Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains

Marry me chickpeas

Name: Marry me chickpeas
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 1/2 yellow onions, finely diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped; 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1/2 cup chicken broth; 1/2 cup grated parmesan; 1/2 tsp dried oregano; a pinch red pepper flakes; 3 big handfuls baby spinach; 1/2 tsp salt

The vegetarian spin-off that earned its own fame: chickpeas in the same creamy sun-dried-tomato-parmesan sauce that made the chicken version the most-searched dinner in America.

Time: 30 min (10 prep + 20 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 404 kcal
Protein: 16 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil15 g
1/2 yellow onions, finely diced80 g
4 cloves garlic, minced15 g
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped60 g
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed480 g
1/2 cup heavy cream120 g
1/2 cup chicken broth120 g
1/2 cup grated parmesan40 g
1/2 tsp dried oregano1 g
a pinch red pepper flakes1 g
3 big handfuls baby spinach100 g
1/2 tsp salt3 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Soften the onion in the oil, then add the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes for a minute — the tomato oil blooming is the flavour base.
Add the chickpeas, cream, broth, oregano and pepper flakes. Simmer 10 minutes so the chickpeas drink the sauce.
Crush a few chickpeas against the pan with the spoon — the starch thickens the sauce better than flour would.
Stir in the parmesan and spinach until wilted, season, and serve with bread or over rice.

How does this outscore the chicken original?

This scores above the original marry me chicken's richer builds for a simple reason: the chickpeas bring their own fiber to a sauce that otherwise runs on cream.

Why this score

easy to overeat

No single route carries this one — a moderate amount of protein, volume and fiber.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

15% of kcal

69% water

26 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1615 kcal goes into the pot, 1035 g of ingredients comes out as ~1000 g of food → 162 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 162
Protein: (15%); 6 g
Fat: (48%); 9 g
Carbohydrates: (37%); 15 g
of which sugar: 5 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 349 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More meals

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.