Zucchini Noodles with Arrabiata Chickpeas
A light but filling vegan meal with zucchini "noodles," spicy homemade arrabiata sauce and chickpeas.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
My oh my, what a week! I don’t know where to begin, so let’s get right to the recipe. Pretty, isn’t it? This dish was inspired by Stonesoup’s lentils with zucchini noodles recipe. I loved the zucchini “noodles”, but felt the lentils with tomato paste were too heavy for a light, vegan summer dish. Then came the idea to try making my own arrabiata sauce, which has been on my to-cook list for a long time. I threw in some chickpeas for protein.
Voila! An amazing meal was born.
Zucchini Noodles with Arrabiata Chickpea Sauce
A light but filling vegan meal with zucchini “noodles,” spicy homemade arrabiata sauce and chickpeas. Recipe yields 2 to 3 servings.
Ingredients
Arrabiata sauce
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp dried red pepper flakes
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 or 4 diced tomatoes, seeded, with juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Zucchini pasta
- 2 to 3 zucchinis
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onion starts to caramelize, which will take about 10 minutes. Add the pepper flakes and red pepper and cook until the pepper softens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and heat until the sauce begins to simmer. Lower heat and cook (uncovered) until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Slice the ends off two to three zucchinis. Use a vegetable peeler to shave off strips of zucchini. It’s easier than you think it’ll be.
- On a baking sheet, layer the zucchini a few layers deep, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini has lost its crunch.
- Back to the sauce: stir in the basil and chickpeas. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook about 5 more minutes, until everything is heated through. Serve generous portions of zucchini pasta topped with arrabiata sauce!
Notes
Recipe inspired by Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Stonesoup.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
dude… this sounds sooo good! must try soon…
Very, very pretty indeed! I’ve never done wide zucchini “noodles”, I always cut mine thin. The wide ones look better for holding that rich tomato-chickpea mixture. Sounds absolutely delicious.
Gorgeous plating!! I’ve been wanting to try zuchinni noodles and your version looks simple and tasty. Perfect for summer, although it’s RAINING today in LA..
WOW! This looks beautiful!! :) I’m a huge fan of your photography, too! :)
Looks amazing as always my dear. -jes
Looks quite delish and I’m not even vegan! I love zucchini so much, it’s just delicious and so versatile. :)
This looks fantastic!! I have been holding out on zucchini for now, so I am not overwhelmed if I get a bumper crop in the garden but this will get made this summer. It looks so fresh and flavourful. :)
THis looks wonderful and full of flavour. we love zuchinni in our household. It is such a versatile ingredient to have on hand.
I was skeptical about this as I’ve never done the squash pasta thing before, but I’ve been trying to eat less pasta so I thought I’d give this a shot. It was incredibly easy and pretty quick to make. I like my food spicy so I amped up the black pepper and red pepper flakes. It was insanely delicious and filling. I will definitely be making this again and again.
Yay, I’m so glad to hear you liked it. I want to get a spiralizer tool so I can make fancy zucchini noodles, but a vegetable peeler does the trick for now!
So delicious! One of my favorite blog-discovered recipes thus far! Making it again tonight!
Hooray! I just love to hear from readers who have made my recipes. Thank you, Shannon, and happy eating!
I have made this twice, it is absolutely delicious. I use roasted red pepper instead of fresh. Thank for the great recipe!
I’m so glad you linked back to me so that I could see this–I hadn’t seen it when you first posted! This dish looks amazing. I love the combination of ingredients–and so, so healthy. Yum! :)
This was quite good. I omitted the oil (except to mist the zucchini before roasting) and added more tomatoes so that I’d have a bit more sauce. I also omitted the red pepper, since my wife doesn’t like spicy food (I know, now it’s not a real arrabiata!) and added some paprika – both sweet and smoked – instead to boost up the flavor.
Glad you enjoyed it, David!
Just made this and it’s SUPER good! I ate all the noodles on my own though (I used two smaller zucchinis). Very easy to make!! Definitely sharing this recipe.
Thanks!
Awesome, thanks, Jazmyn!
Do you use fresh tomatoes that you dice, or canned diced tomatoes?
Lorel, I used fresh tomatoes but I think a can of diced tomatoes would work well also.
Made this and it was so delicious. Thanks for the inspiration and recipe :)
Hooray! Glad you liked the recipe, Erika.
Thank you so much Kate! I became a vegeterian 1 year ago, since that time I gained a litof weigh! I was looking for a blog with healthy vegeterian recepies! You just rocked my world! You recepies easy, healthy and amazing! Thank you so much for the wonderful work you do! I cooked this zuccini pasta and it came out amazing!
Thank you, Olga! I’m glad you found my site, too! I hope you enjoy the other recipes just as much. :)
I made a modified version of this last night. I can’t have alliums so I left them out of the sauce, and added spinach, preserved lemon, and a bit of miso. The whole thing was so delicious. We will definitely make it again. We served it alongside cheesy cauliflower flat”bread”. Yum.
Thanks, Cordelia! Glad you enjoyed it!
How many does this recipe serve?
Hi Carolyn, this recipe yields 2 to 3 servings, depending on serving size.
Great application for noodles. Great flavor, pretty authentic flavor profile, yummy!
Thank you!!
this is lovely!
Perfect timing for the abundance of zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and basil from our CSA. As we have lots of leftover sauce, I definitely plan to put my spiralizer to use for the remainder. (I loved the wide noodles and followed the recipe, but my already steaming kitchen did not love my oven being on at 400 ;)
I made this again and not sure if I commented earlier but have to say this is so scrumptious!!
Thank you, Sandra!
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it as I just harvested a whole wheelbarrow of zukes today!
Yum! Let me know how it goes!
Yum! I made this tonight & it was lovely. It was surprisingly easy & filing. Thank you :-)
Perfect! Glad it was able to satisfy. Thank you for your feedback, Kathryn! If you would want to leave a star review, I would appreciate it.
I think you should call these ZUDLES. Great idea to bake them.
I appreciate the input! I like to keep my ingredients in the name to help when people are searching. :)
So delicious!! We’ve got an abundance of zucchini in our garden already this season so are always looking for new ways to eat them. This recipe is full of flavor and nice to look at, to boot. Thank you so much for keeping our meals delicious, interesting and healthy.
So delicious and healthful. I didn’t have fresh tomatoes or basil so I used ~ 3/4 jar tomato sauce and a few shakes of dried basil instead. I also used pre-spiraled yellow zucchini noodles from the grocery store. The texture of the chick peas were favorite part of this recipe!
Thank you for sharing, Erica!
This recipe is awesome good. I give my chickpeas a rough chop so that I am not having to chase them with my fork! I’m going to make it for the second time tonight. Thanks for delicious simplicity!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Debbie! I appreciate your review.
This was so good! I loved the zucchini noodles done this way, I’d never had them like this before. The dish also looked amazing. Will definitely make again!
Wonderful, Jaimie!