Mexican Vegan Chickpea Pasta Salad with a Cilantro Avocado Sauce
Mexican food is one of my favorite types of food to eat and I don’t think I am alone on this. It is always so satisfying, full of flavor, and pretty easy to recreate at home for taco night. For this recipe, I decided to add all of my favorite ingredients that I use to make tacos but toss them with chickpea pasta and a creamy cilantro avocado sauce, made from scratch!
This dish is dairy free, plant-based, and grain free. It is loaded with protein not only from the chickpea pasta but from the black beans as well! Also, I should mention right away that you do not have to cook ONE thing in this dish; besides boiling the legume pasta in water- which only takes 7 minutes!
For the legume pasta, I chose the Chickpea Rotini from Barilla. They have recently launched a new line of legumespastas that come in four different varieties. (Chickpea Rotini, Chickpea Casarecce, Red Lentil Penne and Red Lentil Rotini). They are a great source of plant-based protein, delicious, and made with just ONE ingredient!
For the recipe, I used black beans, chopped red peppers, corn, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro all tossed with a very light avocado cilantro sauce. For that, all you need is olive oil, cilantro, an avocado plus a little sea salt and pepper! It is SO delicious and great to use over salads, for tacos, or dipping raw veggies! The recipe will give you plenty of leftovers, but they will only keep for about a week.
I wanted to keep this recipe not only simple, but one that you can make for your weekly meal prep and something that you can take with you to work that does not require you to reheat. Even though it is full of protein and fiber to keep you full, it is a lighter option if you need on in the winter months.
To make this recipe, you will need to cook the chickpea chickpea pasta according to the directions on the box. Once finished and it has been drained you add in:
black beans
corn
cherry tomatoes
chopped cilantro
red peppers
Then, blend the sauce in your food processor and toss with the pasta.
You can find all varieties of the Barilla Legume pastas on Amazon.
Main Meal
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 7 minutes
Total time: less than 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 box of Barilla Chickpea Rotini legume pasta (or any of their varieties)
1 red pepper, chopped finely
1 can of black beans (15 oz)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 handful of chopped cilantro
Cilantro Avocado Sauce:
Yields about 3/4 cup
1 whole ripe avocado (not brown)
3/4 cup olive oil
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 cup of cilantro
Directions:
Cook the chickpea pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.
Prepare the sauce. Add all of the ingredients into your food processor and blend until creamy. If you want the sauce to be thinner, you can slowly add more olive oil or water until you have reached the desired consistency. Taste test and adjust.
Chop the ingredients you are using for the chickpea pasta dish (red pepper, cilantro, tomatoes). After the pasta has been drained, add the beans, corn, and the chopped ingredients into the bowl.
Toss with as much of the avocado cilantro sauce as you would like!
Serve immediately or store in fridge for up to 4-5 days! Tastes great cold too!
Notes on sauce: you can always store the sauce separately and when you are enjoying the pasta such as the next day at work, pour it over the pasta then instead of the night before! Your preference!
Enjoy!