I just love soup! There is no such thing as soup season in my house because I make it all year long. It’s so easy to make in big quantities, feed a large number of people and freeze for future lunches or dinners on the go.
I don’t know about you but I find making soup therapeutical. I enjoy hanging around in the kitchen chopping, and boiling, tasting and adding, until I get the perfect concoction for my loved ones.
This EASY lemon chickpea soup recipe inspired by The Stingy Vegan will not keep you in the kitchen all day. But it will put a pop in your whole food plant based diet menu and will keep you in soup for at least a week!
The rich yellow color comes from turmeric, a spice that historically has been praised for its overall health benefits 💛
A literal melting pot for fresh vegetables including kale, carrots, onion, garlic and celery, this soup brags of nutritional delights 😊 Throw in some quinoa for extra texture and protein and you’ve got a hearty soup that is a veritable meal!
And it’s so easy!!! Instead of the laborious task of chopping all the vegetables, we’re just gonna pulse them quickly in a food processor or blender. That chops your prep time nearly in half!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- ½ c orzo
- ⅓ c quinoa
- 1 potato
- 2 cartons of vegetable stock or 3 veggie bouillon and water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp oregano and 1 tsp of parsley (Use Fresh herbs if you have them)
- Juice of ½ lemon 🍋
- 3 c kale
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4-5 gardein meatballs [optional]
- 1 potato, cooked and chopped [optional]
- red pepper flakes [optional]
HOW TO MAKE EASY LEMON CHICKPEA SOUP
- Prep your vegetables: peel your carrots, wash your celery, peel the onion and chop coursely, Prepare garlic.
- Put a few carrots, garlic and celery aside to cook in the soup.
- Pulse the rest of vegetables in a food processor or blender quickly leaving them somewhat course.
- In a large soup pot, add olive oil and garlic.
- Add salt
- Add pulsed vegetables and stir
- Fill your pot 3/4 full, approximately 8-10 c of water with veggie bouillon or vegetable broth
- Add turmeric, garbanzo beans, oregano and parsely
- let simmer 15-20 minutes
- Add quinoa and cook. After 10 minutes add orzo cooking for just 3-4 minutes. ( You don’t want to overcook the orizo)
- Add chopped kale last. You don’t want it to cook and shrink too much. That’s why you wait until the end to add it.
- Add juice of fresh lemon, season and enjoy 😉
Have you ever had Italian wedding soup? I love that! For this recipe I added gardein veggie meatballs cut in small pieces. I also added a pre cooked potato chopped in bite size pieces. With the addition of the quinoa and chickpeas, this soup turned out to be a high protein, hearty meal 😋
