Simple Chickpea Soup

Simple Chickpea Soup
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Total Time
About 1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
4(646)
Notes
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This recipe came to The Times in 2013, when the food writers Michael Pollan and Michael Moss were prompted to make “a tasty, reasonably healthy lunch” using ingredients available at most grocery stores. “No farmers’ market produce, no grass-fed beef or artisanal anything,” the prompt stated. They came up with a few simple dishes: pizza, a salad of sliced avocados and oranges, and this simple but flavorful soup, which Mr. Pollan regularly made for his family and relies on canned garbanzos. —Emily Weinstein

Featured in: Pots and Pans, but Little Pain

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Ingredients

Yield:About 6 servings
  • 1large yellow onion, finely diced
  • 3tablespoons olive oil, more for serving
  • 1clove garlic, slivered
  • 2(15½-ounce) cans chickpeas
  • Juice of ½ lemon, more to taste
  • Salt and pepper
  • Parmesan, optional
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

277 calories; 11 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 11 grams protein; 433 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a soup pot over medium heat, sauté onion in olive oil until onion is translucent and has lost its bite. Add garlic and cook until slightly colored.

  2. Step 2

    Rinse chickpeas in cold water, then add to pot. Add water to pot until chickpeas are covered to the depth of 1 inch.

  3. Step 3

    Cook over medium heat (soup should bubble, but not come to a full boil) for an hour, or until the chickpeas are soft and silky. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with grated Parmesan or a drizzle of good olive oil if desired.

Ratings

4 out of 5
646 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

If you're using canned chickpeas, why would this need to cook for an hour?

This is great base soup, easy to whip up with almost no prep. I suspect you can add almost anything (veggies, sausage, etc), but if you do, I'd recommend making sure to scale up the amount of lemon juice you use; the freshness is a critical flavor component.

I added kale, (which I didn't quite cut small enough so we did a lot of chewing...). I also used a potato masher to soften things up a bit at the end for a creamier soup, and added a bit of paprika and cayenne.

Great recipe!

This was really good... after it had the chance to sit for a day or two. I took some hints from a similar recipe that I make often (Chickpea Stew with Orzo & Mustard Greens), and sauteed some fennel & a shake of red pepper flakes with the onions, & threw in some chopped cherry tomatoes halfway through the cooking time. Also added a few handfuls of baby spinach & some lemon zest at the end. Finally, I had used all my Parmesan rinds, so added a 2-in chunk of cheese to cook down.

Could chicken broth be used in place of water? Could cumin or some other seasoning be used to add flavor?

I thought this soup was delicious and simple. Like always, I was too lazy to finely dice the onion so it ended up as more of a rough chop but I didn't think it was a detriment at all, especially after I let them sauté for so long they had almost caramelized. I added in a large pinch of saffron with the chickpeas which added a lovely flavor. Like Tim, I mashed it up a bit and greatly increased the amount of lemon juice. It was just perfect for a cold winter night. Will definitely make again.

Added diced a potato at the beginning with the chick peas; added mushrooms for the last few minutes; as for spices, also added paprika and crushed red pepper. Delicious, simple, and warming on a cold night!

My husband's cousin in Tuscany makes a chickpea based soup, but cuts up an onion, garlic, celery and carrot, along with stock (made with a stock cube). She finishes by blending it with a hand blender. a drizzle of olive oil gives it a lovely finish. Super easy, super yummy, with little flecks of colour. I think you could use this as a sort of "stone soup" recipe, with whatever happens to be in the vegetable drawer.

Instant Pot version: At step two, add 1 1/4 C dried chickpeas (rinsed but not soaked) and 1qt chicken stock. 40 min on high pressure with natural release. Add lemon and salt at the end. Top with Parmesan. Delicious and so easy! I’ll make more next time and add some greens. Although it’s also fine on its own.

Hi Pat, unfortunately not. This soup is best served hot.

Add spinach maybe

This is very bright and delicious. You could add flavors but it is great as is. We ate it as stew over jasmine rice.

