Gluten-Free Creamy Pasta with Chickpeas & Spinach
Like many of my meals, this plant-based, gluten-free creamy pasta with chickpeas & spinach was born out of need.
Vegan | GF | Soy-free | Nut-free | No rice
After a long day of doing sod-all, I was knackered. Surviving on borrowed spoons, I still needed to eat, and I craved some real food. Not just a tin of baked beans or a bowl of ready-made soup.
A quick mental pantry search led to this easy, quickly thrown together dish: pasta (cooked in my thermos), onion, mushroom, garlic, cherry-tomato, spinach, chickpeas (5 minutes in frying pan), and a dollop of cream cheese. I whipped up this quick gluten-free dinner in just 15 minutes, and got to indulge in my favourite spoonie comfort food: a delicious creamy, garlicky pasta featuring fridge leftovers that were about to expire.
On the Menu
Why You’ll Love This Gluten-Free Creamy Pasta Recipe
Quick, tasty, and nutritious, this meal takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, because it uses just a few ingredients that require minimal prep.
Here’s a list of the things you’ll love about this recipe
- Spoonie-friendly and allergy-aware
- Creamy and full of flavour
- Healthy and nutritious
- Fast: just 10-15 minutes
It’s a creamy pasta without the fuss you might expect from an indulgent dish like this.
Ingredients for Pasta with Chickpea & Spinach
All you need for this quick gluten-free dinner is a handful of your favourite gluten-free pasta, ½ cup cooked chickpeas, an onion, three mushrooms, 5 cherry tomatoes, as much spinach as you can cram into your frying pan, and a dollop of your favourite vegan cream cheese.
And garlic, of course. Lots of it, because that’s the magic ingredient that makes this meal so enticing.
Variations and Substitutions
This easy gluten-free paste recipe is endlessly adaptable. If you don’t like any of the ingredients—or don’t have them on hand—you can simply swap them for something else.
Here are some ideas to get your imagination going.
- Can’t have garlic? Leave it out. While it is the ingredient that takes this dish to a higher level, it will still be good without it.
- Leave the onion out, or swap for spring onion, or even chives.
- Swap spinach for any other leafy greens you have on hand—but don’t leave the greens out: they provide essential nutrients.
- Use hummus or oat cream instead of cream cheese. Or use dairy cream cheese.
- Add ½ tin of tuna if you eat fish.
- Use black beans, white beans, or kidney beans instead of chickpeas.
- Don’t like mushrooms? Leave them out and throw in a handful of sweet corn.
- Can’t have tomato? Use red bell pepper instead.
- Top with chilli flakes for a spicy kick.
Serving Suggestions for Creamy Pasta Without the Fuss
This quick gluten-free pasta dish is perfect for a quick solo dinner when you’re out of spoons.
Thanks to its high indulgence factor, it can also serve as the main course of a more elaborate dinner. You’d have to adapt the quantities, of course, but here’s how that could look.
- Starter: ready-made creamy tomato soup and gluten-free breadsticks
- Pair with Sauvignon Blanc
- Main: creamy, garlicky pasta
- Pair with Pinot Grigio
- Side: tomato & feta salad with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh basil, and some freshly grated black pepper.
- Dessert: dark chocolate mousse
- Pair with espresso or fresh mint tea
Actually, this looks so good, I think I’m going to serve this next time I’m hosting guests. A four-course dinner with minimal fuss is just the thing a Spoonie needs, right?
Spoonie Tip
Use a wide-mouth thermos to cook your pasta.
- Place 1½ cups pasta into your thermos
- Add boiling water to cover by 1 cm, screw on the lid
- Wait 10-12 minutes
- Drain
Your pasta is ready!
Storage and Reheating
This decadent, creamy, garlicky pasta is best eaten right away. However, if you decide to make doubles or have leftovers, they will keep in the fridge for 1 or 2 days, but keep in mind that gluten-free pasta dries out quickly. You’d need to add extra water or plant milk before reheating to restore its creaminess.
Allergy Information
Free from: dairy, gluten, eggs, nuts, soy, sesame
Step by Step Easy Gluten-Free Pasta with Chickpeas & Spinach
Gluten-Free Creamy Pasta with Chickpeas & Spinach
Equipment
- 1 Thermos flask (or pan) for cooking pasta
- 1 Frying pan large
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Wooden spoon or spatula
- 1 Colander or sieve
Ingredients
- 1½ cup gluten-free pasta cooked in thermos or pan
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 mushrooms sliced
- 5 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 5 cherry tomatoes halved
- several handfuls of spinach
- ½ cup chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1-3 heaped tbsp cream cheese dairy or plant-based
- 1 tbsp Olive oil for frying
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a thermos (energy-saving trick)
- Sauté onion, garlic, and mushrooms until golden
- Add cherry tomatoes, spinach, and chickpeas
- Toss everything together with pasta and cream cheese
- Season and serve as your weeknight gluten-free meal
Notes
- Place 1½ cup pasta to your thermos
- Add boiling water to cover by 1 cm, screw on the lid
- Wait 10-12 minutes
- Drain
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