A hot bowl of chickpea soup is a wonderfully hearty and satisfying meal, especially when filled with a variety of healthy ingredients. My deliciously fragrant recipe features lots of spices, fresh herbs, vibrant baby spinach and tender chicken for rich, warming flavor!
A Deliciously Hearty Bowl of Comfort
While each and every dish has its own unique and wonderful “dance” or rhythm when it comes to the preparation of it, there's something extra special, magical and enticing to me about preparing a homemade soup recipe.
Perhaps it's simply the fact that all of the delectable ingredients are added to one large pot in various stages, and then allowed to gently bubble away in steaming perfection until tender, when their unique flavors have created something rich and divinely cozy.
Whatever the reason, I find soup such a treat to prepare, a warming friend offering tremendous nourishment and comfort when both the body and spirit deeply craves this.
For me, my spiced chickpea soup is a fantastic recipe to prepare when I'm hungry for hearty coziness in a bowl. Tender and slightly creamy chickpeas are joined with a good hint of warm spices, some tomatoes, baby spinach leaves and fresh herbs for vibrant flavor and color.
I also like to sprinkle in some cooked chicken for added protein, which makes this thick, rich soup a complete meal, perfect to dip into for a few days, with a warm piece of crusty bread on the side.
How to Make Chickpea Soup That's Rich and Nutritious
Using good quality canned chickpeas is a large part of what makes preparing this particular soup recipe so quick and easy.
Canned chickpeas are already innately tender and ready to enjoy, so the simmering time for this particular soup is only around 20 minutes.
I use finely diced aromatic veggies which soften in the pot in no time, and then sprinkle in the rest of my ingredients in stages to create layers of flavor for a rich, satisfying result.
Here's a glance at my chickpea soup recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)
- To begin, I add my aromatic veggies into the pot and saute for a few minutes, or just until softened; then, I add in my garlic, spices and tomato paste, and stir to combine.
- I add in one of my two cans of drained and rinsed chickpeas along with my chicken stock/broth, and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes.
- To finish the soup, I use an immersion blender to puree the simmered ingredients, then add in my second can of chickpeas, my diced tomatoes, spinach, cooked chicken, and herbs, and stir to combine; I also add a little squeeze of lemon for brightness, and serve with warm bread on the side.
Recipe
Chickpea Soup with Chicken and Spinach
by Ingrid Beer
Category: Soup
Cuisine: American
Yield: Serves 6
Nutrition Info: 426 calories
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Avocado or olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 ribs celery, diced
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed, divided use
- 6 cups hot chicken stock
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained of juice
- 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
- Lemon wedges, optional
- Set a soup pot over medium-high heat, and drizzle in about 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil; once hot, add in the diced onion, carrot and celery, plus a couple of pinches of salt and pepper; saute for a few minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add in the garlic, along with the cumin, coriander and pinch of cayenne pepper, and stir until aromatic, about 30 seconds to a minute; add in the tomato paste and stir to incorporate.
- Add in 1 of the cans of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), along with the chicken stock, and bring to the boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer the soup for 20 minutes, just until the veggies are soft.
- Using a hand-held immersion blender (or you can even use a blender, just work in batches), blend the soup until fairly smooth; then, add in the remaining can of (drained and rinsed) chickpeas, the diced tomatoes, shredded chicken, spinach leaves, parsley, cilantro and mint, and stir together just until the spinach wilts; check to see if any additional salt/pepper is needed, and perhaps even a little squeeze of lemon.
- Serve with some pita or flatbread, or even crusty French bread, and drizzle with a little avocado or olive oil over top as a finisher.
Tips & Tidbits for my Chickpea Soup with Chicken and Spinach:
- Good quality canned chickpeas, for convenience: Organic canned chickpeas are perfect for this soup—just drain and rinse them well before adding them in. They're already fairly tender, and take only about 20 minutes to soften a bit more in the soup as it simmers.
- Give it whirl: Using a hand-held immersion stick blender is great for this soup, but if you'd prefer to use a regular blender, just make sure to work in batches so you don't end up with hot soup all over your kitchen, or more importantly, you. 😉
- Rotisserie chicken, perfect for soup: I love to use rotisserie chicken for this recipe, as it's a super convenient time-saver. Just remove the skin, shred the meat, and add in!
