How Italians Make Creamy Chickpea Pasta for Almost Nothing | Food That Looks After You Series. Today I am making something incredibly simple, satisfying, and very affordable using just a handful of ingredients. This video shows the preparation of a delicious pasta with chickpeas, tomato puree, garlic, and rosemary, perfect for an easy dinner. It’s a wonderful example of home cooking that’s both nourishing and a great budget meal. This creamy chickpea pasta, or Pasta e Ceci, cost me around £1.30 to feed two people, including the olive oil, electricity, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. That works out at roughly 65 pence per person, and yet it tastes rich, creamy, deeply comforting and incredibly satisfying.
This is exactly the sort of food many Italians grow up eating at home. Humble pantry ingredients, transformed into something beautiful. A tin of chickpeas, a little tomato purée, garlic, rosemary, olive oil and pasta become a creamy one-pot meal that genuinely tastes like comfort food.
And this is also exactly why it belongs in the Food That Looks After You Series. Chickpeas are naturally rich in fibre and plant-based protein, olive oil brings healthy fats, garlic and rosemary add flavour naturally, and because the pasta cooks directly in the sauce, every spoonful becomes deeply satisfying without needing cream or expensive ingredients.
In today’s world, where food costs continue to rise, meals like this matter. Honest food. Affordable food. Mediterranean food. Food that quietly looks after you while still tasting absolutely delicious.
This version is my own take on a traditional Pasta e Ceci. I keep the chickpea liquid for extra flavour and creaminess, finely chop the rosemary so it becomes part of the dish, and blend part of the chickpeas with the garlic to create a naturally velvety sauce. Simple ingredients. Very little cost. Big flavour. If you make it, let me know how it turns out in your kitchen.
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Ingredients (Serves 2 generously)
200g orecchiette pasta
1 x 400g tin chickpeas (including the liquid)
2 cloves garlic
1 small sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 heaped tablespoon tomato purée (around 10–12g)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
550–600ml water (plus a little extra if needed)
Salt to taste
Black pepper (optional)
Cooking for four people?
Simply double all of the ingredients.
Cooking Method
Start by adding a generous splash of olive oil into a saucepan or pot large enough to hold the pasta too, because this is a proper one-pot meal.
Add the garlic cloves and your finely chopped rosemary. I like chopping the rosemary very finely, almost like sand, because there are only a handful of ingredients in this dish and rosemary brings a tremendous amount of flavour. You can leave it whole if you prefer and remove it later, but I genuinely recommend keeping it in.
Allow everything to gently cook over a medium heat for two or three minutes. Do not rush this part. You want the garlic and rosemary to slowly perfume the olive oil without the garlic turning brown. If garlic browns too much, it becomes bitter.
Now add your chickpeas, liquid included. I like keeping the chickpea water because it brings extra flavour and helps create a naturally velvety texture. Stir everything together and add a generous teaspoon of tomato purée.
Pour in around 550–600ml of hot water and let everything gently simmer for around 15 minutes. By now your kitchen should smell wonderfully Mediterranean.
Take around two-thirds of the chickpeas together with the garlic cloves and a little of the cooking liquid and blend until creamy. Pour that back into the pot.
Add the pasta directly into the sauce. This matters because the pasta absorbs all of the flavour while also releasing starch, making the dish naturally creamy without needing any cream at all.
Cook gently, stirring from time to time. Orecchiette absorbs quite a bit of liquid, so you may want to add a splash of water near the end if needed.
Once the pasta is almost ready, turn the heat off, place the lid on, and let everything quietly rest for a couple of minutes. Sometimes a little patience makes all the difference.
Finish with black pepper if you like and, of course, a little drizzle of olive oil at the top. Simple food. Honest food. Food that quietly looks after you.
00:00 Introduction
00:49 Garlic & Rosemary Tip
01:24 Building the Flavour
02:12 Why I Keep the Chickpea Water
02:49 Adding Tomato & Water
03:31 Mediterranean Kitchen Reflection
04:07 Creating the Chickpea Cream
04:53 Cooking the Pasta in the Sauce
05:55 One Pot Pasta Tip
06:46 Naturally Creamy Without Cream
07:06 Final Resting Tip
07:29 Ready to Serve
08:15 Taste Test & Final Thoughts
#pasta #chickpeas #italianfood
31 Comments
It still amazes me that a meal this comforting and satisfying can cost around £1.30 for two people, roughly 65p per person, including olive oil and everything else. Simple ingredients, very little cost, and yet so much flavour. Have you ever made Pasta e Ceci before? And if so, does your family version use chickpeas, cannellini beans or something different? As always, I would love to hear how this turns out in your kitchen. Buon appetito, Francesco.
