Creamy Red Pesto Pasta with Spicy Chickpeas

why you'll love this recipe

• Like all our recipes, the pesto sauce and chickpeas are prepared without oil. Read on for our tips about oil-free sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers.
• Spicy baked chickpeas make a delicious source of vegan protein for this pasta recipe.
• Unlike our other pesto recipes, this one is unique because we swap pine nuts for healthy walnuts.
• Roasting red bell peppers ensures you get whole nutrition. And they are far less expensive than jarred, swimming in oil, roasted peppers.

Ingredients, notes, and substitutions

Sundried tomatoes. If possible, use dehydrated sundried tomatoes or make your own (it's easy!). Semi-or jarred are suitable alternatives if you can find them without oil.

Walnuts. Use raw, unsalted walnuts for the best earthy flavor and chewy texture. Hazelnuts are the closest substitute, although almonds can also be used. If you use sunflower seeds or pepitas, roughly grind them separately before adding the remaining pesto ingredients. 

Miso paste. My favorite secret ingredient that brings on umami flavor with a simple teaspoon. White Shiro miso paste is mild, but you can use whatever you like. A tablespoon (or two) of nutritional yeast is a good substitute.

Lemon juice. The sweet and salty flavors are balanced with citric acid to brighten the pesto. You can add a teaspoon of lemon zest as an option.

Chickpeas. Seasoned with garlic powder, smoked paprika, a pinch of cayenne pepper, plus salt and pepper. Shaken, not stirred, then baked crispy. These are so yummy! Make a double batch just for snacking.

Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list of ingredients with measurements plus recipe instructions.

Pro Tips

• Drain, but don’t rinse the chickpeas. Let the aquafaba (chickpea liquid) help the seasonings stick. No oil is needed.
• If you don’t have a high-speed food processor or blender, soak the sun-dried tomatoes before chopping them.
• Before draining the cooked pasta, scoop 1 – 1 ½ cups of the cooking water and save it. This is the secret to making creamy pesto pasta recipes of all kinds.
• Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water. Let the package instructions guide you as to timing. As a guide, start the water after the peppers have roasted for about 15 minutes. You want to time it to finish the pesto while the pasta cooks.
• Pasta al dente means that when you test the pasta, you easily bite through it, but it should not be mushy.

Serving suggestions

This hearty pasta dish benefits from a bit of green, like a bed of arugula (rocket), or fresh herbs like basil and parsley. You could top it with a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese – handy if you snaked on the crispy chickpeas while making the pesto.

Quite by accident, we discovered that pesto pasta is excellent at room temperature as a pasta salad. Toss in a few sliced cherry tomatoes and diced red onion. As far as pasta salads go, this is a delicious one!

Storage / Freezing / Reheating

Store leftover pesto with pasta in an airtight container for 5 days. Or freeze it for 3 months. Reheat on the stove at medium heat with a bit of added water. You can also reheat it in the microwave.

Meal Prep

Make a batch of this red pesto recipe and make a quick weeknight meal in minutes. You can also freeze pesto for later use. For smaller amounts, freeze it in an ice cube tray.