I’ll openly admit that I’ve tried to make paella on more than one occasion and failed miserably. It’s probably a combination of not having the right paella pan or not using the correct method, but I can never get it to turn out quite right. That being said, I still love the concept of cooking rice with a bunch of other super flavorful ingredients in one pot, so this Spanish Chickpeas and Rice, which is loosely based on paella, was born. No expensive seafood or saffron, but still tons of flavor in one dish.
P.S. You can make this in a rice cooker! Check out my recipe for the Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and Rice.
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No Meat, Still Tons of Flavor
I wanted to go vegetarian for this recipe, so I subbed chickpeas for the meat and seafood usually found in paella. I added plenty of spices like smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, and oregano (flavors you’d normally find in chorizo), to make sure this dish had plenty going on. Artichoke hearts added flavor and texture, and helped make this dish more of a one pot meal than just a rice and bean pilaf. A little fresh lemon on top brightens the whole dish and gives it a slightly summery feel.
The results were stunning, both in flavor and appearance. I can definitely see myself making this Spanish Chickpeas and Rice over and over and trying new add-ins each time (spinach is next on my list!).
Can I Freeze Spanish Chickpeas and Rice?
Yes! This is a very freezer friendly dish. Just portion the recipe out into single serving containers, chill it completely in the refrigerator first, then transfer to the freezer later. This dish will last about 4-5 days in the refrigerator, or about 3 months in the freezer.
What Type of Skillet Should I Use?
It’s very important to use a thick, heavy cookware for one pot dishes like this. Thin pots and pans don’t transmit heat evenly, which may cause the rice to be undercooked in some areas and overcooked in others. I am using an OXO stainless steel deep covered skillet from this set (affiliate link), but a more affordable option could be something like Covered Fry Pan from Calphalon (affiliate link).
Looking for something to serve on the side with your Spanish Chickpeas and Rice? Try my Lemon Pepper Zucchini!
Spanish Chickpeas and Rice
Servings 4 (1.5 cups each)Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika ($0.15)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.36)
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice ($0.33)
- 1 15oz. can diced tomatoes ($0.79)
- 1 15oz. can quartered artichoke hearts ($2.50)
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($1.89)
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth* ($0.18)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.22)
- 1 fresh lemon ( $0.25)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and add it to a large deep skillet along with the olive oil. Cook over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until soft and fragrant. Add the smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper to the skillet. Stir and sauté the spices in the hot oil for one more minute.
- Dice the onion and add it to the skillet. Sauté the onion until it is soft and translucent (about 5 min). Add the rice and sauté for 2 minutes more.
- Drain the chickpeas and artichoke hearts, then add them to the skillet along with the can of diced tomatoes (with juices), vegetable broth, and a half teaspoon of salt. Roughly chop the parsley and add it to the skillet, reserving a small amount to sprinkle over the finished dish. Stir all the ingredients in the skillet until evenly combined.
- Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the skillet to come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time and adjust the heat up slightly if necessary to keep it simmering.
- After simmering for 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest for 5 minutes without removing the lid. Finally, remove the lid, fluff with a fork and top with the remaining chopped parsley. Cut the lemon into wedges and squeeze the fresh juice over each bowl.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Spanish Chickpeas and Rice – Step by Step Photos
Start by mincing two cloves of garlic. Sauté the garlic in 2 Tbsp of olive oil, in a large deep skillet, over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant. (Dice one yellow onion while the garlic is sautéing.)
Add 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill) to the skillet.
Sauté the spices in the hot oil for about a minute. This toasts the spices and brings out their maximum flavor.
Add the diced onion to the skillet and continue to sauté until the onion is soft and transparent (5 minutes or so).
Add one cup of uncooked long-grain white rice to the skillet. Stir and cook the rice for about two minutes. It should sound like it is snap, crackling, and popping. This toasts the rice and gives it a bit of extra flavor.
Drain one 15oz can of chickpeas and 1 15oz. can of quartered artichoke hearts. Add both to the skillet along with one 15oz. can of diced tomatoes, with all its juices.
Finally, add 1.5 cups of vegetable broth. Roughly chop about 1/4 bunch of parsley. Reserve a small amount of the parsley to sprinkle over the finished dish, and add the rest to the skillet. Stir all the ingredients together until evenly combined.
Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the skillet to come up to a boil, then turn it down to low. Let it simmer over low for 20 minutes. Make sure the skillet is simmering the whole time and adjust the heat up slightly if needed to keep it simmering. After it simmers for 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit undisturbed with the lid in place for five more minutes. Then it should look like the photo above.
Fluff the rice with a fork and top with the reserved parsley. Cut the lemon into quarters and squeeze the juice over each serving. Your Spanish Chickpeas and Rice is now complete!
Beans and rice never tasted so good…
Can I do this in instantpot?
I’m sure that would probably work. Just use the sauté function in the beginning and then the rice function once everything is added.
I didn’t have all the required ingredients, I used black olives instead of artichoke hearts and red wine instead of onion. It was delicious! I highly recommend.
It is a big hit in our family! I added celery and drizzled it with yoghurt.
