This lemony chickpea soup is so warming and flavorful! The broth is infused with fennel bulb and sumac, then drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with fresh herbs. Vegan and Gluten-free.
Why You’ll Love This
I love brothy soups! This lemony chickpea soup is no exception. We have more than 100 satisfying soup recipes on the blog, most of which are from our vegetarian restaurant, including this one!
The broth feels so healing and nourishing. It’s vegan and gluten-free, and just what the doctor ordered on a cold winter’s night.
I love making this with fennel bulb, but know that celery is always a good substitute! Sumac infuses the soup with tangy, earthy goodness! The soup is so bright and cheery, the aroma alone uplifts.
Ingredients
- Chickpeas: Use dry chickpeas, soaked for 8-24 hours. The flavor and texture are so much better! Or you can sub canned.
- Lemon: Freshly squeezed lemon juice infuses the soup with vibrant flavor.
- Yellow onion, fennel bulb, celery, and garlic cloves: These aromatic veggies provide a savory and flavorful base for the soup. Fennel adds such a unique taste that we love, however you can sub with extra celery.
- Vegetable broth: Try our Homemade Vegetable Stock for even more umami and depth of flavor. Because this is a brothy soup, the quality of the broth really matters!
- Cumin, coriander, sumac, dried thyme or dill, and bay leaves: The sumac is optional, but gives the soup a tangy, earthy flavor that is so delicious!
- Chili flakes: Or use Aleppo or Urfa Biber (Turkish chili flakes). These are optional, but add a lovely, subtle heat to the soup just before serving.
- Garnish: Fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley (or both, which is even better!), olive oil, or Zhoug. Mint, fresh thyme, oregano, black pepper, and lemon zest are all lovely too.
How to Make Lemony Chickpea Soup
Step one: First, remember to soak the dry beans in a large bowl of water for 8-24 hours. If you are using canned beans, move on to the next step.
Step two: Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Once warm, add onions and sauté 5 minutes while stirring.
Add fennel, celery, and cloves garlic, and stir. Reduce heat to medium, sautéing the aromatics 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Add broth, water, chickpeas, salt, cumin, coriander, sumac, bay leaves, and dried thyme. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer on medium-low for 25-35 minutes, or until chickpeas are tender.
Step three: Remove the lid and add lemon juice. Taste and adjust for salt. Add the optional chili flakes.
The lemon and sumac give the chickpea soup life, waking it up with a delicious brightness. Perfect for winter.
Step four: Divide soup among bowls and garnish with olive oil or zhoug and a generous amount of fresh herbs. The zhoug sauce, with its hint of cardamom, really elevates this Brothy Chickpea Soup to its highest potential – so give it a try if you have time!
Chef’s Tips
- Use dry chickpeas: It is really easy to use dried chickpeas in this recipe, as long as you remember to soak them overnight. They have the best flavor and texture!
- Use homemade broth: It never hurts to make a large batch of our Homemade Vegetable Stock to keep on hand for recipes like this. Homemade broth adds so much more flavor to brothy soups!
- Add more veggies! Carrots, cauliflower, or Yukon gold potatoes would all make nice additions to this soup. You could also toss a handful of dark, leafy greens, like spinach, into the pot near the end of cooking.
- Add more protein: The chickpeas add a healthy dose of protein, but if you’re not vegan and you’d like to add even more substance, you could easily add chicken to the soup!
- Add orzo: Make a Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup by adding orzo to the pot for a heartier Mediterranean-inspired recipe! You could also do this with white rice.
- Make this in the Instant Pot: Soak the dried chickpeas beforehand, then cook the soup for 12 minutes on the high setting. Nice and quick, plus it keeps the fennel in tact!
Storage
Cool the soup, then transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 4 days. Simply reheat leftovers on the stovetop until warmed through, or reheat in the microwave. You can also store Lemony Chickpea Soup in the freezer for 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this brothy soup with warm, crusty bread like our Sourdough, or with our Homemade Pita Bread. Or to create a sort of stew, serve the soup over a bowl of cooked grains like quinoa or brown rice!
You can also serve this healthy soup with one of our favorite salads, like Roasted Cauliflower Salad, Kale Salad, or Rainbow Salad.
