Chickpea Pasta: What's In It and How to Cook It

Hello lovelies,

Chickpea pasta sat in our cupboard for months, ignored, because the first two boxes turned to mush in the pot. I decided the product was a dud. What had actually happened was that I cooked it the way I cook everything else.

It is on every supermarket shelf now, in more varieties every year, and the numbers on the front of the box keep getting bigger. So here is the calm version: what is actually in it, why it behaves differently in the pot, which kind suits which sauce, and the honest question at the end of whether you need it at all.

What chickpea pasta actually is

Chickpea pasta is not enriched wheat pasta. In most cases it is simply milled legumes pressed into pasta shapes. On the pure versions exactly one ingredient is listed on the box: chickpeas. Or red lentils. Or edamame.

That explains almost everything that follows. Legumes naturally carry a lot of protein and a lot of fiber, so pasta made from them does too. They contain no gluten, so the pasta has none of the elastic network that holds durum wheat together. And they taste like legumes, because they are legumes.

Alongside those there is a second group, where a wheat dough has been fortified with isolated protein. You spot it on the ingredient list: if there is a protein isolate or added wheat gluten next to the flour, it is not a pure legume product. Both are fine, but they are not the same thing, and the difference in flavor and in how they cook is considerable.

How much protein is really in it?

Noticeably more than durum wheat pasta, but less than the front of the box suggests. That is because durum wheat already brings a decent amount of protein of its own, which is easy to forget. The jump is real, it is just not a factor of 5.

Two things about this table matter more than the individual numbers.

First, fiber is the bigger difference, not protein. Fiber is also the reason a plate of lentil pasta keeps you full longer than the same plate of spaghetti, and the reason it is worth serving yourself a slightly smaller portion the first time.

Second, all of these values are for dry pasta. Cooked, every pasta takes on water, and the numbers per plate shift accordingly. For how much protein the other plant sources carry, there is a whole guide to plant protein sources.

Why chickpea pasta falls apart

Wheat pasta holds its shape because the gluten in durum wheat forms an elastic network. Legume pasta has no such network. What holds it together is essentially gelatinized starch, and starch gives way once it has been hot and moving for too long.

So this pasta behaves differently in the pot from anything you are used to. It is not more fragile in the sense of worse, it simply has a far shorter window between al dente and falling apart. With durum wheat that window is a generous 2 to 3 minutes. Here it is about one.

Then there is the foam. Because so much starch and protein leaches into the water, the pot boils over faster and the water turns cloudy and slightly slimy. That is normal and not a sign that anything has gone wrong.

How to cook it so it holds

Less heat, less movement, drain earlier. Those three changes solve practically the whole problem.

1. Bring plenty of water to a boil and salt it, then turn the heat down as soon as the pasta goes in. It should simmer, not roll. A rolling boil beats it apart mechanically.
2. Stir once briefly as it goes in, then as little as possible. Every stir costs shape.
3. Start tasting 2 minutes before the time on the box. That printed time is almost always too long for this pasta.
4. Drain it the moment it is al dente, and do not let it sit in the leftover water. It carries on cooking, far more than durum wheat does.
5. Do not rinse it cold, except for a cold salad. Cold water makes the surface sticky.
6. Tip it straight into the warm sauce and let it finish there, rather than tossing it again in a pan.

A spoonful of the cooking water in the sauce works here too, and works especially well, because so much starch is dissolved in it. Just take it out earlier than usual, before the water gets too cloudy.

Which kind for which sauce?

The flavor decides, not the protein number. Legume pasta is not neutral, and a sauce that is perfect with durum wheat can miss pea pasta completely.

If you are buying it for the first time, get chickpea pasta. It is the most forgiving kind, it holds its shape best and it tastes least of itself, so it works with almost any sauce you were going to make anyway.

These four work just as well with legume pasta as they do with regular pasta:

Protein pasta with chickpeas and lentils

Creamy vegan veggie pasta

Vegan Bolognese with tofu, mushrooms and eggplant

Vegan Feta Pasta Deluxe

Do you actually need it?

Honestly, often not. If your goal is simply more protein on the plate, regular pasta with a legume in the sauce gets you almost as far, for a fraction of the price and with none of the cooking risk.

That is exactly how our most-read pasta dish is built: cooked chickpeas and red lentils go into the sauce, and the pasta stays regular pasta. On the plate the result gives up nothing to a box of legume pasta, and it tastes like food rather than like a concept.

Where the bought pasta does earn its place: if you have to eat gluten free, if it has to be very fast and there is no time for a legume in the sauce, or if you specifically want to push the fiber up. Those are good reasons. "Because the box says protein" is not one.

For how to get dried lentils and chickpeas reliably tender for that sauce, there is a separate piece on cooking dried beans and lentils.

From our kitchen

We keep both in the cupboard, and they have clearly separate jobs. The chickpea pasta is for the evenings when nothing has been decided by half past six and something filling still has to reach the table. The regular pasta is for everything else.

Here in Bali the price gap is even more obvious than it was in Switzerland, because imported legume pasta is genuinely expensive here while dried lentils cost almost nothing. That answered the question in this piece for me pretty quickly.

And this is how they land on our table during the week:

Minestrone with Girasoli

Soba noodle salad with peanut dressing

Quick recipe: Veggies Stir Fry Noodles

Creamy spring pasta with asparagus and tofu

Lovelies, if you take one thing from this, let it be the cooking time: start tasting 2 minutes earlier than the box says, and drain it straight away. That decides the result far more than the type or the brand does.

Tell me in the comments: have you tried legume pasta, or do you stick with regular pasta and beans in the sauce?

Yours, Verena

Recipes to try

Easy Vegan Chop Suey with Colorful Vegetables and Rice Noodles

Filled zucchini with lentils and orzo

Cauliflower-Lentil Curry with dates

Carrot-Lentil Soup