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Simple Vegan Blog

A food blog with simple, healthy, vegan recipes

Spanish Spinach with Chickpeas

Spanish Spinach with Chickpeas

Sometimes can be hard to eat out as a vegan here in Spain, but it’s not impossible and in recent years, the number of vegan or vegetarian restaurants has increased.

In Sevilla is easy to find Spanish spinach with chickpeas (espinacas con garbanzos in Spanish) in many traditional restaurants. Everybody loves it, even those who hate veggies, especially if you use finely chopped fresh spinach.

It’s common to use a lot of oil to make this delicious dish, but I prefer this lighter version, it’s healthier and tastes amazing too. You only need 6 ingredients to make spinach with chickpeas: extra virgin olive oil, garlic, sweet paprika, spinach, chickpeas and salt (optional).

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Spanish Spinach with Chickpeas

You can use canned chickpeas, but they have preservatives and additives. I prefer to cook them in boiling water for one or two hours or until they’re soft. You should soak the chickpeas overnight, the longer you let it soak before cooking, the quicker they will cook.

Chickpeas

Canned and frozen spinach is fine too, but fresh spinach is the best choice. You can use olive oil to cook the spinach instead of water, but I prefer my recipe. The result is a lower in calorie dish with a lot of flavor, so you won’t miss the extra oil.

Spinach

Use a high quality paprika, it will make the difference. I love “Pimentón de la Vera” (smoked Spanish sweet paprika), but you can also use hot paprika or any kind you like.

Spinach with Chickpeas

Many people add more spinach, so feel free to add more. Besides, it’s not necessary to chop the spinach, but I think the dish looks and tastes better.

Spinach with Chickpeas

The recipe is ready in only 15 or 20 minutes (if you use cooked chickpeas, of course) and is super easy to make. I make it almost every week, it’s one of my all time favorite chickpea recipes.

If you make this Spanish spinach with chickpeas recipe, please leave a comment or tag a picture #simpleveganblog on Instagram or any other social network. We love to see your pictures and comments, it makes us very happy!

Spinach with Chickpeas

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Spanish Spinach with Chickpeas

★★★★★ 4.6 from 24 reviews
  • Author: Simple Vegan Blog
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Main dish
  • Cuisine: Vegan, Spanish

Spinach with chickpeas is a traditional Spanish recipe. Everybody loves it, even those who hate veggies, especially if you use finely chopped fresh spinach.

Spanish Spinach with Chickpeas
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Ingredients

  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 head of garlic (12 cloves)
  • 3 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 6 cups spinach (250 g)
  • ½ cup water (125 ml)
  • 3 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (650 g)
  • Sea salt (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cook the garlic (diced) in a saucepan with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.
  2. Add the paprika, stir and add the spinach (finely chopped). Add the water and salt to taste (optional) and cook for about 5 minutes. You can use oil instead of water to cook the spinach.
  3. Add the cooked chickpeas, stir, add more oil if you want (you can add more paprika and salt too) and cook for 5 minutes more.

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  5. Made this tonight for dinner with an apple salad. It reminded me of Spain. Very delicious. I used oil instead of water because I thought it might be more Spanish. We will be having again.

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  6. I am eating this right now, so good! Thanks for the recipie, I was looking for a different way to cook chickpeas (instead of the soup I usually make with them) and this is so tasty and hearty, yum!

    ★★★★★

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  7. I was looking for a nice, easy garbanzo bean side that wasn’t just the beans alone. This is delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

    ★★★★★

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  9. I just made this recipe and it came out incredible! Really yummy and easy, I’ll adopt this as one of my standar recipes from now on! Thank you for sharing!!

    ★★★★★

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  10. Delicious! Just made this for lunch. Should have made double 🙂 Eat the rest or save 1/2 for my husband? hmmmm….

    ★★★★★

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  11. About to make it for my 19 month old and I. He loves chickpeas. Sounds yummy can’t wait to try it!

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  15. Can this be frozen? Recently started eating vegan. Will be making this tomorrow. Made an eggplant pasta tonight.

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  16. One of my favorite dishes. My version calls for sautéing bread cubes in garlic oil first, then adding them in at the very end. A little more complicated but so delicious!

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  17. This is so good!!! I was a bit sceptical about so much garlic and paprika but it really worked. I also love olive oil but found the bit I used to fry the garlic in was enough to satisfy 🙂

    ★★★★★

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  18. We had this dish in Sevilla last week and it was the best thing I’ve tried for ages. We are in Malaga now and am going to have it again before we go home on Sunday

    Reply

    • Hi Darren! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 It’s one of my favorite Spanish dishes. Hope you liked my country!

      Reply

  19. I was trying to replicate a tapas dish at a local Spanish restaurant that ha spinach, chickpeas, marcona almonds, and raisins. I made this recipe, added the almonds and raisins, and it was great. I used a Spanish hot smoke paprika, and decided that mild would have been better. I used only six garlic cloves, and that seemed to be enough. Easy and delicious.

    ★★★★★

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  21. I tried this, it tastes so good. But I used coriander leaves instead of spinach because I didn’t find spinach for the moment.

