Linguine With Crisp Chickpeas and Rosemary

Linguine With Crisp Chickpeas and Rosemary
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Liza Jernow.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
4(1,877)
Notes
Read community notes

Pasta with chickpeas is a substantial, quickly assembled meal, but what’s alluring about this version is the undercurrent of rosemary. Whole sprigs lightly fried in olive oil provide flavor in two ways: the leaves are crumbled into the pasta for a fragrant punch, and the infused oil slicks the noodles. You could add spinach, arugula or kale when you toss the pasta in the sauce, or simply brighten it with parsley, Parmesan and lemon.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ½cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
  • 8fresh rosemary sprigs
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1pound linguine or other long noodle
  • 3tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 1(14-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted very dry
  • ½cup coarsely chopped parsley
  • 1lemon, cut into wedges
  • Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

921 calories; 44 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 24 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 109 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 25 grams protein; 682 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of heavily salted water (2 heaping tablespoons kosher salt to about 7 quarts water) to a boil. Meanwhile, make the rosemary oil: Pat the rosemary dry with a kitchen towel. In a large Dutch oven or skillet big enough to hold all the pasta, warm the oil over medium heat. Once shimmering, add the rosemary sprigs and fry, flipping once, until sizzling subsides and leaves are crisp, 3 or 4 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Transfer the sprigs to a paper towel-lined plate, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep the pot with the oil on the stove.

  3. Step 3

    Add pasta to the boiling water, and cook to al dente according to package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water, and drain the pasta.

  4. Step 4

    While the pasta cooks, with the rosemary oil over medium-high heat, add the butter. Once melted, add the garlic and chickpeas and fry, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas are golden brown and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. If some of the chickpeas explode like popcorn, that’s a good sign.

  5. Step 5

    As the chickpeas cook, remove the rosemary leaves from the sprigs (pinch the top of the sprig and swipe downwards). If any do not come off easily, they aren’t fully fried: Throw them back into the oil with the chickpeas and remove them after a quick fry. Crumble the leaves by rubbing them between your fingers, and set aside.

  6. Step 6

    Once the chickpeas are crisp, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low and stir in the pasta, adding pasta water as needed to form a glossy sauce. Stir in the parsley and crumbled rosemary leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a lemon wedge for squeezing. Top with grated cheese and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,877 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Really good! I added an onion and probably 2-3 cups of spinach to the original recipe. Next time I will double the amount of chickpeas and spinach for a better pasta to other-stuff ratio. I'll also maybe add the fresh parsley in earlier (toward the end of frying the chickpeas) instead of right before serving. Will definitely make again with minor adjustments!

Is there a way to cook this with less fat? There's an awful lot, with oil and butter both.

I always double the main ingredient, in this case the chickpeas, and the garlic. I use fresh rosemary a lot and 'sprig' can mean a lot of things. I use a lot and even fine mince some fresh to stir in here. In my experience, fewer empty carbs/a higher ratio of whatever the 'sauce' is, is just healthier. Agree there's too much oil as well. If you have more flavor; more garlic/pepper, maybe the addition of some red pepper flakes, and use really good parmesan, you can do with less oil.

I wonder about the choice of pasta shape. I would think a cup-shaped pasta like shells or orecchiette would work better with the chickpeas. Or maybe something curly like cavatappi or fusilli.

Next time I’ll start on the chickpeas before putting the pasta in the boiling water. Otherwise the cooked pasta has to wait for the chickpeas to cook. So I think you should check the cooking time of your pasta before deciding which to do first.

Oh! I make this using cannellini beans too, but I don't crisp them, adding 3 Tbs of pesto instead of the butter and less olive oil. Also good if you crisp fry some panko or homemade bread crumbs to top with on serving.

This is a hit in my house. I did double the garbanzos and added some baby spinach, as noted by other foodies. Otherwise, I followed the recipe, and will include it in my regular rotation, especially during Lent.

There's around 30mg of Cholesterol in the recipe, not 118mg. I think Edamam, in error, thinks the 1/2 cup oil contains cholesterol. The only two ingredients that contain Chol are listed below Cholesterol 1. BUTTER, UNSALTED (43.2g) 23.22mg 2. CHEESE, PARMESAN (50g) 8.5mg Total Cholesterol per serve: 31.72mg 10.57 %

Made this vegan and it really hit the spot. I unfortunately didn’t have fresh rosemary on hand so I used a few teaspoons of dried and then strained it for frying the chickpeas so it wouldn’t blacken. I added it back in later. Earth balance for butter and I made a cashew cheese sauce to substitute for the Parm. The “cheese” already uses lemon and adds a nice balance at the end. Cashew cheese was: handful of raw cashews, lemon, oil, 1 garlic cl, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast to taste.