I only had 1 can of chickpeas, so I substituted one of them with some chopped zucchini. I also added some rosemary, thyme, red pepper flake, and paprika for added flavor. Delicious!

Lemons are magic in soups. This is a wonderful soup made with chick peas cooked from scratch, warms over nicely, added greens just at end to steam for a few minutes.

Spinach would be tasty, but I added kale for something with a bit more heft to it. Super good.

Super simple soup, you can eat it plain or add more veggies and meat to it. As a college student on a budget I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to make something healthy cheap and flavorful.

i am reading this after cobbling together a dinner of items i had on hand, both because of budget concerns & to use up some stray items in my pantry. I won't go into my entire recipe, but is pretty close to this one. but I will share that I did the entire thing in the microwave. I just do the onions on medium --you'll have to play aroudn with your machine, I start at 10, and then go from there. It is a common method since this was published. Works fantastic and doesn't compromise taste.

Add salt and pepper (a lot of pepper) when you start the hour long simmer. It adds a lot more flavor.

Just made the instant pot version suggested in the comments, and it's terrific.

I have to say I was very skeptical about this soup, but the preparation and list of ingredients are so simple that I had to try it. I let it cook for more than 1 hour and stirred it many times to incorporate the starch, creating a creamy soup but still with small bits of chickpeas. The parmesan is a great finish.

I was skeptical of how good this could be - right up until the point of adding the lemon juice. That really brought the whole dish together! A couple of modifications that I made - I added the salt and pepper at the beginning, and I added some spinach to wilt right at the end.

Swap one can chopped tomatoes for 1can chickpeas Blitz chunky Scant handful pasta after blitz

I cooked this today and it was delicious - more delicious than expected. I planned to use chicken broth but was out so I used water as instructed, but was skeptical. It came out great. It doesn't need broth! I upped the garlic to 3 cloves, put in 1 tsp of red pepper flakes with the garlic, added a diced potato with the chickpeas, and a handful of parsley and cilantro sprigs 30 minutes in. Also added some Taylor ham (I'm in NJ). Delicious and flavorful. I plan to reheat with some kale!

I agree this is a great base! I added ham, used one can of chickpeas and one can of great northern beans, chicken broth instead of water, and added carrot for a little color. Skipped the parm (ham is already so salty). So basically I made a different soup, but was inspired by this one and was very pleased with how comforting a meal it was :-)

This is a great recipe! It’s simple yet delicious! I add nothing to it- eat it as is. I love to dip in it toasted bread spread with quick homemade pesto (when feeling festive) or just rubbed with garlic and olive oil (when feeling lazy) Don’t skip it. .

So Simple. I had a double smoked bacon end so I tossed it in while simmering. About 10 minutes before we ate I added sun dried cherry tomatoes and a few handfuls frozen kale. My kids were sad there weren't more leftovers.

I was so pleasantly surprised how good this was considering the short ingredient list. Made a few tweaks: used half chicken stock/half water, and added 2-3 bay leaves. Didn't add parm - just salt, pepper, a generous portion of lemon juice, and a little drizzle of olive oil on top. So bright and warming!

What recipe only has one clove of garlic? Is that even a thing? ;-)

A simple recipe like this shouldn’t be so good, but it is. I’ve made it twice now. The first time I followed the recipe and it was great, the second time I cooked in broth instead of water and added a couple handfuls of roughly torn kale in the last few minutes of cooking time and it was even better. DON’T skimp on the lemon juice, it really brings the whole dish together. A sprinkle of fresh grated Parmesan at the end is perfection.

Easy and very tasty. I used chicken stock for some added flavor and it turned out wonderful.

Yes, a simple soup. But gee, after all that gentle bubbling, it still tasted like a can of chickpeas in water, with a little bit of lemon. No magic alchemy. I still have quite a bit left, so tomorrow, I`ll add in leftover roasted vegetables, some Italian herbs, and some stock. i think it will be quite good then, even if it isn`t so simple.

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Credits

Adapted from Michael Pollan

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