This one-pan Marry Me Chickpeas recipe puts a vegan twist on the viral comfort food, Marry Me Chicken! Get ready to fall in love with this indulgent 15-minute meal.
For more easy ways to use the canned chickpeas in your cupboard, check out my Chickpea Salad Sandwich, Italian Chickpea Soup, Chickpea Burger, and Biscuit Topped Chickpea Pot Pie recipes!
The viral Marry Me Chicken recipe is no match for my vegan-friendly Marry Me Chickpeas. It’s as creamy, indulgent, and family-friendly as the original, but made without dairy or meat!
What’s better is that this one-pan meal is totally foolproof. Just simmer the protein-packed chickpeas in the dreamy Tuscan sun dried tomato cream sauce for 15 minutes, then enjoy it for family dinners or date nights at home. Don’t forget the hunks of crusty bread for scooping up every luxurious bite!
Why you’ll love this easy plant based recipe
- Rich Tuscan-inspired flavors – Like my Tuscan Vegan Gnocchi, vegan marry me chickpeas feature incredible Italian-inspired flavors that will keep you going back for more.
- Packed with protein – Two cans of chickpeas pack this dish with about 30 grams of plant-based protein!
- An easy one-pan meal – The everyday ingredients in this dish are cooked together in one pan in just 15 minutes.
How to make marry me chickpeas
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Warm the olive oil in a large pan over low-medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. Stir in the sun dried tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and ground black pepper.
Add the chickpeas, vegetable broth, tomato paste, vegan cream, and spinach to the pan. Simmer until the sauce is warmed through and the spinach is wilted.
Garnish the Tuscan chickpeas with chopped fresh basil and vegan parmesan. Scoop up every bite with crusty bread or serve it over rice, pasta, or baked sweet potatoes. Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
Marry Me Chicken is a dish that combines cooked chicken with a sun dried tomato and garlic cream sauce. The original recipe is made with heavy cream and chicken breasts, but in vegan marry me chicken recipes, they’re swapped for vegan cream and canned chickpeas.
It’s simple: the silky smooth cashew cream sauce, Italian flavors, and hearty chickpeas in every bite are so good that you’re bound to get a marriage proposal from anyone you serve it to!
Canned cannellini beans or another white bean will work well. For a meatier dish, you can use my Vegan Chicken recipe, homemade seitan bites, or baked tofu.
I recommend making the cream sauce with cashew cream for a thick and luxurious consistency. While store-bought vegan cream (I love Ripple’s dairy free half and half) or coconut milk also work, they’ll make the sauce slightly thinner. To help thicken it, stir a cornstarch slurry (made by mixing 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl) into the sauce at the end and gently simmer until it thickens.
The leftovers will keep for up to 5 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy them for quick and easy meals or meal prep throughout the week! To reheat, zap the chickpeas and sauce in the microwave or warm them in a saucepan on the stove until heated through.
Marry Me Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- (2) 15-ounce cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup vegan cream See Notes
- 2 cups baby spinach sliced
- 4-5 fresh basil leaves chopped
- optional: 1/2 cup grated vegan parmesan cheese I used Violife
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan over low-medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant.
- Stir in the sun dried tomatoes, oregano, red chili flakes, salt and black pepper. Cook for 1 minute.
- Now add the chickpeas, broth, tomato paste, cream and spinach and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes, until warm and the spinach has wilted. Taste; add more salt, pepper or red pepper flakes as desired.
- Remove from heat and stir in the fresh basil and grated parmesan. Serve immediately with crusty bread for dipping, or on to of cooked rice, pasta or even a baked sweet potato. Enjoy!
Notes
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For vegan marry me chicken, try substituting the chickpeas for any vegan chicken you like, including my homemade seitan chicken. Or make my crispy baked tofu and use that instead.
- For the cream, you can use any store bought dairy free creamer (I love Ripple’s Half and Half), full fat coconut milk, another unsweetened plant milk or best of all, homemade cashew cream.