    ★★★★★

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  24. This is a great recipe. I didn’t have chick peas, so I used black-eyed peas. I highly recommend this substitution. Yum. I was also worried about all the garlic, but it blends.

    Reply

  25. Can you make this ahead of time and reheat? Having a Spanish themed party next week and want to do as much in advance as possible. Thank you x

    Reply

  26. If using canned chickpeas do you recommend boiling to soften them a bit more or is that method just for raw chickpeas?

    Reply

  27. Made it, loved it, and devoured it. Thanks.
    Is this eaten with bread cos locally we have a similar recipe which we eat with bread.

    ★★★★★

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  28. Pretty yummy! I can never make things exactly as I read them though. I drasticly reduced the garlic and paprika and used warrigal greens and kale instead of the spinach. It has made a wonderfully satisfying lunch. Thank you for sharing.

    ★★★★

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  29. Delicious recipe, easy to make and healthy! Winner on all counts. I like the paprika and I also have made this with curry instead. Both were great, though the curry is very potent and the smell does linger in a house for a while.

    ★★★★★

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  31. I know this was meant to be vegan but I went a little light on the garlic and this is an awesome side dish with salmon and broccoli florets.

    Reply

  33. The amount of garlic and paprika sounded too much, but I gave it a go and it was perfect! I added some diced sweet potato as I had one that needed using up and I used smoked paprika. Delicious and very simple and quick, thank you.

    Reply

  35. In Cordoba they make something similar to this and serve it as tapas. I kept ordering more! But as I recall, that dish was more like a puree than a hot salad. Do you happen to have a recipe for Cordoba-style chickpeas and spinach?

    Reply

    • Hi Barbara! I’m so sorry, but I don’t have other recipe for this. This is not a hot salad, is more like a stew 🙂

      Reply

  38. I’m planning on making this too. Sounds delicious. Do you think black olives would be a good addition, or would it overpower the flavour?

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  39. I used frozen spinach and canned chickpeas and doubled the recipe for a pot luck… It was a hit!

    ★★★★★

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  40. I made the recipe as is except I used avocado oil to cook the spinach because it is healthier (very high smoke point)….anyway, I found it a little blah. I’m a real garlic head, so I made sure to use the whole head. I like blah food sometimes anyway, but I wonder if sweet paprika is different than regular paprika? I used a little smoked paprika too. Thanks! I may try again if I can find something labeled ‘sweet paprika’.

    Reply

    • Hi Sarah! It’s different, and this recipe is usually made with pimentón de la Vera, a sweet, smoked paprika we have in Spain 🙂

      Reply

  41. Made this the lazy girl way and used garlic powder and canned chickpeas and its dang delicious. 🙌 my new go to.

    ★★★★★

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  43. I think I might have burned the paprika, as the dish turned out very bitter. I would like to give it another go, as I like all the ingredients, but In wondering if anyone has accidentally overcooked paprika, and if so, did it turn your dish bitter? I used good quality sweet Spanish paprika and baby spinach, so my ingredients should not have been the culprits.

    ★★★

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  44. Thanks so much for this recipe, it was really good and hearty (especially with some brown rice) 😋 Question though, I feel like I had to quite a bit of salt, would using stock or broth (chicken or vegetable), instead of water, be a way to get around that?

    ★★★★

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  45. One of my dad’s favorite recipes was spinach and cannellini beans. I grew up eating this. It is a similar recipe. I made Spanish spinach with chickpeas tonight. Amazing what the addition of paprika does to the flavor. Thanks for sharing this!!!

    Reply

  46. Love it. I’ve just made it to eat later on but i’ve stolen a small bowlful and because my daughter had the feta cheese out I sprinkled some on top. DELICIOUS! ❤️❤️

    ★★★★★

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  47. substitute the paprika for a peperoncino and one small spoon of hot curry powder for a winter warmer – perfect 😉

    Reply

  48. I like spinach and garbanzos, but was disappointed with this recipe. I added sea salt and other spices to jazz it up.

    ★★

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    • Hi Elee! I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work for you, but it’s really flavorful and our readers love it as you can read in the comment 🙂 Did you use the same ingredients?

      Reply

  50. Simple and tasty! I added turmeric (try to add it to any dish I can for health benefits). Will be saving this recipe

    ★★★★

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  52. This has become a weekly special for me. It’s just me and this cooks quickly with many things I usually have in stock, so easy too ! I hate to cook and this is a recipe I love to “cook”

    ★★★★★

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  54. This dish was SO EASY and FAST! I made it for the first time yesterday for dinner when my Father-in-law and sister-in-law came over and it was a big hit. It is so healthy and looks so fancy you would never guess how easy it was to make! Thank you so much for sharing this!

    ★★★★★

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  55. My sister has just made me this dish, and we all loved it! I’m handing it on to my daughter who is vegan, and my son and daughter-in-law currently living in Madrid. Thank you Iosune

    Reply

    • Hi Shirley! You’re so welcome 🙂 We’re travelling to Madrid tomorrow, it’s a wonderful city. So glad you guys liked it!

      Reply

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