Middle-Eastern Style Chickpea Cavatappi
with Spinach, Tomato & Feta
- Milk
- Wheat
You’ve had middle-eastern flavors in salads, grain bowls, and gyros—but have you tried ‘em in a pasta? If not, consider this your lucky dinner! Chickpeas, spinach, and onion are cooked with garlic and our signature Shawarma Spice Blend, then swirled in a creamy white sauce. Next, you’ll add tender cavatappi, fresh tomatoes, and feta cheese for brimming bowls full of bright flavors. It’s pasta night, perfected!
Ingredients
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
1.5 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
½ cup
Feta Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Chickpeas
½ unit
Onion
5 ounce
Spinach
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
2 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
2 clove
Garlic
1 tablespoon
Shawarma Spice Blend
2 unit
Tomato
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and finely chop onion. Peel and mince or grate garlic. Drain chickpeas over a small bowl, reserving liquid; rinse chickpeas and pat dry with paper towels. Dice tomatoes into 1⁄2-inch pieces.
• Once water is boiling, add cavatappi to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Reserve 3⁄4 cup pasta cooking water (1 1⁄2 cups for 4 servings), then drain.
• Meanwhile, heat a large drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, chickpeas, Shawarma Spice Blend, a big pinch of salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, until onion is softened and chickpeas are lightly browned, 5-6 minutes. • Add spinach and reserved chickpea liquid. Cook, stirring, until spinach is wilted and liquid has mostly absorbed, 2-3 minutes. TIP: Add spinach in batches if necessary.
• Reduce heat under pan with chickpea mixture to low. Stir in stock concentrate, cream cheese, sour cream, and 1⁄3 cup reserved pasta cooking water (1⁄2 cup for 4 servings) until melted and combined.
• Stir in drained cavatappi, tomatoes, half the feta, and 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings). Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. TIP: If needed, stir in more reserved pasta cooking water a splash at a time until pasta is thoroughly coated in sauce.
• Divide cavatappi between bowls. Top with remaining feta and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many found it mild; some suggest adding more spice, feta, or a splash of lemon for extra zing 🍋.
- Ease of prep: Quick and simple to make, with easy-to-follow instructions and minimal cleanup.
- Suggestions: Consider adding red pepper flakes for heat, roasting the chickpeas, or swapping yogurt for cream cheese and sour cream.
- Leftovers: Generous portions often provided lunch the next day, with some noting it tasted even better reheated.
- Texture: Some loved the creamy pasta, while others found the chickpea and pasta combination unusual.
Reviews from our home cooks
This was such a unique flavor profile for pasta! Huge portions and filling. Very simple to prep and cook. I ended up increasing the heat in the last steps to thicken up the sauce because I thought it seemed a bit too watery after added the 1/3 cup pasta water the recipe called for.
Tasted really good. I liked all the flavors. The tomato worked really well here. I just wish that I would've saved the feta to spread on for serving. Reheated really well. Only needed about 2 minutes.
Really easy, smelled amazing while it was cooking, very filling, and delicious as leftovers. I normally don't love cooked spinach but it complimented this dish very well.
This was very good, and also very filling. It lasted several meals. It was a nice collection of ingredients that I wouldn't have thought to put together myself. I appreciate the new recipe!
GREAT flavor and enough for lunch the next day (was more like 4 servings for us which was awesome)
Easy and delicious. I think it would also be good on rice instead of pasta, but it was a nice change from the usual pasta sauces.
Loved this - the comfort food of creamy pasta with lots of veggies and protein. Will definitely get this again.
Directions mention reserving liquid chickpeas were in. It's a well known rule to not do this because it causes major stomach aches for people. The obsession with not cooking tomato does not help this recipe. It lacked a lot of flavor. Texture of everything together did not work together.
The sauce was on the thin side when following the recipe as given. With a few adjustments, it could be perfect. Flavors were great.
It felt like everything didn't quite go together. I like the shawarma spice blend, but I'm not sure how well it worked in this in a cream cheese based sauce. I think with a different spice blend, this could have been great.