- To make cashew cream for the cream – Bring 2-3 cups of water to a boil (I use my tea kettle). Pour the hot water over ¾ cup raw cashews and let soak for 5 minutes or up to an hour. Drain the cashews and add to a high powered blender with 1 cup of fresh water and blend until creamy and smooth.
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If you use a store bought cream or coconut milk, you may want to thicken the chickpeas as the sauce won’t be as thick. To do this, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water in a bowl, then stir it into the chickpea mixture at the end. It should thicken up nicely.
I just made this and it was SO delicious! The recipe was very quick and simple. I followed the instructions to make the cream from cashews, which was super easy and I will definitely be adding to my repertoire from now on. My whole family loved it! It shows that vegan food can still be flavorful and taste like comfort food!
You are welcome! I am thrilled your family loved the recipe! Thanks for your stellar review and feedback! I love creating simple and delicious vegan recipes, and it’s rewarding to learn how others are enjoying them! I appreciate you using my recipes, and wish you happy cooking!
Absolutely delicious!! Made it for some friends and they loved it. Unfortunately my family doesn’t like beans and my husband doesn’t like tofu. Ugh! Could I add some gnocchi instead? I know that means lower protein but maybe my picky family will eat it.
Thanks Christa, I’m so happy you all loved it! Yes, you could try gnocchi, or sub the chickpeas with some kind of plant based chicken, like even soy curls perhaps? Just an idea for a picky family (I understand this well!).
Fast and Easy to make. Has a gourmet flare to it. We ate it over fettucine and it was a hit! There were no left-overs. I put only 1 can of chickpeas in and just one cup of plant-based milk, no cream, cuz I felt like 2 cans of chickpeas would make too much for us. Turned out just right. We will definitely be making it again. Thank you so much, Nora.
You are welcome, Barbara! Sounds like a delicious meal with the fettuccine! I am so glad you loved the recipe! Thanks for taking time to share your wonderful review and feedback! Happy cooking to you!
This was EXCELLENT! I’d use less salt next time but all the flavors were delicious. It was so creamy I’d never have guessed it was vegan
This is being added to the regular rotation in our house! I let the chickpeas simmer for 20 minutes on low to allow the flavors to combine + to help soften the chickpeas.
Hi! How wonderful your family loves the recipe! Thanks very much for your wonderful review and feedback! Wishing you happy cooking!
This was very yummy and easy to prepare, but also very salty. Next time I’ll cut the salt in half.
Hi Carey. I’m glad you found the recipe easy and delicious! Thanks for your great feedback and review!
Incredible!!! I am admittedly not big into cooking but I love a good comfort meal. I’ve made this twice now because it’s so simple and doesn’t take long. I doubled the recipe and used 1 cup/can of coconut milk and 1 cup of cashew milk & it came out great. It stores and reheats well. This is a recipe I’ll keep going back to (& will be trying more of Nora’s recipes!)
!hanks so much for your encouraging words and awesome review, Emily! I’m thrilled you are loving my recipes and find them easy and delicious! That helps make cooking fun! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Made it with a few tweaks and it was delicious. Thank you! Adding this into my regular rotation.
Hi Deeva. Thank YOU for sharing your great review! I’m thrilled this is going onto your meal rotation! Happy cooking!
I made this for my boyfriend and he was about to propose 😂😂 haha. Needless to say this dish is very yummy. Thank you!!
Haha yay! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it. 🙂
I second any comments on epic or amazing. Well done. Will make again.
Thanks for your stellar review and feedback! I’m thrilled you loved the recipe!
Another epic recipe, thank you Nora!
Can confirm Violife parmesan works really well in this recipe.
I didn’t have any cream, so I used a can of coconut milk. Worked great.
I also added a can of butter beans for an extra Tuscan twist, they worked really well with the chickpeas.
You are welcome! I’m so glad that you loved the recipe! Thanks for sharing your cooking experience. I appreciate your wonderful review!
