When I open my pantry, I always have chickpeas and pasta. So, today, I decided to bring these wonders together in a chickpea pasta salad. The one benefit of making a chickpea pasta salad is there aren't any rules.
My husband loves Vegan Macaroni Salad; in fact, it's one of the recipes he asks for time and time again. So, I thought I'd capture his attention with a pasta salad with chickpeas and a variety of vegetables and my Vegan Ranch Dressing to bring summer home early.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of winter and craving the freshness of summer. Since it's almost March, I'm calling an end to winter.
The first time I found pasta made of vegetables, I bought several bags of Wacky Mac. Yep, that's the name of this magic pasta. It's so colorful!
What's in vegetable pasta?
- Wheat flour
- Dried Tomato
- Dried Beet
- Dried Spinach
- Niacin
- Iron
- Thiamin
- Riboflavin
I also like Trader Joe's Organic Vegetable Pasta as a backup.
What ingredients are in this chickpea pasta salad?
- Wacky Mac or pasta of choice
- Chickpeas
- Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
- Cucumbers
- Radishes
- Onions
- Celery
- Grape Tomatoes
- Vegan Ranch Dressing
Different dressing options for everyone's taste buds
Although I chose Vegan Ranch Dressing, there are other options to dress your chickpea pasta salad if ranch dressing isn't your thing.
- Maple Dijon Dressing
- Cashew Mayo
- Vegan French Dressing
- Creamy Italian Dressing
- Italian Dressing
- Pesto Salad Dressing
- Lemon Basil Dressing
Regardless of your choice of dressing, this chickpea pasta salad is tasty!
Since this pasta salad recipe only takes 15 minutes from start to finish, it's a quick and easy meal or side salad.
Before you can mix everything, make sure you cool the pasta by running cold water through the cooked noodles until they are completely cool.
To make sure all the noodles are cool, shake the colander around, moving the noodles to ensure all the noodles are cool before putting the noodles in the bowl.
Then add the chopped chickpeas and chopped vegetables. Toss the vegetable carefully so as not to break the delicate noodles.
Next, gently fold in your choice of dressing. The cool Vegan Ranch Dressing is my favorite for this pasta salad recipe, but if you have allergies to nuts, or prefer another flavor, check out the options above.
If you love pasta and salad, check out these pasta salads.
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad
- Cajun Pasta Salad
- Healthy Greek Pasta Salad
- Spinach Pasta Salad
- Asian Pasta Salad
- Vegan BLT Pasta Salad
- Grandma's Creamy Pasta Salad Veganized
- Vegan Kale Pasta Caesar Salad
- Soba Noodle Salad
- Greek Orzo Salad
- Spaghetti Salad
📖 Recipe
Chickpea Pasta Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
Chickpea Pasta Salad
- 12 ounces Wacky Mac or pasta of choice
- 15 ounces Chickpeas
- ½ Red Bell Pepper diced
- ½ Yellow Bell Pepper diced
- ½ English Cucumbers quartered
- 5 Radishes sliced
- 1 small Onion diced
- 3 stalks Celery diced
- ½ cup Grape Tomatoes sliced in half
- 1 /2 cup Vegan Ranch Dressing or dressing of choice see options above
- Microgreens garnish optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions
- Immediately transfer cooked pasta to a colander and run col water through the pasta until it's all cool. Do this by shaking it gently under the cold water.
- Place cool pasta in a bowl.
- Now add drained and rinsed chickpeas and chopped vegetables.
- Stir gently so as not to break the delicate pasta.
- Now, fold in the dressing.
- Cover and chill un=til ready to serve
- Add microgreens to the top for an extra green garnish.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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