I am a self-proclaimed soup queen and have no shortage of soup recipes. But this Lemon Chickpea Soup might just be my favorite-ever soup because it’s made with mostly pantry staples yet is deceptively delicious.
The trick: half the chickpeas get pureed with lemon zest, miso, and nutritional yeast into a creamy base that makes every spoonful rich and savory. A bit of long-grain white rice naturally thickens the broth, and a big hit of fresh dill and lemon juice keeps things bright enough you’ll want to enjoy this soup all year long.
It’s the kind of soup that feels indulgent but is quietly loaded with good stuff; 16g of fiber and 20g of protein per serving, no heavy cream in sight. And it’s a meal prep dream: leftovers keep for 5+ days, and it freezes beautifully.
Table of Contents:
1. Ingredient notes
2. Step-by-step instructions
3. Tips for making this recipe
4. Frequently Asked Questions
5. Recipe card with notes
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Ingredient notes
- Chickpeas. Two cans, used two ways: one simmered in the soup, the other pureed with lemon zest, miso, nutritional yeast, and plant milk into a creamy base. That puree is how you get the rich, cheesy body. Freshly cooked chickpeas make it even better if you have time (see the FAQ section for instructions), but canned chickpeas works great here.
- Long-grain white rice. A small amount thickens the soup naturally as it simmers. I’m partial to jasmine rice but any long-grain rice works. Sub: Brown rice works but needs to be pre-boiled separately (see recipe card).
- Lemon. Lots of fresh juice and zest make this soup sing so don’t skimp! A microplane and citrus juicer make quick work of it (and are two of my most-used kitchen tools!).
- Dill. I love the citrusy and grassy flavor of dill against the tart lemon. Sub: Fresh basil, flat-leaf parsley, or a blend of all three. If you end up with leftover dill, use it to whip up a batch of my Vegan Ranch Dressing or this lovely Asparagus Galette.
- Miso + nutritional yeast. The umami duo that makes the soup taste delightfully savory and cheesy so don’t skip these! Use white or mellow miso only, as darker varieties will overwhelm the soup.
Step-by-step instructions
Start by rinsing the rice in a fine-mesh sieve until the water runs clear.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the carrot and onion and cook until they’ve softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring often. Stir in the tomato paste, oregano, coriander, turmeric, and red pepper flakes. If needed, deglaze the pot with a splash of vegetable broth.
Add the rinsed rice and toss to coat. Next, add one can of chickpeas, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
Pour in the vegetable broth and half of the chopped dill. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the chickpea puree.
In a food processor, blend together until smooth: one can of chickpeas, plant milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso, salt, and pepper.
Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
Stir the chickpea puree and chopped spinach into the soup. Simmer until thickened and the spinach is wilted.
Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and remaining dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve the soup in bowls with crusty bread on the side for dunking. Enjoy!
Tips for making this recipe
Adjust the flavors to your liking
Once the soup is finished simmering, give it a taste and adjust the flavors however you want.
Love big lemony flavor? Add more fresh lemon juice or zest. Want some spice in just about everything? Add an extra pinch of red pepper flakes. There’s always room to sprinkle in more fresh herbs or a dollop of vegan pesto. Or keep it simple, and drizzle every bowl with good-quality olive oil for richness.
Make it your own
While I’d love for you to try the recipe as written the first time, there are so many ways to put your own spin on its flavors, consistency, and textures:
- Swap the chickpeas for white beans for extra creaminess.
- Switch up the herbs. Use flat-leaf parsley or basil instead of dill, or a blend of all three.
- Add more veggies. Toss in sliced celery, shaved fennel, or shredded cabbage after sautéing the onions and carrots, or add a handful of cauliflower florets with the broth.
- More greens. Bump the baby spinach up to 5 ounces (140g).
- Add some crunch. Top your bowl with the crispy lentils from my Butternut Squash Soup, homemade croutons or roasted chickpeas (check out pages 229 and 236 of Big Vegan Flavor, respectively).
Multitask efficiently
To make this chickpea soup recipe come together as efficiently as possible, you’ll want to do a little multitasking. Here’s what I do.
- Since the onions and carrots sauté for about 10 minutes and don’t need to be stirred very often, use that time to chop the garlic and measure out the tomato paste and spices.
- While the soup simmers, make the chickpea puree and chop the baby spinach.
Frequently Asked Questions
While an immersion blender works well when you’re blending soup, here, the blending that happens is with the chickpea puree. It has pretty minimal liquid (just ½ cup milk) so an immersion blender won’t be able to blend things smoothly.
Stick with a food processor or a small-capacity blender cup.
Once you’ve let the soup cool to room temp, transfer the leftovers to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for 5 to 6 days. Reheat your leftovers on the stove over medium or medium-low heat, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from sticking together.
To brighten up the leftovers as needed, top the reheated soup with a pinch of lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a drizzle of good-quality extra virgin olive oil for richness.
Although I find this lemon chickpea soup plenty hearty and filling on its own, I never say no to crusty bread for dunking.
Gluten-free? Opt for simple roasted potatoes, or go the fancy (but easy) route with my Crispy Smashed Potatoes!
Absolutely! Freeze the soup in a few airtight containers for 3 to 4 months. We love to freeze soup in these handy Souper Cubes (affiliate link) for single-serve portions that are quick to defrost. Let the leftovers thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating on the stove the next day.
