You’ll love this Marry Me Chickpeas recipe—my vegetarian twist on the popular Marry Me Chicken! We use canned chickpeas cooked in a creamy Tuscan-style sun-dried tomato sauce. It’s a very simple chickpeas recipe that takes just 15 minutes from scratch, so you can still make a proper date-night-worthy meal if you have all the ingredients on hand.
You’ve probably seen the viral “Marry Me Chicken” recipe floating all over the internet lately , right? Well, I’ve created my own vegetarian version—Marry Me Chickpeas! This is my take on that famous dish, and I promise it’s just as delicious. I've made it at least 20 times before sharing it with you and I've nailed the flavors.
As a vegetarian, I've swapped out the chicken for chickpeas, keeping things simple and easy to find, like my coronation chickpeas recipe and gnocchi tray bake recipe. Plus, I've worked around the ingredients to bring out the best flavours for Chickpeas in a creamy Tuscan sauce.
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💭Why You'll Love This Recipe?
- You'll need just 3 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking.
- One Pot Comforting Meal perfect to serve as a special meal or even weeknights like my creamy pesto gnocchi.
- Easily scalable for larger servings.
- Simple and adaptable—swap the protein or add more to suit your taste.
- Plant-based friendly —Easily make it vegan by using dairy-free alternatives. See substitutions below.
📋Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Oil – I use the flavourful oil from the sun-dried tomato jar, but olive oil works well too.
- White Onion or Shallots – Avoid red onions, as they can overpower the creamy sauce.
- Garlic – Fresh minced garlic adds loads of flavour.
- Sun-dried Tomatoes – It contribute rich flavors to the Tuscany style sauce. Use homemade air fryer sun-dried tomatoes or the ones from the can.
- Chickpeas – Use canned chickpeas for convenience or prepare homemade chickpeas from dried ones.
- Double Cream (Heavy Cream) –Avoid using half and half or any lighter cream.
🌱Vegan Substitutions
- Nutritional Yeast or Vegetarian Parmesan Cheese – Add these for a creamy and flavourful sauce.
- Coconut Milk or Vegan Cream - I use Elmea brand double cream for making a vegan marry me chickpeas.
🔪How to Make Marry Me Chickpeas?
Step 1. Heat oil and add diced onions, garlic. Sauté until translucent (3-4 mins).
Step 2. Now add sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, vegetable stock, chilli flakes and Italian herbs.Bring it to boil.
Step 3. Add Cream, spinach, salt and pepper. Mix well. Cover and simmer for just 5 minutes.
Tip: If you are making vegan creamy chickpeas, add vegan cream or coconut milk at this stage instead of dairy.
Step 4. Now remove from heat, add parmesan cheese if using and basil leaves.
Tip: For plant based-Use Vegetarian Parmesan or Nutritional Yeast.
Variations
- For extra protein, I love adding bite-sized tofu or paneer, similar to how I would in my easy paneer curry.
- When I want to pack in more veggies, I’ll toss in sautéed mushrooms, air fried broccoli, or air fryer veggies.
- Another favourite variation is adding cooked pasta to make marry me pasta. It's a delicious lunch option with leftovers.
🧂Storing Leftovers
- In the fridge:Store leftover Marry Me Chickpeas in airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-4 days. I think the flavours tend to marry well over time.
- In the freezer: You can freeze the leftover creamy chickpea for up to 3 months in freezer safe container or single serve containers like Souper Cubes.
- To reheat: Place on the stovetop, add a splash of stock or water and cook until warm thoroughly. Alternatively cook in the microwave.
🍽What to Serve With Marry Me Chickpeas
I love to pair this creamy chickpeas dish with baguette slices or homemade no-knead bread. Just before serving, I swirl over some basil olive oil on the top. For a larger spread I also serve with Tomato & Gnocchi Tray Bake sometimes.
For a quick lunch, I serve with white basmati rice, brown basmati rice, quinoa, or spaghetti.
I prefer a fresh lettuce salad or a red cabbage coleslaw for a light meal.
Recipe FAQ's
"Marry Me Chickpeas" got its name because people believe that if you make this dish for someone, they might want to marry you. But for me, the real magic is how the ingredients come together in the easy Italian Tuscan sauce.
It's a fantastic recipe to cook for your special someone on Valentine's Day or your anniversary – so good that it might even be considered "proposal worthy"!
Sure, why not! If you like a bit of crunch, I highly recommend adding air fryer chickpeas to the Italian cream style sauce.
Absolutely! I do make the vegan marry me chickpeas using the same recipe. I simply use Elmea brand double cream or coconut milk (depending upon what I have at hand).
The recipe is super simple to make roasted chickpeas in the air fryer for a bit of crispiness. I have a detailed recipe for air fryer roasted chickpeas. Be sure to check it out.
More Easy Vegetarian Italian Inspired Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil *
- 1 white onion diced 70g
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes chopped 50g
- 2 can chickpeas drained or 480g *
- 1 tablespoon Italian herbs
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 cup vegetable stock 240ml
- ⅔ cup double cream or heavy cream or plant based cream 150ml
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup spinach 30g
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon basil leaves chopped
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent, approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, vegetable stock, Italian herbs and chilli flakes. Bring it to a boil.
- Add the cream, salt and pepper and spinach. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, allowing the flavors to marry.
- Remove the pan from heat, add nutritional yeast, sprinkle basil leaves and enjoy.
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Notes
Top Tips
- In this recipe, I use oil from the sun-dried tomatoes jar. It is flavourful and adds extra deliciousness to the dish.
- While I love using canned chickpeas for convenience, I make big batch of chickpeas cooked from dried with ease. Here's how I cook chickpeas in the Instant Pot.
- To make a Vegan Marry me Chickpeas recipe, simply swap the cream for dairy free alternative. They are still so good.
Gerald Sandy says
This is very good, easy, and nutritious. I made a few adjustments to suit my preferences. For canned chickpeas, I substituted 300g of dried chickpeas. I soaked them overnight and cooked them the next day in a pressure cooker for 25 minutes with aromatics (dried onion flakes, black peppercorns, and a bay leaf). I also substituted the spinach with a more robust green, chicory (dandelion greens).
Sandhya's Kitchen says
That is fantastic to know you enjoyed the recipe. Cooking the chickpeas from dried beans is great.
Marilyn J. Olsen says
Really good
Sandhya Hariharan says
Thank you so much!