Hi Beth, if I wanted to just make the chickpeas without the rice, would I omit the broth or just add less of it?
Hmm, I’m not sure. That changes things quite a bit, so I’d probably need to test that out. The broth is definitely there to cook the rice, but if you eliminate it all together you’ll be missing the flavor that comes with the broth. The chickpeas won’t absorb the broth, so if you add any it will probably end up soupy.
I haven’t made this yet – I’m about to… My rice is already cooked. Is there a way that I could make it as flavorful putting it together with cooked rice? I have all the ingredients you mentioned except the artichokes. I know it’s late for the East coasters but going to give it a try (even if I don’t get an answer, lol) hopefully I will be letting everyone know how great it turns out. I’m making a ham steak and I hope it’s a good side for it. The ham steak was a quick second thought. I just wanted to make this rice!
Unfortunately, I don’t have an off-the-cuff suggestion for that one! It will be tough to replicate with the rice already cooked because in the recipe all of the flavor is actually cooked into the rice. My only thought is to somehow make a dressing that is folded into the rice to add back some of that flavor.
This is one of my favorite meals ever. I’ve done the Omnivore Meal Plan and am currently working through the Vegetarian plan. I thought this dish would be really spicy at the beginning but the artichoke and lemon bring down a lot of heat. Bonus is that it’s all done in one pot. Looking forward to leftovers today!
Super good, just like everything else I’ve made from this website! This will be a meat-free-Monday staple for me! Thanks for all your recipes :)
We make this dish all the time now – such a fantastic recipe and we are so happy we came across it. Any guests we’ve made if for also like it (including our meat-eating parents that aren’t usually thrilled with our meat-free meals). Thanks for sharing this one!
I may be one of the few, but I don’t like artichokes. Any ideas what I could use instead? Perhaps broccoli?
My boyfriend does not like artichokes either. I haven’t done it yet, but when I make this recipe I am going to drain a can of corn and use that instead.
Same! Making this tonight and I am going to do chopped broccoli for extra veggies :)
Easy to prepare and tasted great! I doubled the recipe (feeding 5 here and always want leftovers for lunches); used up some fresh quartered cherry tomatoes in place of one can of diced tomatoes, added about 1/4 cup of olive salad to make up for only having one can of artichokes. Next time I’m going to try making it with brown rice in the Instant Pot. :)
Has anyone tried this with brown rice? Just wondering how to adjust the cook time. Thx!
I googled “chickpeas and rice” because it suddenly popped in my head and I thought would go well together. I came across your recipe. My meat-loving men (which is all my family minus me) whom usually raise an eyebrow at one meal vegetarian dishes, highly praised the dish and went back for seconds. Thank you!!
Hi Beth! First of all, our whole family just LOVES your site – we’ve been coming here for years for recipes, and I could easily write a whole, super-detailed fan letter – about how anytime I’m making a new recipe and our girls ask “what’s it called?”, and I simply reply, “don’t worry, it’s from budget bytes….”, they are immediately like “ah, okay cool. Awesome”
But that aside for now :-)
This dish is a staple of ours for sure. But I’m curious about a little more background info on, actually, paella in general? What makes that dish so unique/authentic (paella) that you are able to retain with the recipe? (But have made simpler for us mere mortals who may struggle with the finesse of paella?). Like, how, in the taste of this, would I understand that this was a reworking of the authentic dish? I’d love to try the “authentic” sometime, but gosh, this is just so simple and super tasty – works every time!
Again, love love LOVE this site. Goes into our meal planning every week 😀
Hi Kevin! This recipe is just very loosely inspired by paella. So I took the concept of cooking rice and other ingredients in broth and spices, but had to skip the expensive parts of paella (saffron and seafood). This is what is leftover! :) Still super tasty, but I would never dare call it paella because I had to deviate too far from what paella actually is.
Looking through my pantry, I wanted something simple and healthy. I grabbed rice, chickpeas and artichokes and wondered what I’d make with it. I decided to make them with cilantro, lemon and smoked paprika. I’m sure it would have been great but I decided to do a quick search on the internet for “chickpea and artichoke rice.” This website’s recipes was the first result (on DuckDuckGo search engine).
I was surprised that I had randomly picked ingredients that were so close to an actual recipe! So, I made it. I don’t like the flavor of cayenne pepper so I used chili powder (not the blend for making chili, but actual chili powder). Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly as written. (I also use Better Than Bouillan instead of weak, canned broth! For that reason, I didn’t add the other 1/2 tsp of salt.)
It’s not only simple to make, but really delicious! The cayenne pepper (or chili powder or other spicy alternative) and the lemon really set this recipe apart from the usual “bland-ness” you expect from rice and/or chickpeas!
In terms of broth: there is a world of difference in brands. I always use Imagine low-sodium Vegetable Broth. It makes every soup or other dish so much better than those “weak broths” you mentioned. You can see the difference in color and taste the difference. Just a suggestion.
Any thoughts about whether this could go in a pressure cooker?
Yep, probably. This works really well in a rice cooker, so I think it should translate well to a pressure cooker, too.