Simple Chickpea Soup with Rosemary & Garlic

This simple chickpea soup is a more pared down offering from me! I typically love to load up my vegan soup recipes with every add-in imaginable, but I’ve been in a bit of a different mood lately and am enjoying some more simplified/streamlined flavours. Sometimes less is more! I had Flourist chickpeas that I cooked over the weekend and delicious homemade stock on hand, so I wasn’t in the mood to mess around too much.

How I cook and store dried chickpeas:

1. Once I got an Instant Pot, I stopped cooking chickpeas any other way. I soak them in water overnight and then drain and rinse them the next day. I then transfer the chickpeas to the Instant Pot and cover them by about 2 inches of water. I set the the Instant Pot to “Pressure Cook” on high for 26 minutes. Once that’s up, I let them sit for another 10-12 minutes before manually releasing the pressure. From here, I throw in a good amount of salt and stir.
2. Storing chickpeas in the fridge: I let the chickpeas cool completely in their seasoned cooking liquid and then pack them into jars, topping them up with the cooking liquid before putting a lid on top. This setup will keep in the fridge for a week.
3. Freezing chickpeas: To freeze, I drain the chickpeas once they’re cool and transfer them in 2 cup increments to a Stasher bag or other reusable bag/container. Once they’re sealed up, I place them in the freezer where they’re good to go for 6 months. Thaw the chickpeas overnight in the fridge when you plan to use them!

This simple chickpea soup really does taste like autumn to me. The smokiness of the paprika, the unmistakable tree-like quality of rosemary, and all of those earthy-savoury chickpeas. I go in with a lot of my usuals like garlic, miso, Tamari, red wine vinegar, and tomato paste as well. This is definitely a pantry-friendly recipe!

Normally I really stress homemade vegetable stock, but lately I’ve been more flexible on that in my own kitchen. I find that the pastes and stock concentrates sold in stores have great flavour, and they’re so easy. Just use what works for you and what will help you enjoy the cooking process 🙂

What to serve with this simple chickpea soup:

1. Apple Kale Salad with Miso Mustard Dressing
2. Kale & Brussels Sprout Caesar Slaw
3. Smoky Grilled Beets with Mint & Parsley Pistachio Pesto
4. I think it goes without saying, but: lots of crusty bread!

I hope that you give this recipe a try the next time you’re craving some chickpea goodness. The soup does a nice slow cook on the stovetop that allows for a little salad to be made up (or a beverage to be enjoyed) while you wait. A couple cups of the soup take a quick detour to the blender, and back in before stirring all together. This soup also freezes really nicely if you’re looking to prep ahead.

Simple Chickpea Soup with Rosemary & Garlic

This simple chickpea soup hovers around 10 key ingredients, has a creamy texture, and is flavoured with rosemary, smoked paprika, garlic, and miso for umami. Cooked slowly on the stovetop, this easy vegan soup is hearty and comforting.

Prep Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, small dice (about 2 heaped cups diced onion)
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 sticks celery, chopped (about 1 cup diced celery)
• 2 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup diced carrot)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary (about 1 really full sprig)
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 5 cups cooked chickpeas
• 6 cups vegetable stock (plus extra, see notes)
• 2 tablespoons light miso
• 1½ teaspoons red wine vinegar, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon Tamari
• chili oil or chili crisp, for serving
• extra coarsely ground black pepper, for serving

Notes

• This soup is minimal on the ingredient side, so I went in with chickpeas that I cooked from their dried state as well as homemade vegetable stock. If you’re going store bought on stock, I find that the concentrated stocks or pastes (that you dilute in water before cooking) are usually a good bet
• I know that up to 12 minutes sounds like a long time to sauté onions, but it really pays off and if I can, I start most of my soups this way. It helps the fine cuts of onion to almost “dissolve” into the soup.
• I’m putting Momofuku chili crunch on top of everything these days, and it really is delightful on this soup along with lots of black pepper. Something spicy/tingly on top just hits nicely with the earthy flavours.

Instructions

• Set a large, heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Once it’s nice and hot, pour in the olive oil and swirl it around. Add the onions and sauté, stirring here and there for about 10-12 minutes. You want them super soft and quite transparent. If the onions are browning too quickly, lower the heat. Season with salt and pepper.

• Add the celery and carrots to the pot and sauté for another 8-9 minutes, or until the edges of the carrots and celery are softened. Season again with salt and pepper.

• Add the rosemary, paprika, and garlic to the pot and stir. Keep stirring and sautéing until spices are very fragrant, about 2 minutes.

• Add the tomato paste to the pot and stir. Keep stirring and mixing it up into the vegetables until the raw, tin-like flavour is cooked out, about 1 minute.

• Add the chickpeas to the pot and stir to coat in the seasoning and vegetables. Then, pour in the vegetable stock. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Bring the chickpea soup to a boil. Then, lower the heat to a light simmer.

• Place the lid ajar on top of the pot and simmer the soup for about 40 minutes, stirring here and there.

• Remove about 2 cups of the soup and transfer it to an upright, vented blender. To the blender, add the miso. Blend this mixture on high until creamy. Add the puréed portion of the soup back to the pot and stir. Bring the soup back up to a strong boil for about 5 minutes. At this point, if you would like to thin out the soup a bit, add more vegetable stock.

• Stir the red wine vinegar and the Tamari into the soup. Give the chickpea soup a taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary (more salt, pepper, vinegar, Tamari etc). Serve the soup hot with chili oil and extra black pepper.