A creamy pasta with bold flavor from caramelized onions, mushrooms, and tender chickpeas. This savory dish is easy, simple, and requires mostly pantry staples.
During these times, all we need is a bit (or a lot) of comfort food. And we all know pasta is right up that alley. When developing this recipe I had the intention of sticking to just mushrooms and onions in the sauce, but adding the sun dried tomatoes and chickpeas was a game changer.
Every component of this dish adds another layer of flavor, from the creaminess of the chickpeas, acidity and umami from the tomatoes and nutritional yeast, savory and slightly sweet flavor from the onion and mushrooms, and brightness from the dried herbs.
If you are missing any one ingredient, feel free to shoot me an email or message on Instagram and I will help you out to find the best substitution!
This Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Chickpea Pasta is…
- Easy
- Simple
- Bold
- Savory
- Vegan
- Oh so delicious!
A creamy pasta with bold flavor from caramelized onions, mushrooms, and tender chickpeas. This savory dish is easy, simple, and requires mostly pantry staples.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 8 oz. crimini mushrooms or sub other type of mushroom
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Dash of red pepper flakes
- One 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup roughly chopped, sun dried tomatoes rehydrate in boiling water and drain if dry
- ⅓ cup pasta water
- 1 heaping cup spinach
- 8 oz. pasta such as penne
- (Optional) Nutritional yeast for serving
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Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil, onions, and ½ tsp salt. This part will require patience. Cook onions for 35 min. until soft, golden brown, and reduced. Ideally, you should caramelize onions for 45-50 min. but to make things simpler, this will do (you can caramelize for longer if you wish). Stovetops vary with their distribution of heat, so adjust temperature if your onions start to char because you don't want that!
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While onions are caramelizing, cook pasta according to package directions (in heavily salted water). Reserve ⅓ cup pasta water. Drain and set aside.
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Once onions are caramelized, add garlic and mushrooms. Cook for 6-7 min. until mushrooms are light golden brown, soft, and have lost most of their moisture.
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Stir in tomato paste, dried herbs, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and a tbsp of water to deglaze the pan if needed. Cook until tomato paste goes darker in color. Pour in chickpeas and sun dried tomatoes. Cook until chickpeas are tender and warmed through. Add pasta water and cook for 3-4 min. until sauce slightly thickens and starts to coat chickpeas. Add spinach and pasta and stir to coat. Add salt as needed.
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Serve with a dash of nutritional yeast and freshly cracked black pepper.
Oh yes, what perfect comfort food for right now!
Author
definitely!! thank you so much Tori.
Hello ~ Looks like a great recipe! Do you have the nutritional facts? Thank you
Author
Thank you, Joyce! I do not include nutritional facts for my recipes.
Love this, subbed red pepper for sun dried tomatoes and added rose harissa – delicious 😋
Author
Hi Nicola, so happy to hear that!