Welcome to the latest in my series of “let’s add beans to every pasta dish we make from now on”.

This one is a pretty close spin off to my Tomato, Lemon & White Bean Pasta; however, we are using chickpeas and giving it a Greek twist with our seasonings and a whole block of feta cheese.

It’s a winner! It’s cheap, it’s easy, it works year round, and it’s really tasty. Don’t be fooled by how simple it looks! Every bit of pasta and every chickpea is coated in the rich garlicky roasted tomato-olive oil mixture, alongside the Greek seasonings, slightly caramelized onions, and creamy feta, so it packs a punch.

It’s so simple to make: most of the ingredients just roast together in an oven dish, with the pasta and feta being tossed in at the end, so dinner is ready in around 45 minutes.

Top Tips (after 5 recipe tests!)

  • Fusilli is definitely the best pasta shape for this dish. I tried it with some other short pasta shapes but nothing else came close. Because the sauce is primarily just a mix of tomato juices and olive oil, fusilli’s ability to grab onto everything makes it come together in the most cohesive way. When I tried with shapes like orechiette or shells, it just came out a little sloppier.
  • I use M&S Everything Greek seasoning, which I highly recommend, but dedicated Greek blends aren’t available everywhere. If you aren’t able to get one, you could try this recipe for homemade Greek seasoning OR just use Italian seasoning with a little dash of dried mint and dried dill to bring some Greek flavor.
  • I prefer to use a glass or ceramic baking dish for this recipe, rather than metal. These offer a more gentle and even cooking process so the onions and tomatoes don’t char too quickly. This gives the tomatoes time to get nice and jammy, for the onions to slightly caramelize, and the chickpeas to absorb lots of flavor.
  • Let’s talk about the quantity of olive oil, because it might feel like quite a lot. If you want to reduce it, you’re not going to get quite the same richness, but it’s still good. Try 1/3 cup of olive oil and then reserve some of the pasta cooking water to splash in when you mix in the fusilli if it feels too dry.
  • This is very autumn and winter friendly and you don’t need any fresh herbs. If you have some parsley or basil available, feel free to throw it in! But I usually don’t bother, and just added them today because they make the photos pop a bit more!

Variation: Do you want to make the sauce creamy?

So, I personally love to add my feta cheese in at the end, alongside the cooked pasta. This means it is in mostly distinct pieces, adding texture and keeping every bite different. But if you were a fan of the tomato feta baked pasta recipe that went viral on social media in 2019, you may prefer the idea of using the feta cheese to make a thick creamy sauce. So if that is where your head is, feel free to change it up. Add the feta into the pan with the tomatoes and chickpeas from the very start, in a single block in the middle of the pan. Then once it has finished cooking, stir it all together and the feta will melt into the tomatoes and form more of a thick creamy sauce to add the pasta to.

If you are trying to eat more chickpeas and beans, adding them to pasta dishes is a great way to go about things! Try my Creamy “Marry Me” Butter Bean Pasta and Caramelized Cabbage & White Bean Pasta Bake if you want more. I have also used fried chickpeas to add a crunchy topping in this Spaghetti with Crispy Chickpeas. Check out my full archive of Bean Recipes for more ideas!

Tomato, Feta & Chickpea Pasta

This pasta recipe ticks all the boxes for a great vegetarian meal: tasty, filling, nutritious, protein packed and budget friendly. The jammy roasted cherry tomatoes, creamy feta and Greek seasoning give it an amazing flavor with practically no effort required – we let the oven do the work!
4 servings
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Ingredients

  • 125 ml (0.5 cup) olive oil
  • 500 g (1.1 lb) cherry or grape (baby plum) tomatoes, halved
  • 1 Tbsp Greek seasoning
  • 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 400 g (14 oz) can of chickpeas, drained and patted dry
  • 200 g (7 oz) feta cheese , crumbled
  • ½ lemon
  • 275g g (10 oz) dried fusilli pasta
  • optional topping: fresh basil or parsley

Instructions 

  1. Preheat the oven to 360F / 180C / 160C fan.
  2. Grab a 9×13 baking dish (I use a glass lasagne pan) and add the tomatoes, chickpeas, onion, garlic, greek seasoning and olive oil. Give it all a good mix.
  3. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes are starting to char.
    4. The amount of time this takes will depend on a few things: mainly whether you use a metal or glass dish (glass is slower) and your pan's surface area (the less overlap there is in the ingredients, the quicker it will cook). So just keep an eye on it in that final stretch of time.
  4. When it's looking close to ready, start boiling your pasta according to package instructions.
  5. Remove the dish with the tomatoes and chickpeas from the oven, then squeeze the juice from the 1/2 lemon over the top and add the crumbled feta. You can let it sit while the pasta finishes cooking.
  6. Once the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add to the roasting pan too. Now you can mix everything together until the pasta is well coated in the tomato juices and oil, and the feta is slightly melting in but still has a lot of distinct pieces.
  7. Serve, adding fresh herbs to the plate if you're using them. Enjoy!
Calories: 829kcal, Carbohydrates: 90g, Protein: 27g, Fat: 42g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 23g, Cholesterol: 45mg, Sodium: 597mg, Potassium: 804mg, Fiber: 11g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 850IU, Vitamin C: 34mg, Calcium: 336mg, Iron: 5mg