Green, filling, weeknight
Basil Pesto Chickpea Pasta
Whole-wheat pasta, a jar of real pesto, and a can of chickpeas. The chickpeas are the protein. The pesto is the reason you eat it.
20minutes
3servings
18gprotein
430kcal est.
Method
- Boil pasta in well-salted water until just shy of al dente. Save a cup of the cooking water.
- Warm oil in a skillet. Add chickpeas and a pinch of salt; let them blister a little, 3–4 minutes.
- Add drained pasta, pesto, spinach, lemon, and a splash of pasta water. Toss until the spinach wilts and the sauce clings.
- Plate with pine nuts, Parmesan, pepper, and basil. If it looks dry, it wants more pasta water, not more pesto.
What we swapped
No cream sauce, no white noodles. Whole-wheat pasta carries the pesto, and a can of chickpeas, blistered in the pan first, brings the plate to 18 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber at 430 calories. A cup of spinach wilts into the sauce, lemon keeps it bright, and the pine nuts stay — they earn their keep. For the richer route, marry-me chicken pasta runs the same weeknight logic with chicken.
Lightened up from Chickpea Pesto Pasta by By The Forkful.
