Home » Italy's Regions » Sardinia » Sardinian Fregola with Chickpeas

December 5, 2019

Sardinian Fregola with Chickpeas

Name: Sardinian fregola with chickpeas
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients: 300 g fregola ((10-11oz) or Israeli couscous); 350 g chickpeas ((120z) dried or canned); 200 g pancetta (optional) ((7oz) cubed (for non vegetarian)); 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped); 1 garlic clove (peeled and finely chopped); 1-2 celery stalks (finely chopped); 500 g tomato passata ((17 floz)); 10-12 cherry tomatoes (cut into halves); 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.; 500 ml vegetable stock ((16 floz) cubes dissolved in water or homemade stock.); salt (to taste); ground black pepper (to taste); 1 handful fresh parsley (chopped); 1 fresh peperoncino (red chili pepper) (chopped (optional))

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Fregola with chickpeas. Recipe from Sardinia.

This warming Sardinian fregola with chickpeas is a nutritious and delicious slightly spicy vegetarian pasta soup recipe from Sardinia. It’s a perfect cold weather meal. Add spinach for colour and more fiber or pancetta/guanciale for a non-vegetarian version.

Fregula con ceci.

When the cold days of November and December hit, I love making pasta soups. Using pasta in soups is very popular here in Italy. Pasta adds carbohydrates and bulk that turn a soup into a hearty meal. Legumes are also a common ingredient in Italian soups. In this recipe, the chickpeas add protein, calcium, iron and fiber as well as other nutrients, so now the soup is a well-balanced meal too!

ingredients for fregola and chickpeas on white plate

I have always found it intriguing that many traditional Italian recipes are so nutritious. Back in the day when dishes like this Sardinian fregola with chickpeas became popular, people didn’t really understand the nutritional value of the different foods they ate! They just put dishes together based on what was seasonal and available and what they grew!

Chickpeas in Sardinia.

People have cultivated chickpeas in Sardinia since the times of Ancient Rome. As you can imagine, there are many traditional chickpea recipes on the island. Many of these are types of soup like ‘minestra di ceci e finocchio’, made with chickpeas and wild fennel or ‘zuppa di ceci e verza’ (chickpea and savoy cabbage soup).

chopped onions, garlic, celery and peperoncino in Dutch oven with olive oil

Another famous Sardinian chickpea recipe is stewed chickpeas. The Sardinians also use chickpeas in a very old sweet Christmas recipe called ‘cixirau’ in which they cook chickpeas with honey, sugar, Christmas spices like cinnamon and cloves and orange peel!

cherry tomatoes, pancetta and other ingredients cooking in Dutch oven

The city of Sassari in Sardinia is famous for a type of chickpea flour pancake called ‘fainé alla sassarese’. This popular street food was imported from Liguria centuries ago by Genovese sailors who landed in the ports of northern Sardinia. Sardinians eat it either alone or flavored with onions and/or Sardinian sausage.

tomato passata and cherry tomatoes cooking with other ingredients in Dutch oven

What is fregola?

Fregola (or fregula) is a small pasta typical of Sardinia. It is made of balls of durum wheat semolina and water, worked by hand and then roasted in the oven. This pasta is uniquely Sardinian and not found in other Italian regions. It looks very similar to couscous but with a slightly nutty flavour. In fact, fregola is often called Italian couscous or Sardinian couscous. If you want to learn more about this unique pasta, check out my post on Sardinian fregola.

This Sardinian fregola and chickpeas recipe.

I definitely prefer using dried chickpeas to canned. But, of course, this recipe can be made with both. Obviously, soaking dried chickpeas overnight and then boiling them takes time. However, I think the result is more flavourful and healthier.

fregola added to the tomato sauce in a Dutch oven

This Sardinian fregola and chickpeas is a pretty simple recipe. Apart from the fregola and chickpeas, all you need is onions, garlic, celery, tomatoes, tomato passata, parsley and peperoncino (red chili pepper). You can leave the latter out if you don’t like spicy food. My hubby wanted me to add some pancetta, which I did. Just leave that out for a vegetarian version.

cooked chickpeas added to the fregola and sauce in a Dutch oven

Because the fregola pasta cooks in the soup it actually absorbs a lot of the liquid, so the end result is more like a risotto than a soup. In fact, the last stage of cooking is very similar to how Italians make risotto. However, if you want your Sardinian fregola with chickpeas to have more liquid, just add some extra broth or water.

Sardinian fregola with chickpeas ready to serve in Dutch oven

Fregola and chickpeas are a great combo.

I think fregola and chickpeas are such a great combination. Not only are they delicious together but the similarity in the size and shape of both gives this soup a fabulous texture and look. However, if you don’t have fregola you can use Israeli couscous instead, it looks pretty similar. Plus as I mentioned before you can add other ingredients to suit your taste.

Spinach goes really well in this dish, as do mushrooms or other legumes like red or black beans. Instead of peperoncino, use fennel or rosemary. However you make this Sardinian fregola with chickpeas, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it is a great cold weather dish!

If you do try this Sardinian fregola with chickpeas recipe, I’d love to hear what you think. Please, write a comment here on the blog or post a comment on the Pasta Project Facebook page.

Your feedback means a lot to me!

Buon Appetito!

Pin for later.

Want to know more about my life in Italy? Go to the homepage and subscribe to my newsletter. New subscribers get a free recipe e-book too! https://www.the-pasta-project.com

Pin for later

Fregola with chickpeas recipe from Sardinia

Save this recipe for later?

If you want to save this recipe for later, you can print it, bookmark this page or save it to Pinterest.