Pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas), is a classic of Italian cuisine. Simple, tasty, comforting, and perfect for all 4 seasons.

This famous dish has been playing an important role in most Italian families, and each of them has their own way of making it and their own choice of ingredients. Pasta e ceci can be referred to as a soup, a stew, or a pasta dish; this can change simply being in different parts of the country: north, centre of Italy, or south.

I always believed that the secret of good Italian cuisine lies in its simplicity, whether the choice of the ingredients or the way of cooking them. The combinations of the different nutrients make some of the most common Italian dishes famous for their fantastic taste and healthiness.

Pasta e ceci (chickpeas pasta)

Pasta e ceci is a common dish in southern and central Italy. This dish happens to be very popular in Basilicata (the region where my family is from), in fact, pasta with chickpeas, is part of the peasant cuisine tradition in Italian cuisine.

Ceci (chickpeas) are high in protein and by combining them with the protein from pasta you can optimize the quality and obtain an almost complete healthy meal.

Pasta e ceci is born as a vegan dish, of course, but every region has its own way of making it, by adding different ingredients. The classic recipe, the one from Basilicata includes fresh homemade pasta, lagane; similar to tagliatelle but thicker and shorter, chickpeas, garlic, rosemary, and fresh Roma tomatoes. While in Rome, the recipes require extra anchovies for a more sapid flavour.

The best thing about this pasta dish is definitely the creaminess and the simple yet pleasant flavour you will be able to enjoy with your family, friends, or just by yourself.

Choose your ingredients

Pasta e ceci, like most Italian dishes, is simply delicious without needing thousands of ingredients since the choice of good quality ingredients is the only big deal itself. That is why I will give you some tips on how to choose your ingredients for this chickpea pasta recipe.

pasta e ceci chickpeas pasta ingredients

Pasta. To be able to make a good pasta e ceci you will need to choose a quality of pasta that will celebrate and help the meal to be the creamiest and the most comforting you can. You can use a short tubular shape, fresh homemade lagane, or broken long pasta. For this recipe, I decided to use the original pasta shape we mostly use in Italy for this kind of combination (bean pasta, chickpeas pasta, potato, and others): la Molisana Misto corto n°58.
Ceci (chickpeas). Depending mostly on the time you have to make this recipe, you can choose between dry or cooked chickpeas. I rather use dry chickpeas for most of my recipes, because I can cook them as I want adding the quantity of salt I desire and more. Make sure you know already the quality of the chickpeas you are going to buy as you won’t be left disappointed. (keep acquafaba for other recipes)
Garlic. The freshest the better.
Rosemary. Freshly picked from your herb garden or from the supermarket, but fresh.
Fresh Roma tomatoes. To give a little bit of acidity to this “sweet” base dish, fresh tomatoes are the best option, thus they can be replaced with a little of tomato paste.
Extra virgin olive oil. Of course, the one and only, EVO, is the ingredient number one in majority of the Italian recipes. Use it to cook the chickpeas and to add a drizzle to finish the pasta e ceci.

Pasta e ceci – The original and creamy pasta with chickpeas (ceci)

An original Southern Italy recipe

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Cook Time 1

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

400 g cooked dry chickpeas around 200g dry chickpeas
270 g Pasta, corto misto la Molisana
5 garlic cloves
2 Rosemary bunch
2 Roma tomatoes
as needed Extra Virgin olive oil
to taste black peppercorn
to taste salt

Instructions

Cooking the chickpeas for Pasta e ceci

First thing first, if you are using dry chickpeas make sure to soak them for at least 10-12 hours in water and bicarbonate. This will help to break down the pectin in the beans, softening their skins and reducing their cooking time.
The day after, rinse the chickpeas and cook them in water, with a bunch of rosemary and a couple of garlic cloves. This will take around 40-50 minutes of cooking.
Once the chickpeas will be ready, strain them but make sure to keep the cooking liquid.

Pasta e Ceci

In a large pot, pour some EVO and make a quick soffritto with the crushed garlic clove (skin on it's fine), a little bunch of freshly picked Rosemary, and a couple of black peppercorns.
When you start smelling at their full these three ingredients, add on the chopped fresh tomatoes or the tomato paste, making sure the heat of the olive oil is extracting all the essential flavor out. Let it cook for some minutes with a dash of white wine.
Remove the garlic and add the cooked chickpeas.
Start smashing part of the chickpeas with a potato smasher or a hand blender to make the pasta sauce the creamiest as possible. Add the chickpea cooking liquid and some vegetable stock (or water) and bring to a boil.
Make sure you have just enough water to cook the pasta as you will not strain any excess out of the pot. In that water is contained all the flavor and the creaminess you will need to enjoy Pasta e ceci in the best way.
Once the water is boiling add salt to taste and pasta and cook it al dente. (2-3 minutes less its indicated on the pasta package)
Let it sit for a couple of minutes just for the liquid to tighten up as it cools due to starch from the chickpeas. Adjust the consistency if needed with water, stock, or aquafaba (chickpeas cooking water).
Serve the pasta e ceci in a terracotta bowl, drizzling some EVO a sprinkle of freshly chopped rosemary and freshly ground black pepper. If you like the cheesy taste with your pasta don't be afraid to add Parmigiano or nutritional Yeast.

Keyword chickpeas pasta, healthy, italian classic, original italian recipe, pasta e ceci, southern italy recipe

_{some of the pics are from Serious Eats}

Pasta e ceci variants

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, pasta e ceci, can have a few variants. Can be made brothy, just like soup or dryer in terms of sauce; also the addition of a protein can make this dish completely different. Mussels, guanciale (cured pork cheek), or anchovies are just some examples.

The Roman version of this original and creamy Italian dish is simply adding to the basic soffritto with garlic, rosemary, black peppercorns, and some anchovies to enhance the taste of the entire plate. Remember not to exaggerate with either the anchovies or the salt; as the sapidity will depend also on the tasty anchovies.

Some people also like to do a vegetable soffritto, which includes a small brunoise of white onions, carrots, and celery in addition to the other ingredients.

Make ahead and storage

Have you just cooked too much pasta e ceci and now you have some spare? Don’t worry, actually, this kind of pasta will delight your palate also the day after.

Store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat it in a pan with a drop of EVO and a little water to lose the creamy sauce.

Are you ready to make this recipe? I would love you to share your result in the comment and if you knew anything about this traditional Italian recipe. The variant I prefer to eat is my grandmother’s recipe with lagane pasta, let me know which is your favorite variant and if you would like the lagane recipe for the best pasta e ceci.