This Hummus Pasta Sauce with Zucchini Noodles is vegan, protein packed, gluten free, and EASY. Perfect for those busy weeknight dinners on the go.
This delicious hummus pasta sauce recipe was developed while I was pregnant because I was craving nothing but pasta! But of course, I wanted to add balance to my bowl of noods. I’ll never eat a plate of zucchini noodles and pretend it’s pasta, but I love mixing it with actual pasta for some fibre and veggie action.
Why This Recipe Works
We love zucchini noodles (zoodles) and high protein chickpea pasta with this hummus pasta sauce. I love that I can get my serving of veggies AND some extra protein in while enjoying a super flavourful meal that is a breeze to pull off.
This hummus pasta sauce is also SO easy. All you need to make this delicious creamy sauce is hummus and pasta water! That’s it! Since we use store-bought hummus, it takes little to no time. If you’ve got some time on your hands, you can always make your own.
While we can just leave it at the zoodles and chickpea pasta, we add extra healthy goodness to this recipe with some sundried tomatoes and olives to make this recipe even more delicious!
Most of these ingredients are fridge and pantry staples, making it a super easy recipe to pull off on the fly. It’s also a great recipe if you have leftover hummus or zoodles lying around the fridge.
Key Ingredients
Chickpea pasta — Using chickpea pasta adds a ton of protein and fibre to the hummus pasta. They are definitely a great alternative to regular pasta.
Zoodles — We use spiralized zucchini and butternut squash for this pasta. If you want, you can spiralize your own or you can purchase them spiralized. It’s an easy to to add additional veggies to your diet and your kiddos won’t even notice them snuck in!
Hummus — You can make hummus pasta sauce without hummus! Since hummus comes in all kinds of flavours, we are using just regular plain hummus.
Aromatics — Shallots and garlic combined makes for an aromatic pasta! Make sure you go low and slow to not burn it.
Breadcrumbs — For an extra crunch, we toast up some gluten free breadcrumbs to add to the pasta. Trust when I say, it’s worth the extra step!
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Spread out the zucchini and squash noodles onto a baking sheet lined with paper towel or a kitchen towel. Salt liberally and then cover with more paper towel or kitchen towel. Place some heavy items on top and let sit for 20 minutes. Wipe the salt off of them and set aside.
Step 2: Cook the chickpea pasta according to package directions, scooping out a cup of cooking water at the end of the cooking process. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet, and add in the garlic and shallots. Saute until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes,
Step 3: Next, add in the hummus, lemon juice, and zest. Slowly stir in the cooking water, ¼ cup at a time. We found we needed ¾ cup of cooking water total, but if your sauce reduces down a lot more, you can add more to thin it out.
Step 4: Add the zoodles and toss in the sauce until they soften slightly and cook through, another 5 minutes.
Step 5: Add the spaghetti, sundried tomatoes, olives and chickpeas and toss until coated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste if needed.
Step 6: Meanwhile, heat the oil for the breadcrumbs in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the garlic and breadcrumbs. Toss over medium heat until golden brown. To serve, top the hummus pasta with basil leaves and toasted breadcrumbs and serve with nice bread.
Expert Tips
Do not skip the first step! This is key. I can’t tell you how many people make zucchini noodles and it turns into a big soggy mess. I am all about getting those veggies in AND making it taste amazing, so you need to follow this very important step of pulling the water out of the zoodles by salting it and patting it dry.
Want to change up the flavour? There are many hummus flavours in stores so you can use any of them to change things up. Roasted garlic hummus is a great choice, and so is sweet and smoky BBQ hummus!
If you’ve got extra leftover veggies lying around your fridge, you can totally toss it into this hummus pasta recipe. It’s a great way to use up leftovers.
You can also spiralize carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, parsnips, and more!
Recipe FAQs
If you don’t have breadcrumbs, you can use panko. If you don’t have panko, then you can skip it. Although you’ll miss that delicious crunch you get from the breadcrumbs.
Yes! You can totally just go for regular pasta and skip the zucchini noodles. It’s your call! I do, however, like chickpea pasta because it has extra protein and fibre, but you could also easily use regular whole wheat spaghetti as well.
There are so many brands of hummus, I actually really love Trader Joes hummus, but Sabra is also a tasty stand by.
I don’t even have a classic hummus recipe on my blog because I often freestyle it or use this recipe. I have an amazing peanut hummus which is in Mindful Glow, but the peanut version wouldn’t work in this recipe per se.
Yes, you can meal prep this hummus pasta sauce. Be sure to store it in an airtight container in your fridge.
More Recipes You Might Like
Want more zucchini noodle recipes? Try these ones!
- VEGAN AVOCADO ZUCCHINI NOODLES WITH PESTO
- VEGAN VODKA SAUCE ZUCCHINI NOODLE PASTA
- ZUCCHINI NOODLE PASTA CARBONARA
- ZUCCHINI NOODLES STIR FRY WITH HOISIN ASIAN PORK TENDERLOIN
What do you do with extra hummus? Leave me a comment below with your thoughts on this recipe!
Hummus Pasta with Zucchini Noodles (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups spiralized zucchini 1 zucchini
- 1 ½ cups spiralized butternut squash
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 8 oz chickpea spaghetti
- 1 tbsp extra virgin oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 shallots minced
- 1 ¼ cup plain store-bought or homemade hummus
- Juice and zest of ½ lemon
- ¾ cup starchy cooking water
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes thinly sliced
- ¼ cup black olives thinly sliced
- 1 19 oz can no salt added chickpeas drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup basil leaves
Breadcrumbs:
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ cup gluten free breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Spread out the zucchini and squash noodles onto a baking sheet lined with paper towel or a kitchen towel. Salt liberally and then cover with more paper towel or kitchen towel. Place some heavy items on top and let sit for 20 minutes. Wipe the salt off of them and set aside.
- Cook the chickpea pasta according to package directions, scooping out a cup of cooking water at the end of the cooking process.
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet, and add in the garlic and shallots. Saute until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes, then add in the hummus, lemon juice, and zest. Slowly stir in the cooking water, ¼ cup at a time. We found we needed ¾ cup of cooking water total, but if your sauce reduces down a lot more, you can add more to thin it out.
- Add the zoodles and toss in the sauce until they soften slightly and cook through, another 5 minutes. Add the spaghetti, sundried tomatoes, olives and chickpeas and toss until coated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste if needed.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for the breadcrumbs in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the garlic and breadcrumbs. Toss over medium heat until golden brown.
- To serve, top the pasta with basil leaves and toasted breadcrumbs and serve with nice bread.
Notes
- Do not skip the first step! This is key. I can’t tell you how many people make zucchini noodles and it turns into a big soggy mess. I am all about getting those veggies in AND making it taste amazing, so you need to follow this very important step of pulling the water out of the zoodles by salting it and patting it dry.
- Want to change up the flavour? There are many hummus flavours in stores so you can use any of them to change things up. Roasted garlic hummus is a great choice, and so is sweet and smoky BBQ hummus!
- If you’ve got extra leftover veggies lying around your fridge, you can totally toss it into this hummus pasta recipe! It’s a great way to use up leftovers.
- You can also spiralize carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, parsnips, and more!
Nutrition
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
raju says
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Grace Harrison says
This was so creamy, filling and delicious! I’m a college student so I love meals like this! By the way…all my roommates kept telling me how good it smelt so I (reluctantly lol) decided to share and was a hit across the board!
Abbey Sharp says
You’re very generous Grace!!
Virginia Meeks says
Will this one be okay to freeze and reheat later??
Abbey Sharp says
I probably would not freeze hummus and zoodles as it will likely get very soggy