- Vegetarian chickpea soup: If you're looking to prepare this soup as a vegetarian option, simply leave out the chicken and substitute vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock, and you're golden.
Craving more rich and hearty soups? Check out this Curry Lentil Soup, this Split Pea Soup, this Beef Barley Soup, or this Simple Lemony Chicken with Spring Veggies Soup!
Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2017, and has been updated with even more love!
Amy|The Cook Report
This sounds amazing! I can't wait to give it a try, cannot get enough of chickpeas!
The Cozy Apron
Thanks, Amy!
Bonnie
How many people does this recipe serve?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Bonnie, it serves about 6.
The Cozy Apron
Thank you, Roseanne! Love those more mystical aspects of life...
Seema
We've been trying to incorporate more healthy foods into our diet and found this soup. Ours looked a little more liquidy than the pictures above. This is not a complaint, just an observation. We did use rotisserie chicken from Costco which sped up the soup making process as was noted by The Cozy Apron. We unfortunately did not have the cilantro or mint to add but I'll be sure to have them on hand for our next batch. This was easy to make, hearty, and delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I look forward to trying more that you have posted
The Cozy Apron
Hi Seema, so glad you enjoyed, and congrats on eating more healthy foods!
I wonder if you ended up having any leftovers, if you will see that the soup will be a bit thicker the next day. (Often that happens when there are beans/chickpeas involved. 😉 )
And I do hope you give some other recipes of ours a try, and find some comfort and nourishment in those as well! Thank you for commenting.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Torrie, thanks so much for your comments!
Emilie
This is a truly amazing soup! My seven month baby also loved it! I added a little bit of islandic yogurt at the end which complemented it as well. Really delicious!!
The Cozy Apron
Emilie, so very happy you and your precious baby enjoyed! That truly made me smile. 🙂
The yogurt sounds like a great addition, the perfect way to give it your own flair. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with me!
Evelyn Huynh
Hi Ingrid.
I have chickpeas that I plan to soak tonight. Is it okay for me to use fresh chickpeas as opposed to canned chickpeas?
Thanks.
Evelyn
The Cozy Apron
Hi Evelyn, certainly!
Since there are roughly 3 1/2 cups (total) of chickpeas between those 2 cans that I call for in the recipe, I'd suggest using about that amount of the soaked.
You'll need to adjust things a little bit, however...
In my recipe, I call for 1 of the 2 cans (half of the chickpeas) to be simmered in the soup and then pureed, and then I add the second can at the end with the rest of the ingredients, not cooking things any further.
For you, I'd suggest adding all of the chickpeas at once, as they'll need to simmer/cook for roughly 45 minutes or more to become tender; so in order to keep the recipe similar in consistency, once all the chickpeas have simmered, remove a portion of them (roughly half), and proceed with pureeing the soup.
Then, once pureed, add those reserved chickpeas back in along with the other ingredients to finish the soup.
Hopefully, I've explained this in a clear way, and it offers some helpful advice. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Janine
This is delicious, even though I "messed up" the recipe. I dumped in the tomatoes with the first can of chickpeas. When I used the immersion blender it gave the feel of tomato soup, but not too strong. Kids loved it. Thanks.
Oh I didnt have cilantro or mint- still good
The Cozy Apron
Hi Janine, thanks so much for your comments!
I'm thrilled that you and the kids enjoyed the soup...funny enough, you can't even really "mess it up", as the flavors and texture is so nice and rich that it's still just as tasty. 😉
Ace
Hello Fresh had a similar version using chicken sausage and scaled down for two. That came out great as is so went to pull their recipe online and yours popped up. Since we love chickpeas and that recipe, will definitely try this one. We usually add a spritz of lime or lemon to soup - they say it makes soups "brighter."
Thanks for your recipe!
The Cozy Apron
Hope you enjoy this one, Ace!
Alice .stephens
I made the chicken broth first in the crockpot and then went on to follow your recipe! OMG, delish. Thank you.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Alice, that's fantastic! So happy to read you enjoyed the recipe, and were comforted by it. 🙂