This easy 30-minute Marry Me Chickpeas recipe is a plant-based twist on Marry Me Chicken. Made with chickpeas and a creamy silken tofu sauce, it delivers around 23g of protein and 15g of fibre per serve.
This creamy chickpea recipe is a great example of a dish that can easily be adapted to add plant protein without fuss or endless ingredients. It's an easy vegan dinner that simply uses silken tofu rather than vegan cream to add creaminess and bulk to the sauce. It's still rich, savoury and luxurious.
Why You'll Love Vegan Marry Me Chickpeas
Main Ingredients & Substitutions
Silken tofu creates a creamy sauce while adding protein. Rather than using cream, it creates silkiness without adding additional fats.
Sun-dried or semi-dried tomatoes for the flavour base for this creamy chickpea recipe. Half are finely chopped and sautéed with the onions to build flavour, while the rest are sliced and added later for texture and little pops of intense flavour
Chickpeas. I really enjoy the nuttiness and texture of chickpeas in this recipe, but you can swap them for butter beans or white beans.
Aquafaba helps emulsify the silken tofu sauce, giving it a smoother, creamier texture. A little olive oil also helps bring the sauce together.
Nutritional yeast goes directly into the tofu cream sauce to lend umami cheesy vibes.
Soy milk adds creaminess but also thins the sauce to the right consistency.
Thyme and oregano are also in the original recipe adding a herbaceous and earthy layer. Is "herbaceous" not one of the coolest words?
Nutritionist's note: Protein receives a huge amount of air-time on social media. You can read my post on plant protein if you want to dive deeper.
Protein is important for maintaining muscle and supporting so many functions in the body, but it can be easy to lose perspective when every meal is presented as an opportunity to hit a protein magic number. Our diets aren't made up of individual meals in isolation. What matters is the overall pattern of what we eat across the day and over time.
That's why I like the idea of adding protein gently, rather than turning every meal into a "high-protein" meal. In this recipe, I've swapped traditional heavy cream for blended silken tofu. It makes the sauce beautifully creamy, adds protein and bulk, and does itwithout adding complicated (and unnecessary) steps to the recipe.
A bowl of these Marry Me Chickpeas provides around 23g of protein. Add a few slices of wholemeal toast and you're around the 30g mark. That's a good amount of protein from a simple, plant-based meal - no protein powder or elaborate steps required. No muss, no fuss.
HOw to Make Marry Me Chickpeas
You'll find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Images 1 and 2. Make the tofu vegan cream
First of all, we are going to pop the vegan cream ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Easy peasy. Go ahead and set that aside.
Image 3. Sauté the base
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat before adding the onions, garlic, tomato paste and finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes. You'll see in the recipe card below that we are going to divide the sun-dried tomatoes and finely chop half and cut the other half into slices.
Cook for around 5 minutes or until the onions are soft. If you need a little more moisture, add a tablespoon or so of water.
You can add oil, but water will work to steam the onions without adding extra oil.
Image 4. Add chickpeas and veggie stock
Stir the chickpeas and stock into the pan and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Images 5, 6a and 6b. Add the cream and sliced tomatoes
Add the vegan cream and sliced sun-dried tomatoes into the pan and stir through. Reduce the heat and allow the chickpeas to cook for around 5-7 minutes or until you get a lovely rich colour. Season with salt and some cracked pepper.
Image 7. Add spinach
Add chopped baby spinach and continue cooking until it wilts.
And that's it. I like to serve mine with a smattering of vegan parmesan and fresh basil along with some wholemeal toast for dipping.
What to Serve With Marry Me Chickpeas
FAQs
Marry Me Chicken is a creamy chicken dish made with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs and cream. The dish became popular after a Delish recipe for skillet chicken went viral. This plant-based version swaps the chicken for chickpeas and the cream for a silken tofu sauce.
Legend has it that Marry Me Chicken (or chickpeas) is so good, whoever you make it for will want to marry you. Consider yourself warned.
Yes, you can use butter beans or white beans rather than chickpeas to make a vegan Marry Me recipe.
Yes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Make This Recipe
Marry Me Chickpeas
Ingredients
For the vegan cream
- ¼ cup aquafaba from the canned chickpeas
- ⅓ cup soy milk
- 300 g silken tofu or soft tofu
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the chickpeas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion peeled and finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes divided (finely chop half and cut the other half into slices)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes optional
- 500 g chickpeas 2 x 425g can, drained, keeping ¼ cup chickpea brine set aside
- 1 cup vegetable stock I use a chicken-flavoured vegan stock
- 2 cup spinach washed and finely sliced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- cracked pepper (optional)
Instructions
- To make the vegan cream, pop the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, tomato paste and finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes - we are going to add the sliced ones later. Cook for around 5 minutes or until the onions are soft. If you need some more oil or moisture, add a tablespoon or so of water. This will steam the onions without adding additional oil.
- Stir the chickpeas and stock into the pan and continue cooking for a few minutes.
- Add your vegan cream and sun-dried tomato slices and stir through. Reduce the heat and allow the chickpeas to cook for around 5-7 minutes or until you get a lovely rich colour. Season with salt and some cracked pepper.
- Add chopped baby spinach and continue cooking until it wilts. Serve as is or with dairy-free parmesan and fresh basil.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer
The nutritional information is an estimate only and is automatically calculated using online tools. For accurate results, we recommend calculating the nutritional information based on the ingredients and brands you use.
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