That was delicious, Nora!! I’m not fond of sun-dried tomatoes (nor did I have any on hand) but I had green onions so I chopped up those, and their green tops, and cooked them along with the garlic instead. To replace the vegan cream, I used plain/unflavoured coconut yogourt. Turned out so good, great consistency and pretty creamy. Thanks for another great vegan recipe; a very successful conversion 🙂
Hi Katherine. I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Thanks for your wonderful review and feedback!
Delicious! I only had oat milk in the fridge. Added the corn starch and it turned out great!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful review and feedback, Mary! I’m glad the recipe turned out great for you!
Great recipe. I used half Trader Joe’s vegan whipping cream and half of the TJ’s unsweetened soy milk, and cooked it a bit longer than directed. I also added half a tablespoon of corn starch to thicken it up. My parents loved it, even my dad who is picky about vegan food.
How much is a serving?
There are 6 servings total, so you’d have to divide it by 6 to know for sure.
Divorce me chickpeas?
I was unsuccessful in making the cashew cream.
I started with raw cashews. I soaked them as instructed. Drained them. Added fresh water.
My mistake was thinking that my handheld wand would do the trick…it did not!
The “cashew cream” was gritty texturally, not creaming and smooth.
Thankfully, she liked the taste enough to not divorce me.
Lesson learned: when it says use a high powered blender until smooth…do just that!
Appreciate the recipe.
Wonder if it would work with black-eyed peas…
This is fantastic!! Such a delicious and easy meal to prepare. I made it with cannellini beans and it was a hit with everyone.
I tried this recipe today with my toddler; he loved it! Served with rice, it was perfect—tasty but not too strong for a kid.
Thank you 🙂
Really nice! Made it tonight and I reckon it’s going in the roster. Thanks Nora <3
You bet, Laura! Thanks for your fabulous review and feedback!
A very nice recipe! I took the liberty of making of some additional changes to spice it up a little bit. Before the first step, I started by sautéing a whole red onion in the oil from the sun dried tomato jar. I like to get in extra veggies when I can plus an onion cooked in the sundried tomato oil adds a lot of flavor too. I opted to make cashew cream, and I would recommend you do so as well if you have the tools and patience. I served this over Barilla Protein+ cellentani pasta, and it was delicious!
Delicious, just made it. Can’t stop eating it. Total yum!!!
Hi Rosemary. I’m so glad you are loving the recipe! Thanks for your wonderful feedback and review!
This is AMAZING. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life, lol.
🥰. I’m thrilled that you love it! Thanks for your awesome review!
Nora can always be counted on for an amazing dinner! Very easy weeknight meal. Better make extra because you’re gonna want some to pack for lunch the next day.
Will roasted cashews be okay as a substitute for raw in the cashew cream??
They will add a pretty nutty flavor to the dish but should work in a pinch.
Would baby kale work as a substitute for the baby spinach? I need to limit my spinach intake due to its high oxalate count.
I think kale would work great!
Delicious and so easy to make. I used 1 can chickpeas and 1 block tofu and it probably came out thicker than the way the recipe is designed, but I added a little more water to thin it out slightly.
I used jarred/oiled sun dried tomatoes. I did not have veg broth so I just used water.
The flavor is amazing. This will be on the dinner rotation for sure.
Hi Lydia! How fabulous that you loved the recipe! Thank you for taking time to share your awesome review and feedback! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Is this also gluten free?
Yes, it is.
Should I use Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil
I usually do yes.
This new recipe popped in on IG while I was getting ready to make dinner and so I had to make it! So delicious, I had nothing for the other cream options and used vegan cream cheese and some nutritional yeast, so good!! Will be making again. Thank you.
I’m so happy you saw it just in time for dinner! I’m glad vegan cream cheese and nutritional yeast worked well, it’s such a flexible recipe. Thank you!
Can it be frozen?
Hi Lydia. I have not tried freezing this, however, I think it should freeze fine.