Lemony chickpea pasta salad with broccoli
Chickpea pasta and tender broccoli in a garlicky lemon dressing with sun-dried tomatoes and white beans, a vegan, gluten-free pasta salad that keeps four days.
- 25 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.07 a serving
- 470 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: It’s ready in 25 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz chickpea pasta
- 3 cups broccoli, small florets
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup fresh basil (optional)
From your pantry
- 2½ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 470 calories, 21 g protein, 58 g carbs and 20 g fat, and costs about $2.07 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No broccoli? Frozen broccoli works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a large pot of water over high heat and add 2 teaspoons salt.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Add the pasta and cook 2 minutes less than the package says.
High heatTimer: 6 min
Dolly’s tip: Chickpea pasta turns soft fast. Start tasting early and pull it while it still has some bite.Add the broccoli to the pot for the last 2 minutes, until it’s bright green.
High heatTimer: 2 min
and with cold water until cool, then shake off as much water as you can.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dolly’s tip: Chickpea pasta makes a foamy film. A good rinse washes it off and keeps the salad from turning gummy.the olive oil, lemon and juice, garlic, red pepper flakes, black pepper and ½ teaspoon salt in a large bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Zest. Zest is the thin, colored outer layer of citrus peel, rubbed off on the smallest holes of a grater. It holds the fruit’s fragrant oils, so it adds bright flavor without the sourness of juice.
How you’ll know: You see bright flecks and smell citrus right away; stop when you reach the white layer, which is bitter.
the sun-dried tomatoes, then add them to the bowl with the pasta, broccoli and beans and until coated.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Tear in the basil, divide among 4 containers and refrigerate.
Dolly’s tip: It keeps 4 days. Stir in a little olive oil or lemon if it seems dry by day three.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop plans your lunches along with the week’s dinners, puts what you need on the same grocery list, and walks you through each step.
