Garbanzo beans are SO incredibly versatile. We always keep a can on hand and use them in so many different recipes. If you’ve never tried adding them to your pasta dishes, you are missing out! This sausage and garbanzo bean based ragu is delicious and comes together in just under 30 minutes, making it a perfect weeknight meal the whole family will enjoy.
Less meat, more plants:
One of our goals with our diet as a family is to work on eating less meat and incorporating as many plant based items — vegetables, beans, legumes, fruits, etc, as possible. This is not just for the environmental impact, but also the known health benefits of increasing plant based foods into your diet. Plant based foods have so many nutrients, vitamins, and fiber that are hard to get from animal based protein.
We both grew up in fairly meat-heavy households, Marcelo more than me. Most meals featured a meat dish as the primary source of calories with assorted vegetable or grain-based side dishes. We are working to try to break that habit, not just for our own health, but our daughter’s too! One of the ways we’ve tried to do this is not always just removing meat altogether, but reducing the quantity. This dish is a great example of that. It can be adjusted to your family’s taste preferences, increasing the garbanzo bean to sausage ratio as desired! Full disclosure – we have made this dish with just garbanzo beans before, and it still turned out delicious!
Optional Substitutions:
The beauty of this sausage and garbanzo bean pasta dish is that it is really hard to mess up. You can adjust the recipe to what you have on hand and likely still have a tasty result. You can sub dried garbanzo beans (about 3/4 cup) and cook prior to making the recipe. You can use fresh tomatoes or diced tomatoes if needed. Skip the red wine if you prefer, and add more stock instead. The milk/cream mellows the acidity of the tomatoes a little, but again, you can skip or use a nondairy alternative like coconut milk, if desired.
As I mentioned above, you can even skip the sausage altogether and opt for a fully vegetarian pasta by doubling the quantity of garbanzo beans. We have not yet tried it, but I could see white beans being a great substitution as well.
Other plant based/low meat options:
We probably won’t ever be fully vegetarian, but love getting creative finding ways to reduce our meat consumption and increase your plant intake. Here are a few other recipes to get your creative juices flowing:
Easy Caprese Pasta with Crispy Prosciutto
Sesame Ginger Tofu Noodle Bowls
Spring Pea and Ricotta Ravioli
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until onions are translucent.
- Add the sausage, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat as it cooks.
- Next, add the tomato paste, crushed tomato, garbanzo beans, red wine, chicken stock, herbs, and salt. Stir to combine. Let simmer about 15 minutes while you cook the pasta.
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain.
- Reduce the heat to simmer and add your milk or cream, stirring to combine. Add salt to taste. Then, add in the drained pasta.
- Top with fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese.