Roasted Chickpea & Broccoli Pasta Salad
This vegan pasta salad is packed with roasted broccoli and chickpeas, brightly flavored tomatoes, olives, and artichokes, and an easy vinaigrette dressing. You can serve this right away for a hot pasta dish, or make it ahead of time and chill it for a cool but hearty pasta salad with plenty of vegetarian protein!It's a satisfying side salad or light entree, perfect for simple summer meals, picnics or veggie-friendly BBQ sides, or to meal-prep quick lunches for the week.
Ingredients
- 16 oz fusilli or other short pasta shape
Roasted Broccoli & Chickpeas
- 2 cups broccoli florets, washed and finely chopped 2 ½ cups, approx.
- 16 oz can chickpeas, drained (or about 1 ½ cups cooked & drained)
- ⅓ cup olive oil (divided)
- 2 tsp flaky or kosher salt (or to taste, or sub less regular salt)
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground (or to taste)
- 1 tsp ground cumin (optional, to season chickpeas)
- ½ tsp garlic powder (optional, for broccoli)
Fresh Veggies
- 1 cup diced tomato or halved cherry tomatoes
- ¾ cup celery hearts with leaves, washed & small diced
- ½ cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained & diced (reserve marinade for dressing)
- ⅓ cup kalamata olives, pitted & chopped
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley (I prefer flat-leaf parsley but curly will work)
Pasta salad dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup reserved artichoke heart marinade (approx, or use olive brine)
- ¼ cup wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 2 tbsp capers (optional)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp dried oregano leaves (can sub fresh)
- ½ tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves minced fresh garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
prep ingredients:
- Preheat the oven to 375 deg F. Put a large covered pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
- Wash, drain, and chop the broccoli into florets, peeling & dicing the stalks if present.
- Spread these out on a sheet pan and drizzle with half of the olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper (I add a pinch of garlic powder as well). You can also toss the broccoli with the oil and seasonings in your large mixing bowl, then spread on the pan, if you prefer.
- Drain the canned or cooked chickpeas and spread them out on another sheet pan with the other half of the olive oil. Season lightly with salt, pepper, and cumin.
- Optional- Roast the tomatoes on another sheet pan (or with the broccoli). Cherry tomatoes can be roasted whole. Roma or other paste tomatoes can be left whole or halved for faster roasting. You can skip this step if you have very flavorful fresh tomatoes, and add them simply diced (or halved, for cherry toms) to the pasta salad. Roasting helps boost the flavor of bland tomatoes though!
roast veg & cook pasta:
- Roast the broccoli, chickpeas, and tomatoes until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, and the chickpeas are golden and lightly chewy. This should take bout 25-35 minutes.
- Stir or shake the sheet pans once or twice while they are cooking, and rotate them halfway through if your oven heat is uneven.
- While the veggies are roasting, cook pasta in rapidly boiling salted water according to package directions.
drain pasta & mix dressing:
- Drain and shock the pasta with cold water to stop the cooking, and drain again.
- If you are making the homemade salad dressing, whisk that together now in the large mixing bowl you’ll be making your pasta salad in (otherwise, measure out your Italian dressing). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Chop the celery, parsley, olives, and artichoke hearts and add these to the mixing bowl with the dressing.
- Remove the roasted veggies and chickpeas from the oven and let them cool slightly.
combine pasta salad ingredients:
- Add the roasted broccoli and chickpeas along with the olive oil from their pans to the bowl. A bench scraper or spatula is helpful here.
- If you roasted your tomatoes, remove the skins and roughly chop them. Otherwise, dice the fresh tomatoes and add them to the salad, mixing gently to combine all vegetables and the dressing.
- Add the drained pasta to the bowl. Fold together all ingredients, tossing well until everything is well combined and evenly coated in the dressing.
- Taste, adjust seasoning if necessary, and serve (or chill for at least one hour to serve cold).
Nutrition
Calories: 363kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 9gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gSodium: 546mgPotassium: 314mgFiber: 5gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 484IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
