Pasta with Chickpeas and Swiss Chard

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

• Author: Paige Adams
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 9-11 minutes
• Total Time: 14-16 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4 1x

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.

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

1. Cook the spaghetti until al dente according to package instructions.
2. 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.
3. Add the lemon juice and garlic cooking until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Sauté the swiss chard until it wilts, about 3-4 minutes.
5. Use tongs to transfer the spaghetti from the pot to the skillet. Tossing with salt, pepper and parsley.
6. Sprinkle with Parmesan before serving.