I'm sitting here wondering what's for tea, and this pops up. That's my dinner sorted, then! I shall let you know how it goes!
I always use the water canned veggies come in for something. We DO NOT waste flavor in my house.
Thank you for this great recipe!
I just tried to replicate. It's not clear what happened to the garlic cloves as you put them in whole/crushed, but I don't see you take them out? I assume they ended in the blender? Also worth highlighting that you should stir almost constantly so the orecchiette don't stick to the bottom and burn.
I decided to add a 2 spoons of psyllium husk to bring the fibre content up a bit, since we're in the category of food that looks after you. Also improvised and added chili, a couple of bay leaves and some pecorino romano. I usually like to try the original recipe first, but this just felt right and the result was amazing.
I doubled the portion, so now I'm happy to see that I have food for a week. I usually do a similar one-pot pasta with lentils and that is one of my favorites to prep on the weekend, freeze and re-heat during the week, so hope this one will not disappoint in that regard.
I can't wait to try this, thanks so much!
He is right about letting it sit for two minutes off the heat before serving.
Thank you! Looks fantastic. I'll definitely be trying it!
looks fantastic….I am not vegan/vegetarian, but love to mix it up :). Will cook it tonight for the wife and grand daughter 🙂
I’ve made this a couple of times now, and I just can’t believe the flavour you can get with so few ingredients. Wonderful, thank you.
Immediate thumbs up just for the rainbow utensils 🥰 And this is such a yummy looking upgrade to the way I toss garbanzos in my pasta to get some extra protein and fiber!
Thank you for the tip about finely chopping the rosemary! Previously I've left it whole, but this is an excennet idea. Such a wonderful and simple recipe.
Made it your way using the steps in this video and it's the best pasta I've eaten in months. Grazie mille!
can you swap the water for stock or broth? i know there are store bought stock, cubes and bouillon that are good (or at least, better than other versions) and many folks make their own stock. i've even seen people make dried stock powders, cubes ect.
I loved this recipe that's the one i'll. Make tomorrow.
Thank you!
This vegan pasta looks sooo good 🤤🤤🤤
Made this today for dinner. Delicious! My new favourite pasta dish.
because i've had a synthetic spatula melt into a hot pan and into my spoiled dinner (yuck!) i get freaked out whenever i see silicone on heat. I know he knows what he's doing. Just a knee-jerk flinch. lol. Maybe one day I will put my phobia aside and use heat-safe silicone.
otherwise, thanks for this simple recipe! right up my alley
I make Pasta e Ceci often with whole wheat penne and no oil. My heart doctor warned me against using white flour and any fats other than those in their natural form: olives, nuts, seeds, or avocados. But this is one of my favorite dishes. I also make various pasta dishes and soups with cannellinis and pintos. You've inspired me to cook a pot of chickpeas right now, so I can eat this for dinner. Thank you for a good video. Have a blessed day.
my favorite type of cooking wholesome healthy cheap and delicious.Cant beat it ,the annoying part is that some clown in a restaurant would charge you 10 or 12 pounds for this .Rather make my own
As a vegan since 1982 it's always great to find a new recipe for a simple meal. Thank you for this, will be making it mid day today with rosemary from my garden.
It looks delicious. Will definitely try this. Thank you! ❤
You don't have to be a vegan to know that that's some kickass pasta.
Can you eat this cold the next day,I know safe but good flavour wise?
I will definitely make this. Thank you !
This is a vegan recipe which means I can make it, thank you 🤗🥰
Have to be honest, this was fairly bland, but ok
I always drain the can but I don't have a good reason I'll try it your way
Hmmm, I always have chickpeas and don’t usually have cream. I like this idea very much, thanks for posting.
I have a deathly allergy to milk/dairy proteins, i cant tell you enough how much i appreciate ANY decent recipe with out dairy!! thank you so much!!
No salt? does the chickpeas already bring salt in the can?
I used dried chickpeas, cooked them and added some tomato sauce with garlic and chilli that I bought from the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight. I also added fresh basil leaves. Great recipe!