If you love this Lemony Chickpea Soup recipe, please be sure to leave a rating and review below! And tag me on Instagram – I love seeing your photos!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Lemon Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (65 to 70g) long-grain white rice (see Note 1)
- ¼ cup (56g) extra virgin olive oil
- 4 medium carrots, scrubbed and finely chopped
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 (15-ounce / 425g) cans chickpeas, divided
- ¾ cup (12g) fresh dill (no thick stems), chopped and divided
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (½ tsp for a kick)
- 4 cups (960 mL) vegetable broth
- 3 ounces (85g) baby spinach or baby kale (can add more, see Note 2)
- ½ cup (120 mL) creamy unsweetened plant-based milk, such as full-fat oat milk or canned “lite” coconut milk
- 1 large lemon zested + 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
- ¼ cup (20g) nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon white miso
Instructions
- Add the rice to a fine-mesh sieve and rinse a few times until almost clear, then drain.
- Drain and rinse one can of chickpeas and set aside for step 5. Drain and rinse the other can of chickpeas and transfer to a food processor or small-capacity blender for step 8.
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the carrots and onion. Season with a few pinches of salt. Stir occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomato paste plus spices (oregano, coriander, turmeric, and red pepper flakes). Stir almost constantly for 1 to 2 minutes until the tomato paste is a darker red brick color. If it sticks or starts to burn, lower the heat and deglaze with a splash of broth.
- Add the rinsed rice and toss to coat in the aromatics and oil for 1 minute. Add one can of drained chickpeas, plus ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat. Pour in the vegetable broth, followed by half of the chopped dill. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer and cover the pan. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, or until the rice is soft.
- While the soup simmers, roughly chop the spinach and make the chickpea puree.
- Chickpea Puree: To the chickpeas in the food processor or blender, add the milk, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and pepper to taste. Blend until pureed and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste for seasonings, adding more salt or lemon juice as needed.
- Stir the Chickpea Puree into the soup to combine, then add the chopped spinach. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the soup thickens and greens slightly wilt.
- Off the heat, stir in the remaining dill and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Taste, adding salt/pepper or more lemon juice as desired. Transfer to bowls and drizzle each bowl with a bit of good-quality olive oil for richness.
Video
Notes
- If using brown rice, you’ll need to quick-boil it first. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and season with a pinch of salt. Stir in the brown rice and gently boil without stirring for 10 minutes. Drain the rice in a fine mesh sieve and set aside.
- For a nutrition boost, feel free to go up to 5 ounces (140g) of baby spinach (1 standard-sized bag).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Very easy to make and incredibly delicious! I will make this soup often. Thank you, Nisha!
My first time making one of your recipes and it came out great! I had to leave out the onion unfortunately as my mom is very allergic, but it still was delicious.
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Court. Thanks for your kind words!
We appreciate your feedback and support, Adam. Thank you for leaving a review!
This was delicious! 💌 Thank you for the wonderful recipe
Dominique, Thank you for your thoughtful review! We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed the soup.
This was a perfect soup for a cold winter day up here in Canada! It was my first time making it. To make it lower fat for my personal diet, I made a couple substitutions (aquafaba instead of oil and silken tofu with a splash of oat milk as the cream)… I don’t know how much that changed the taste, but I thought it was absolutely lovely. Thanks for sharing recipes like this!
Heather, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
Hi Nisha,
I made this soup tonight and thought it was really good, but I am thinking I might like it better made with lentils or yellow split peas. I like having small things in my soup, and chickpeas seemed too big to me. Perhaps I needed more broth…..
Anyhow, I am wondering what you think of trying it with a different legume?
Hi Diane, you can definitely add more broth if you want a soupier consistency. Or, you can pulse the chickpeas in a food processor a few times before adding them to the soup so they’re in small pieces. As for using lentils, they will take longer to cook. If using green lentils, I’d say to use ¾ cup and 6 cups of broth and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
Would quinoa work well instead of rice?
Since quinoa tends to come in the husk, to play it safe, you could follow the directions for brown rice (pre-boiling it).
Hi Cynthia, we haven’t tried making this with uncooked quinoa so we can’t say for sure.
I made this last night and portioned it out to take for lunch this week. I so enjoyed eating this just now.
I made this soup with some variations: I am oil free, so I sauteed the vegetables in aqua faba; I used orzo instead of rice; I used dried herbs instead of fresh (because it’s what I had on hand); and I used soy milk (my plant milk of choice).
It was flavorful and delicious! The chickpea puree really makes it special!
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Lisa. Thanks for your kind words!
Absolutely fantastic! It’s creamy without being heavy and the freshness from the lemon and dill is delightful! I miscounted my bean stash so I used lima beans for the puree, and I couldn’t find organic lemons so I used some homemade preserved lemon instead of zest for the puree to get those zesty floral notes, I’m sure it impacted the flavour somewhat, but it was very good and the technique of creating a creamy texture with both starch from the rice and from the puree was really nice!
Thank you for making this available for free, it’s a wonderful recipe that I’ll be making again very soon, and I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow! Will most likely also make a batch for the freezer, it’s such a good thing to have a comforting meal that can be heated up on low energy days.
We appreciate your feedback and support, Barbara. Thank you for leaving a review!
Lemony and delicious. Thanks for sharing
Karen, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
Made the soup and it was fantastic. It’s thick, creamy and flavorful while still being fresh and bright. Really delicious and I will certainly make it again.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Kai! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
It was cold yesterday here in south texas (40s cold and wet!) so I bought all these ingredients today to prepare for the week (although today it was was 60 and sunny but whatevs 🙂 OMG. I didn’t expect much bc it sounds simple but as I tested the final batch I was like oh wow…the flavors! I used full fat coconut milk as I had this in the pantry and usually always use lite coconut milk for my curries but as it was only a small amount figured it wouldn’t hurt my fitness goals. I can’t wait to eat it at work for lunch with my vegan pretzels : ) Thanks Nisha! Another hit!
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Brenda. Thanks for your kind words!