This Alfredo-ish Sauce Transforms Canned Chickpeas

To food editor Shilpa Uskokovic, when it comes to home cooking, cheap is the greatest compliment. Each month, in What a Steal, she’s sharing a highly craveable recipe—and showing us how to save some $$$ along the way.

To whoever first put chickpeas in a can, blessings be upon you. Cooks everywhere are indebted until the end of time. Here at Bon Appétit, we love the little magic legume so much, we already have dozens of recipes featuring it. But I couldn’t resist one more: this cheap, cheerful cheesy skillet of chickpeas and broccoli swimming in an Alfredo-ish sauce. 

For less than the price of a chicken breast, I now have myself a filling and hefty protein source that feeds four and is also full of fiber—a thing I have become obsessed with lately. Be sure to source regular canned chickpeas and none of that low-sodium bosh. An underseasoned chickpea is a woeful thing and, unless the flavor is locked in from the start, the final dish will never taste quite right. If you’re on a low-sodium diet, get the regular chickpeas still and cut back on the salt elsewhere. 

Depending on where in the world you are, real Alfredo sauce is either a deviously simple mix of butter and parm, or a devilishly indulgent take pumped full of heavy cream. My version is inspired by both and true to neither. 

It starts with a cheap base of onions, garlic, and flour. A slab of cream cheese delivers handsomely on the creamy front because who has the commitment for a carton of heavy cream? An open box will remind you loudly, every time you open the fridge, that it’s still half full and moving past its prime. Cream cheese, though? Cream cheese is patient, chilling in its shiny wrapper for months. And it’s often on sale at my local store. Of course, it can’t replace heavy cream in every situation, but for most savory sauces, cream cheese soars. In this one-pan dinner, it instantly enriches the sauce. To finish, spoonfuls of miso and bouillon paste deposit spades of concentrated flavor. With no expensive meat, both of these ingredients bring welcome depth.

Frozen broccoli is here to steal the title for best supporting actor. I love frozen produce. The convenience! The economy! The often superior quality! (Open a bag of frozen strawberries and tell me they’re not better than the fresh abominations slowly growing mold in their clamshells.) After a few rounds of testing, I favor the broccoli from the Cascadian Farms brand. They’re precut into just the right size and thaw quickly in the sauce without losing their vibrancy. Frozen broccoli particularly large? Give it a rough chop (still frozen) so it defrosts fast with no risk of overcooking.

To finish, a final stir of Parmesan, not a lot. Just enough to assert its piquancy and hint at the dish’s roots. If another sharp cheese like Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano is cheaper at the store, swap it in freely. Alfredo might come for you, but the chickpeas won’t mind.

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