The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.
As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.
Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.
Spicy Chickpea Arrabiata with Olives
A spin on pasta arrabbiata - with a few mindful twists. Nutty brown rice penne to pack in more fibre. Creamy chickpeas for a protein boost. Toss in vitimin rich courgette for your greens. A sprinkle of chilli flakes and a scattering of olives complete the meal.
Ready in 20
1/3 daily fibre
4 of 5 a day
Low sat fat
Serving size
Ingredients
- 60g pitted black olives (Olives, Water, Red Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt, Grape Must)
- 4 tbsp sundried tomato paste (Tomato Puree, Sundried Tomatoes, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Pine Kernels, Salt)
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 400g passata (tomatoes, salt, citric acid)
- 250g brown rice penne (Eggs)
- 2 courgette
- 200g baby tomatoes
- 460g chickpeas (Chickpeas, water, salt)
- 4 garlic clove
- 1 onion
- 1 handful of fresh basil
Nutritional Information
Calories: 569
Protein: 18g
Carbs: 64g
Fat: 17g
Spicy Chickpea Arrabiata with Olives
A spin on pasta arrabbiata - with a few mindful twists. Nutty brown rice penne to pack in more fibre. Creamy chickpeas for a protein boost. Toss in vitimin rich courgette for your greens. A sprinkle of chilli flakes and a scattering of olives complete the meal.
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Cooking Instructions
Before you start
- Heat a large saucepan filled with salted boiling water on high heat
- Pull out a large frying pan, small mixing bowl and sieve
Cook the pasta
- Add the penne to the saucepan and boil for 7-8 mins, until cooked, then drain
Prep the sauce
- Thinly slice the onion and garlic. Cut the courgette into 1 cm cubes. Halve the tomatoes
- Heat the large frying pan with 2 tsp oil on medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion and courgette and cook for 3-4 mins, until softening. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 3 mins
Finishing touches
- Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add the sundried tomatop paste, half of the chilli flakes (to taste), sun-dried tomatoes and half of the olives to the pan. Cook for 1 min, then add the passata and chickpeas. Simmer for 5 mins, until thickened.
Make the basil oil
- Stack all the basil leaves together end to end, then roll them up. Holding with one hand, slice across the roll to create thin ribbons.
- Add half of the basil, remaining olives, remaining chilli flakes, a pinch of salt and 1tsp oil to the small bowl and mix.
- Stir the remaining basil and cooked pasta into the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper
Plate up
- Serve the pasta into bowls. Top with the basil oil.
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