
It took less than a minute for the garlic to become fragrant.
I put the swiss chard into the skillet. Soon it wilted.
By then the spaghetti was al dente, so I folded it with the rest of the ingredients.
With a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and shaved Parmesan, my pasta with chickpeas and swiss chard was ready for dinner.
Pasta with Chickpeas and Swiss Chard
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-15 ounce can chickpeas drained, rinsed and patted dry
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 8 ounces swiss chard stems removed and torn
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- Shaved Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti until al dente according to package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chickpeas and sauté, periodically shaking the pan and letting the chickpeas turn crispy and golden, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and garlic cooking until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Sauté the swiss chard until it wilts, about 3-4 minutes.
- Use tongs to transfer the spaghetti from the pot to the skillet. Tossing with salt, pepper and parsley.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is delicious and very quick and easy to prepare. I didn’t change a thing which is very unusual for me. Instead of pasta I used Trader Joe’s Hearts of Palm Pasta. My husband loved it! Should have doubled the recipe. It’s a keeper 🙂
Love this twist with hearts of palm pasta!!! I have to try that next time I’m at Trader Joe’s.