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This comforting chickpea soup is the perfect meal for a cold night. Combine chickpeas, diced tomatoes, pantry-staple fresh veggies, herbs, and spices, and enjoy a warming bowl with crusty bread.
If you are looking for a hearty, flavorful, nutritious, and easy-to-make meal, this chickpea soup is for you. It is the ultimate one-pot meal with pantry staples—just simmer the ingredients until tender and aromatic and enjoy with your favorite crusty bread.
This soup is packed with hearty chickpeas, which are a great source of fiber and plant-based protein; fresh, vibrant vegetables; and warming spices. I love that you can also easily customize it to your liking or to what you have in your pantry—just switch up the herbs and spices and create new variations each time you cook it. Plus, this comforting chickpea soup is naturally vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free, making it perfect for various dietary preferences.
It’s also a great make-ahead meal—you can prepare a big batch and freeze it so you always have a warming soup when the weather is cold or you’ve had a busy day. And if you like chickpeas as much as I do, this simple and delicious chickpea recipe will surely become a new favorite of yours, along with this eggplant chickpea stew!
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Ingredients
- Chickpeas: They are the star of this recipe. For convenience, I often use canned chickpeas (I learned how to can dry chickpeas, so I always have them at hand), but you can also use dried and cook the chickpeas yourself in advance.
- Diced tomatoes: Use canned diced tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoes to add some adicity and balance out the richness of the broth.
- Broth: I love to use homemade vegetable broth or homemade chicken broth, but you can also use your favorite store-bought brand. In a pinch, just use water.
- Vegetables: You will need onion, garlic, carrots, celery, leek, and potato (Yukon gold potatoes are great for this). I think this is the perfect combo, providing the most flavor and nutrition, but you can also omit or substitute any of the vegetables with what you have on hand (kale, spinach, green onions, sweet potato, etc).
- Herbs and spices: I use fresh thyme—you can use your favorite herb. You will also need cumin, chili powder, oregano, turmeric powder, black pepper, and salt. You can also add red pepper flakes, bay leaf, or smoked paprika).
- Oil: I love sautéing the vegetables with olive oil. Alternatively, use your preferred cooking oil.
- Lemon juice and parsley: Added at the end, they brighten and add a touch of freshness to the soup.
See the printable recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make chickpea soup
Prepare the ingredients: First, drain and rinse the canned chickpeas. Alternatively, if you are using dried chickpeas, you will need to rinse and soak them overnight before cooking them. For more tips, check out my guide on how to cook chickpeas.
Then, dice all the vegetables and dice or mince the garlic.
Make the soup: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until it becomes translucent. Then, stir in the garlic and sauté for about 20 seconds.
Add the leek, carrots, celery, thyme, and spices, mix, and sauté for a further few minutes to soften the vegetables. Then add the diced tomatoes, potatoes, vegetable broth, and chickpeas. Stir to mix them and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer the chickpea soup covered for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables become cooked through and tender. You can check for doneness by testing one of the potato cubes.
Garnish and serve: Finally, remove the chickpea soup from the heat and stir in the fresh lemon juice and parsley. Taste and adjust any of the seasonings to your liking. If wanted, you can blend a portion of the soup for a creamier texture, just like I’ve done in this spicy black bean soup.
The soup is delicious on its own. You can also enjoy it with some crusty bread, warm Greek pita bread, or seed crackers.
More chickpea recipes
If you try this chickpea soup recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!
Best Ever Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
- 30 oz chickpeas 2 x 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed
- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes 1 can
- 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 6 oz onion 1 large (1 cup diced)
- 5 oz carrots 2 medium (1 cup diced)
- 4 oz celery 2 stalks (1 cup chopped)
- 11 oz potato 1 large (1.5 cups chopped)
- 9 oz leek 1 large (2.5 cups chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic large, finely minced
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice from 1 lemon
- fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the canned chickpeas. Chop or dice the onions, carrots, celery, potato, and leek. Chop or mince the garlic.
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Sauté the onions for 3-5 minutes until translucent. Stir in the garlic and sauté for about 20 seconds.
- Add the leek, carrots, celery, thyme, cumin powder, oregano, turmeric powder, chili powder, black pepper and salt. Mix and sauté for 3-5 minutes to soften the vegetables.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes, potatoes, vegetable broth, and chickpeas, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer the soup, covered, for 20-25 minutes until cooked through and tender.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking Serve the chickpea soup alone or with bread.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So delicious and filling 🙂