Healthy Mediterranean Pasta With Artichokes and Olives
Make this Mediterranean pasta with artichokes and olives (including olive oil) without any heavy sauce. It uses healthy legume chickpea pasta and needs only 20 mins. to prepare. Perfect for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.
Servings: 5
Calories: 271kcal
Ingredients
- 8-10 oz chickpea rotini or use your choice of pasta
- 3-4 quarts water
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved (or use cherry tomatoes)
- 2 medium garlic cloves chopped
- 4-6 artichoke hearts cut into quarters
- ¼ cup kalamata olives pitted and cut into half along their length
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Bring 3-4 quarts of water to boil. Add 2-3 teaspoon salt and raw pasta. Let it cook for 7 mins (or based on package instructions). Drain and rinse with cold water. Keep it aside.
- While the pasta is getting cooked, heat some cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and saute until fragrant for about 30-40 seconds.
- Then add diced zucchini, halved grape or cherry tomatoes (reserve some for garnishing later) and cook them for about 5 mins or until tender.
- Season with salt and black pepper.
- Now add cooked pasta, artichoke hearts, olives, and fresh basil leaves. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and gently mix everything well.
- Finally, garnish with fresh basil leaves and cherry tomatoes. Serve warm.
Notes
- For cooking the pasta, follow package instructions. For this recipe, the Barilla Chickpea Rotini took 7 mins to get the perfect texture that we prefer. In general, whole wheat or brown rice-based pasta take a longer time to cook.
- I bought artichoke hearts and pitted olives from the Mediterranean bar in our local grocery store. These are kept submerged in vinegar and oil. Therefore, it also added a nice taste to the final dish.
- You can also use some dried oregano or Italian seasoning mix to flavor this dish. Add it towards the end of cooking the zucchini and tomatoes.
Nutrition
Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 38.6g | Protein: 15.9g | Fat: 9.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.7g | Fiber: 10.9g | Sugar: 6.4g | Iron: 6mg