FAQs
Not unless they are mashed or blended. If you’d like, you can use a fork to mash some of the chickpeas against the side of the pot to add a little creaminess.
If the soup tastes bland, it probably means you haven’t added enough salt. Add salt, taste, and adjust. Make sure your spices aren’t expired and that you are using fresh ingredients!
Hope you enjoy this easy Lemony Chickpea Soup recipe!
xoxo
More Brothy soup Recipes you may enjoy
Lemony Chickpea Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
- Category: soup, vegan, stew
- Method: stove top or instant pot
- Cuisine: middle eastern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked 8-24 hours (or sub 2 14-ounce cans, drained)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 white or yellow onion, diced.
- 1 extra-large fennel bulb,chopped ( about 2 cups)
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 4 cups veggie broth
- 2 cups water
- 1–2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 2 teaspoons sumac (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or dill
- 2 bay leaves
- —–
- 2–4 tablespoons lemon juice
- Pinch of chili flakes, aleppo or Urfa Biber (Turkish Chili Flakes)
- Garnish: fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley ( or both- even better), olive oil or zhoug sauce.
Serve with pita bread, crusty bread or serve over cooked grains (like quinoa). All optional.
Instructions
If using dry beans, soak in a big bowl of water for 8 to 24 hours.
In a large dutch oven, or heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute 5 minutes, stirring, add fennel, celery and garlic, lower heat to medium and cook 3-4 more minutes until fragrant. Add broth, water, chickpeas, salt, cumin, coriander, optional sumac , bay leaves, and dried thyme. Cover, bring to a boil, then simmer gently on medium-low for 25-35 minutes, or until chickpeas are tender.
Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and taste. It if tastes bland, it needs salt. Add the optional chili flakes.
Divide among bowls and garnish with olive oil (or zhoug) and a generous amount of fresh herbs. Serve with pita bread or crusty bread, or ladle over a bowl of cooked grains (like quinoa).
Notes
You could make this in the instant pot, but make sure to soak the chickpeas first. My first attempt failed. I tried this with unsoaked dry chickpeas, 35 minutes on high pressure, but the fennel bulb turned out WAY overcooked. Soaked garbanzos took only 12 minutes in on high setting in the Instant Pot, and fennel kept its shape.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 244
- Sugar: 8.5 g
- Sodium: 507.6 mg
- Fat: 8.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 35.3 g
- Fiber: 7.2 g
- Protein: 9.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
The Lemon Chickpea soup with fennel and sumac was amazing! Will definitely make again, but I will use the stalk and greens from the fennel too. Delicious combo of flavors.
Perfect- glad you liked this!
Sounds good. I would add tomatoes canned or fresh.
to add: I like chick peas a little mushy or I would cook it longer or have half of it blend to break them. Thanks, Silvia, all cheack pea and lentils are the best, keep them coming.
Yup- they would add a nice acidity. 🙂
Great soup, but 20 minutes for dried chickpeas even when soaked was unrealistic. I think the chickpeas need to be cooked separately or given at least a 45 minutes head start on the vegetables if you cook them in the broth.
Hi Bri- sometimes bigger chickpeas or older chickpeas can take longer. Soaking the full 24 hours usually helps them cook the fastest.
Hi, Sylvia! It actually snowed on top of our local mountain here in Boise today, so now I’m hunting for soup. This sounds amazing except for the fennel – I really dislike any anise flavored. Can you please recommend a substitute?
I’d just replace with celery!
This was really good. I can’t stop eating it. thank you!!I love your recipes and you are the only one I am subscribed to! Wish the recipes were coming Thursday or so when I plan my shopping but it’s because grocery stores are closed on Sundays where I live.
Hey Anna- thanks for the feedback, will think about this! You can always check the site on Thursdays too. 😉
I’m making this in a few days. I’m thinking about not adding the 2 cups of water. Recommended or not?
Yes. I recommend adding.
This is a wonderful, comforting bowl of soup that’s perfect for winter lunches. I love Zhoug with this, along with some pita bread for dipping into the broth. I’m trying to eat vegan during the week, and recipes like this make it easy!
