Overhead shot of chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta noodles, ready for boiling

Chickpea flour is one of my favorite gluten-free flours to experiment with in the kitchen. Made from finely ground chickpeas (garbanzo beans), the flour is packed with protein and fiber. It has just a slight chickpea flavor that can be either complimented or hidden with other flavors, depending on your end goal.

So far, we’ve made pancakes, socca, and the world’s creamiest and smoothest hummus with chickpea flour. Seriously, it is worth buying a bag of the stuff just for the hummus. You can normally find it in the gluten-free baking section of your grocery store. We buy Bob’s Red Mill brand.

Overhead shot of ingredients for Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta, with each ingredient in its own white bowl

Besides the hummus, my favorite thing to come out of the discovery of chickpea flour is homemade pasta. The beauty of this pasta dough is in its total simplicity. Just a handful of ingredientsโ€“ and one happens to be water. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

The end result is a soft pasta with a slightly nutty flavor from the flaxseed. You won’t be fooling any die-hard white/refined pasta fans, but if you tend to like more hearty carbs, this is a pasta for you. We paired it with some vegan roasted red pepper pesto, and it was an amazing combo.

Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta in a white bowl on a marbled background

My favorite pasta-making method is 100% (wo)man-powered. I pile up the flour on a board, make a well, and then dump in the egg (or in this case, flax egg). Then I slowly incorporate the flour with the wet ingredients until it forms into a nice solid dough. At first, it always seems like there is way too much flour, but I promise it’ll all combine nicely if you just keep working it. Be patient.

If you have a pasta roller and cutter, awesome blossom! Go ahead and use those to your liking. I do not. So I used my good olโ€™ rolling pin and pizza cutter. The key to good pasta is rolling it out very, very thin. Thinner than you think it should be. The pasta will double or triple (or even more) in thickness from absorbing the cooking water.

Overhead shot of ingredients for Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta being mixed in a glass bowl

If you are going the rustic simple method, like I did, try to stick with pasta shapes that can accept some imperfection. Farfalle (bow tie pasta) is perfect for those of us without a pasta cutter. Just cut into squares and pinch, and you have some adorable, rustic bow ties. Pappardelleโ€”which are big, long, wide noodles like the ones pictured hereโ€”work perfectly, too!

Overhead shot of Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta in a white bowl

When I first made this recipe, I did it with just three ingredientsโ€”flaxseed, chickpea flour, and waterโ€”and the end result was manageable, but was a bit tricky to work with when forming into pasta.

After a bit of retesting, we figured out that adding some fat (in the form of olive oil) and some stickiness (in the form of tapioca flour) really helps to make the pasta a lot easier to work with. Weโ€™ve updated the recipe below with the new measurements, but if you liked the old version, you can download that recipe in the header of the recipe card or right here.

Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta in a white bowl on a marbled background

Gluten-Free and Vegan Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta

Yield: 1-2 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes

Specialty diets donโ€™t need to put a stop to homemade pasta nightโ€“ this Chickpea and Flaxseed Homemade Pasta is vegan, gluten-free, and totally delicious!

Weโ€™ve updated the recipe above with new measurements, but if you liked the old version, you can download that recipe right here.ย 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (15 grams) golden flaxseed meal
  • 6 tablespoons (90 grams) warm water
  • 1 1/2 cups (142 grams) chickpea flour
  • 1/4 cup (32 grams) tapioca flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons (9 grams) olive oil

Instructions

  1. Mix the flaxseed and warm water in a small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes, or until thickened. Meanwhile, whisk together the chickpea flour, tapioca flour, and salt in a large bowl.
  2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the flaxseed and water mixture. Stir until large crumbles form, and then add the oil and knead with your hands until the dough comes together and can be formed into a ball.
  3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 20-30 minutes.
  4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
  5. Dust a large surface, your hands, and a rolling pin with chickpea flour, and roll the dough out until very thin. The dough is tough, so this will be a bit of a workout. Slice into long strips 1/2-inch wide to make fettucine (or cut and fold into your desired shape).
  6. Once the water has come to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for 1-3 minutes, or until al dente. If the pasta is cooked for too long, it will begin to break into pieces. Drain and serve hot with your favorite sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 591Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 180mgCarbohydrates: 87gFiber: 7gSugar: 0gProtein: 14g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.

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134 Comments

    1. Hi Mo! We haven’t tried turning this dough into lasagne sheets yet, but we had another reader who did, and they said it worked well! Here’s their comment: “I made a double batch of this to use as lasagna noodles and it turned out beautifully! The dough is easy to work with and tastes great. I didnโ€™t precook the noodles, and they turned out just fine after about an hour bake. ๐Ÿ™‚” If you give it a go, please let us know how it turns out for you!

  1. This worked for me!
    I found them to be nicer in texture than store bought chickpea pasta, probably because the tapioca gives it a better texture.

    I followed the recipe exactly. I did not think the dough was sticky. I really floured up my counter and rolling pin. Don’t be afraid to really coat your flattened dough in chickpea flour.

    I didn’t really like the fettuccine shape, at they all broke into smaller pieces. I think I will cut them into finger sized rectangles next time.

    Thank you!

    1. Thanks for your feedback, J! We’re glad you liked the pasta and appreciate you taking the time to come back and tell us about your experience!

      1. I just tried this again and subbed Arrowroot instead of tapioca. I found the dough to be a little dryer, so I greased up my hands with about one more tsp of olive oil, kneaded, then rolled and cut as usual. I used a pizza cutter to cut finger shapes and boiled 2.5 minutes. The texture was a tad firmer than with tapioca but still great! I did find that they still kind of fell apart into smaller pieces as I ate them but honestly, the texture is so close to normal pasta that I don’t care. Maybe I’ll try smaller shapes. I’d like to try freezing the pasta uncooked and see how it cooks from frozen. I’ll update if I try it! Again, thank you so much for this recipe!

        1. Thanks so much for coming back to let us know how it worked out for you! That’s super helpful, and we really appreciate it! =)

  2. Followed the recipe exactlyโ€”did not work. The dough was dry and a pain to work with. Tried to pass it through the pasta machine at widest setting and it broke every few inches. Tried then to roll it out with a pin and it kept splitting around edges. After 10 minutes of careful rolling could only get it to hold up at a thick size. Tried adding some more oil but dough still wanted to split. Ended up tossing it out. Please provide instructions on what to do if dough is dry in this recipe.

    1. We’re sorry to hear you had issues with the dough! Most of the feedback we’ve received has been about the dough being more on the tacky/sticky side as opposed to it being dry. Did you use volume or weight measurements? Our best suggestion is to double-check your measurements by weight, and if all looks good, add a little warm water to the dough, 5g at a time, until it comes together. Let us know how it turns out if you give it another go!

  3. Great recipe!

    I have a pasta machine maker. Can I use this rather than using a rolling pin and cutting it?

    Thank you

    1. Hi, Dr. J! Yes, you can definitely use your pasta roller and cutter to make this instead of a rolling pin and pizza cutter. Let us know how it turns out for you!