This pasta dish has appeared in my kitchen many a Saturday night.
Why Saturday night?
Well, because on Saturday nights, unless I’m eating out or getting together with friends I’m usually feeling pretty lazy and don’t feel like making a huge fuss over dinner.
But because it’s Saturday night, I don’t want just a bowl of cereal or a sandwich either.
You can pretty much find everything in this pasta dish in my pantry or fridge any day of the week. That’s what’s so great about it. I’ve made it plenty of times without the fresh spinach, but I really prefer to have that punch of green on my plate (& its health benefits too). The freshly grated Parmesan and red pepper flakes make it extra delicious. In no time you’ll be curled up on your couch with your big bowl of pasta and remote feeling total comfort. You can worry about the dishes in the morning.
Such a light but satisfying pasta dish that comes together so easily you'll want to eat it more often than on Saturday nights!
Ingredients
- 1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 1 can garbanzo/chickpeas beans (I prefer Bush's Beans Garbanzos), rinsed and drained
- 2-3 bunches of fresh spinach
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- additional olive oil, to taste
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions.
- While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large saute pan. Add garlic and onions to pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until slightly soft, season with salt and pepper. Add chickpeas to onions and saute for another 5 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of pasta water. Add fresh spinach to pan, add cooked pasta and pasta water over spinach and gently toss. Turn off heat.
- Before serving add an additional drizzle of olive oil over pasta. Season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the chickpeas with whole wheat pasta- healthy, filling but not too heavy!
The best dishes are always the most simplistic! Love this combination of flavors. Chickpeas and spinach just go really well together. A great weeknight meal
. Hope you’re doing well. How are the kiddos?
I love this, Aggie! I have never had chickpeas and spaghetti before!
Your pasta dish looks so delish and really healthy too. Thanks for sharing!
It sounds like a great idea for a Saturday night dinner. I’m with you – easy (but delicious!) takes priority.
Wow, Aggie, this looks incredible! Mmmm, will have to try on GF pasta!
love that this is so simple and wholesome! I plan to try sometime soon!
This is right up my alley! I can’t wait to try it
This will be on our dinner table soon! Love it!
Looks delicious–an easy and great meatless option!
I love that this recipe is so effortless–and it looks delicious!
I love it!! Easy and healthy dinners are a requirement for everyones kitchens
An awesome dish Aggie! I would love this…Grumpy would probably tell me not to put the chickpeas in (another one of those food items he refuses to eat) but I would love it all!
What an awesome combination of ingredients! This is so healthy. Bookmarked!
Copied/pasted and probably making it tomorrow night! Have a bag of spinach with this recipe’s name on it – thanks for the great recipes as always!
Chickpeas have been a go-to ingredient around here lately. I also always have these ingredients on hand. Perfect pasta!
That sounds perfect, easy and healthy. I think I probably have all those ingredients on hand too.
Oooo, I love meals that don’t make me go to the store! YUM!
I have a soft spot for chickpeas and find this combination sounds exactly like what a lazy night needs: a zip of spice, some greens and the creamy flavor of chickpeas of course!
Totally going to make this healthy dinner. Thanks!
Beautiful! I am with you- don’t like to fuss much on Saturday nights
So simple, and yet it looks so comforting. I’m bookmarking this right now!
fine, fine, super fine
I’ve never had chick peas with pasta – I think it’s brilliant!! ♥
Aggie, I’m trying to meal plan since Grumpy and I are eating later than normal now that we are going to the gym together. I came to your site knowing you make yummy food the way I like to eat! I’m definitely going to make this one and think it would be good as a packed lunch! YUMMY!
Came across this on stumble upon, I made a big dish of it the other day and have been taking it to work with me as lunch, so yummy yummy, cant wait to try some of your other reciepes, especially the mediteranian mushroom caps, gonna do them for fathers day!
So happy you stumbled into my site! Love when that happens (both ways)! Thanks so much for the comment…glad you are enjoying the pasta. Let me know what you think about the mushrooms!
Wait, so you’re supposed to worry about the dishes at night?
WHOOPS.
YUM! I fixed this as a quick dinner entree with a nice salad and some homemade garlic toast. My kids were a bit fussy about the onions, but my wife and I loved it. Thanks for the recipe and for the nice lunch I have to look forward to tomorrow!
Awesome! So glad your family enjoyed it!
After a long fun filled day at the pool wearing my kids out lol
their starved when we get home, but im exhausted & dont exactly feel like cooking but as luck would have it my babys love spinach & spaghetti & I happen to have garbanzos in the cupboard! Wala dinner in 15~20 min. tops! Of course im doubling it~Thankyou so much for sharing this easy, innovative dish it will be my new standby!
Ps. I got mine off your post with “Family Kitchen” on fb, & lol im soo with you on the Saturday night thing & sandwiches or cereal anyone? Blah!
lol Thanks again!
Aggie, what a beautiful vegetarian pasta dish – a must try!
This looks so good, I’ve decided it’s what we’re having for dinner tonight. I don’t happen to have whole wheat spaghetti right at the moment, although I usually do, so I’m going to use regular spaghetti. I’m sure the flavor will suffer a little and I know the nutrition will. But …
I just made this for dinner last night and ate it again for lunch today. It was very tasty. I added mushrooms, garlic powder and onion powder, but left everything else pretty much the same. I will definitely keep this in my rotation of recipes. Thanks so much for sharing!
Aggie – would love if you linked up this whole grain recipe to my Whole Grains Roundup linkup: http://su.pr/2IjQ9c
I wanted to forward a full recipe via e-mail, however I had to fill out a form for FeedBurner Email subscription (which I did) and I still cannot forward the full recipe. It keeps asking me to fill out the same form.
What’s the problem?
Hi Janice…sorry you are having trouble. It sounds like you are clicking on the Subscribe to RSS icon which is not what you need to do to forward the recipe. To forward the recipe in an email, please click the green Print Friendly button at the bottom of the post. From there you can choose to email the page. You can also choose to “delete” any part of the post you don’t want to share (pictures, etc) by hovering over what you want to delete (it will turn yellow) and clicking to remove. Or just leave as is. Hope this helps. Thanks!
So I googled ‘what to do with chick p’s & pasta’, as that’s all I had in the cupboard (poor student). To my surprise I have just found & cooked a meal that will be placed in my recipe book, which I will cook again out of want rather than desperation.
Thanks for sharing a simple dish to cook, however packed full of flavour.
I’ve made this numerous times and love it! Thanks for the quick and tasty recipe!
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