Love all the ingredients in your Lemony Chickpea Soup, especially the pairing of fennel, one of my favorite veggies, with sumac, a match made in heaven. I have recently discovered sumac and love its flavors. The blend I get from the Middle Eastern store near my home has nuances of orange so it will pair beautifully with this recipe. I’ll will also be trying the Zhoug sauce for a first time. I’m a fan of cilantro and cardamon and am excited about experimenting with new pairing possibilities with this sauce. The Tomato and artichoke soup with tarragon and fennel recipe also sounds fab as well, right down my alley flavorwise.
Thank you so much for your creative and flavor-forward recipes.
I made this right after the holidays and forgot the chickpeas until it was halfway gone. This was the perfect soothing, nourishing, almost cleanse like soup that I needed. After being reminded of it in this post, I’m making it again this weekend. I won’t forget the chick peas this time!
Delicious! A great way to use my chickpeas. And my first time using sumac. My whole family loved this one.
I’ve made this a few times now and each time it’s such a delicious hit. Flavorful, hearty and perfect for rainy nights. The zhoug is a *must* and I love it with a dollop of coconut yogurt and some rustic vegan/gf sourdough bread. This recipe is a keeper!
This is another one of your wonderful and delicious recipes. I love it now in the summer and I cannot wait to eat it in the winter. I am so grateful, Sylvia.
This soup is SOOO delicious! Oddly, I’ve never eaten fennel before, but this soup has made me a fan. I made it as directed (without the sumac, because I couldn’t find any), but I used both dried dill and fresh dill as a garnish.
Yay!🙌
This was delicious! I made half the recipe and ate it on top of some freekeh and it was both tasty and filling! I will definitely be making this again.
So when do you add in the chickpeas With the water?
With the water- sorry I forgot to add! Fixed it now.
Really tasty recipe. I added some fresh curly paresly at the end just because I had some that needed to be used.
It would be helpful to have ingredients like coriander, specified as spice or herb, and spices generally as whole or ground
We love this soup so much in our house. We have this recipe on regular rotation. The zhoug elevates the soup to extreme levels of yum. So easy, so, so good.
Thanks Katie- glad you are enjoying and yes, the zhoug brings it up a notch. 🙂 thanks for the rating!
I just discovered your blog. Your recipes are wonderful! This soup is totally delicious. I made it with fresh garlic scapes from the garden rather than garlic cloves, served it with zhoug and at room temperature along with fresh garden greens & homemade crusty bread for a lovely summer Colorado Mountain supper.
Im so glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my gosh…so delicious and easy to make on a week night after work. Definitely will be part of our week night dinner rotation!!!
So glad you liked it Teresa!!!
You were in my hometown when I was there!! How fun! It was a wonderful white Christmas this year. I just saw this while adding a bunch of recipes to my collection today ❤️
Funny! I love your hometown. And your amazing co-op!!!
On a wintery Spokane night Lemony Chickpea soup really hits the spot! Even without the Zhoug it is flavorful and just the right amount of lemon, taking us back for seconds. Love your recipes, Sylvia, and your well thought out way of cooking for all kinds of eaters, no one goes away hungry.
Thanks so much Colleen! So glad you enjoyed this!
This looks amazing. I absolutely love all of your pictures. You really get to see the process of the whole recipe. These flavors sound like they work so well together. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks George- you are so welcome!
We just made this for dinner tonight (with the zhoug, of course) and it was a hit. The arugula was a perfect addition for peppery flavor and color and even our kids enjoyed the meal. We opted for two seeded jalapeños in the zhoug and it was just right for us.
So glad you and your family like this….and tried it with the zhoug!
This was so good! The Zough made it heavenly! I made it this evening and my family really loved it. Thank you Sylvia for this recipe and all the others.
Love from Holland!
Thanks Lizette! I’m so glad you made the zhoug to go with it! Adds such good flavor!
can i replace the water with broth for a more intense flavor?
Totally, but maybe go lighter on the salt, then salt to taste. 🙂
Do you think adding beef broth would be appropriate for this recipe or would the flavors be off? Looks so delicious!
I think chicken broth would be better- but beef wouldn’t be horrible- just having a hard time picturing it! I bet it would be fine!