30-Minute Chicken and Chickpea Skillet Pasta
servings
Ingredients
- 3 cups pasta, bow tie or other shape noodle
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb. chicken breasts, boneless, skinless; chopped
- 1 tsp oregano, dried
- 1 tsp basil, dried
- 1/2 tsp thyme, dried
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, {optional}
- 1/2 onion, sweet; chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
- dash pepper
- 1 1/2 cups chickpeas, cooked {see below for instructions on how to cook dry garbanzo beans}
- 1 29 oz can tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 cups spinach, fresh {loosely packed}
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1/4 cup parsley, fresh; chopped
Garnish
- parmesan cheese
- parsley, freshly chopped
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of water over medium high heat until boiling. Add the pasta and cook the pasta according to the package. Drain and keep warm.
- While the pasta cooks heat the 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, oregano, basil, thyme and cayenne red pepper and sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the onion, garlic, zucchini, salt and pepper and continue to cook until chicken is cooked through, 4 more minutes.
- Add the chickpeas*, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, spinach and tomato paste and let simmer for 4 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.
- Heat a dry small skillet over medium-low heat and toast pine nuts, stirring frequently, until pine nuts are golden in spots, about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- In a large serving bowl add the pasta to the chicken mixture and stir until combine. Stir in the freshly chopped parsley and garnish with the toasted pine nuts.
- Serve warm with extra fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.
How to cook chickpeas:
- Place chickpeas in a large bowl and cover completely with cold water. Allow to soak overnight, about 12 hours. Once soaked, drain chickpeas and transfer to a large cooking pot. Cover with water twice the amount of beans and bring to a boil. Cover and allow to simmer for approximately one hour. Do a taste test to make sure they are tender enough for your liking. Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Once chickpeas are cooled they are ready to be used. Cooked chickpeas can keep covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Notes
Recipe by A Cedar Spoon
Comments
Very tasty and easy to make. It is a nice way of cutting back on meat protein without eliminating it.
Really delicious! We substituted the pasta for quinoa. Made enough for lunches the next day as well.
this was a hit. used ww egg noodles as that was what was in the pantry.
Yep, and I used pasta shells because that was what was in my pantry. Love egg noodles, though!
Delicious! We did a vegan substitute for the chicken – So Soya Veggie Chick’n Strips. It was a big hit.
This recipe is so incredibly wet. The amount of liquid needs to be reduced. Also, there is no spinach in the photo, and the recipe calls for spinach.
I made this tonight and I added a little more tomato paste to thicken it up and I also simmered it longer. In the end, the family liked it very much.
Yes, too much liquid. Drain the tomatoes and use half the chicken stock. I used what I had on hand do canned chick peas, frozen broccoli instead of zucchini and egg noodles. A tasty meal with lots of leftovers.
Because people were talking about this being too wet, I omitted the broth. We used yellow squash instead of zucchini. It was very tasty.
1 lb chick peas
7 cups water
1/2 tsp soda
Cook overnight in a crock pot.
Use for whatever
Here we don’t always know how long dried beans are so can a can of chick peas be used in lieu of the dry beans?
Hi Helen, yes you can use 1 1/2 cups of canned chickpeas. Thanks!