Just made this and it was delicious — great for a quick weeknight meal — but had similar thoughts to others regarding the amount of oil. My thing is to use a higher ratio of veggies to whatever amount of pasta or fat I’ve got, so did a version of that while halving the oil and butter. I also happened to have a bunch of of baby bella mushrooms that weren’t getting any younger, so sautéed those separately while chickpeas were cooking and added them in at the end with the herbs. Super good.

Add more chick peas and add onions

I really wanted to like this recipe and followed it exactly, but even using fresh linguine it just wasn't great. I love rosemary, chickpeas and garlic, but together they just didn't add up to anything wonderful. Crispy rosemary isn't like crispy sage. It doesn't want to be fried!

Delicious. Halved the recipe but couldn’t resist adding lemon zest before cutting up the lemon. The fried rosemary was brilliant.

I made the recipe was written, but with just half the pasta. It made enough for four of us with no leftovers.

The photo is a little misleading. It pictures a ratio of far less pasta and far more garbanzos and greens than the actual yield of the recipe. We agree that more garbanzos (could have used the whole 29oz can) would work better next time. Even huge amounts of greens added this time seemed to disappear into the mass of noodles. You end up with a huge amount of food either way. We've put the leftovers in a casserole for baked pasta later in the week-- might add fish or sausage?

Loved this and the house smelled amazing. I made it very close to as written but I did add baby spinach at the very end to avoid making a salad or another vegetable. The chickpeas popped and spat a lot in a large Le Creuset braiser so I used a splatter screen. It is a lot of oil and butter but flavor wise it came together perfectly. I thought about adding onions as others recommended but decided against it and am glad I did - not needed. Added a full half cup of pasta water.

Delicious! Like others I upped the garlic, reduced the fat (skipped the butter, and used maybe 1/4 cup good olive oil in total) and reduced the pasta. I added about 7 oz of shell shaped pasta, along with fresh made Rancho Gordo garbanzo beans and a heap of farmers market baby spinach with several spoons of pasta water and lots of fresh ground pepper to finish. My husband and I both thought it was really good!

Cooked at Fremder’s House: Ddl sauce ingredients for 1lb pasta Seasoned oil, then left out rosemary - smashed garlic is better than chopped (burned) Lots of parsley at the end, squeeze a full lemon on top. Barb says more pepper.

Yummy dish! I don’t get the point of putting the rosemary leaves back in to the beans/pasta, so I won’t do that again. And definitely will use less than half a cup of olive oil next time. But otherwise a tin, easy, tasty dish. (Use lots of Parmesan!)

This is delicious and got four stars from my 7 and 10-year-old kids. However, the satisfaction of a quick, easy to make dinner was rapidly overshadowed by the mess that the popping chickpeas and oil made. I spent more time cleaning my kitchen when it was done, than I did cooking and enjoying dinner.

great! i made a few modifications to cater for my (slightly bare) fridge: 1. skipped the butter entirely 2. added shaved asparagus (ribbon it with a vegetable peeler) when adding the pasta to the sauce 3. added sliced shallots 4. added a dash of white wine to deglaze after sautéing the shallots - This recipe would be great with any vegetable, as long as it’s cut the same shape as the pasta. eg: cabbage, fennel, shallots, would be delicious, add crushed walnuts, and sundried tomatoes for pizzaz

I thought this was very yummy. I wish I had added more rosemary than the recipe suggested. I also added a touch more kosher salt and chili pepper—this is a dynamite recipe. A good pantry cleaner

Really enjoyed this- halved the pasta, and added a few flakes of dried red peppers to chickpeas. . delicious and balanced.

Double the chickpeas, mince the garlic, use a small noodle that you can scoop up with the chickpeas. Made exactly as written but did add spinach. it was a little bland so I’d punch everything up a bit.

Double the garbanzos next time

I really liked the flavors (the lemon is a must!) but will slightly alter the cooking method next time I make it. Why crisp the chickpeas only to add water and soften them again? I will wait to add the butter, remove the peas after crisping, then add the butter and pasta water to make the sauce. I’ll reserve the chickpeas to sprinkle on the top. I also add an entire container of baby spinach to make this a one dish dinner. Love the idea of adding in an onion too.

Made this with the suggestions in the notes. Twice the garlic, twice the chick peas and added spinach. In addition to those changes I would suggest making half the pasta to avoid a blandish dish.

Add red pepper flakes, more parsley, and fresh rosemary

I could tell the pasta water wouldn’t be enough of a sauce. I had done less oil upfront. I mixed a soft cheddar cold pack cheese in and it’s great. Alfredo sauce would be good with it.

Taste-wise, very good, though I would probably use 2/3rds of the 1 lbs of pasta next time. Just a word of caution that the chickpeas can really get poppin’, one flew right into my eye :’(

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