Lentil Chickpea Soup
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It’s cold outside in London, so I’m sharing this warming, smoky lentil chickpea soup. It’s one of my favorite soup recipes, full of flavor and plant-based protein.
It’s perfect for cozy, cold winter nights when you’re craving something hearty and comforting yet healthy. It’s also vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free.
This recipe starts with a solid flavor base by sautéing onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and spices, then adding legumes, potatoes, and vegetable broth. Adding a few handfuls of green leaves, such as spinach, in the last minute of cooking time provides extra texture and nutrients, but it’s optional.
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Smoked paprika and curry powder are the secret to this soup’s deliciousness. They work like a charm, providing an amazing depth of flavor.
Serve it with easy crusty bread, quick focaccia, or easy pesto bread, and garnish with extra parsley pesto for added flavor, if you wish. Make a big batch because it tastes even better the next day!
List of the ingredients
- Dried lentils (brown or green)
- Canned chickpeas
- Soffritto (onion, garlic, celery)
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Spices (smoked paprika, chili flakes, curry powder)
- Potato
- Tomato paste
- Low-sodium vegetable broth
- Spinach (optional)
- Salt & pepper
How to make this lentil chickpea soup
(Note: the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Sauté diced onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil.
- Add garlic and spices and give a good stir.
- Then add chickpeas, lentils, potato, and tomato paste.
- Stir in broth and cook for about 25-30 minutes.
- Adjust the seasoning.
- Stir in spinach and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Serve with crusty bread, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Ingredients & substitutions
This soup recipe is pretty flexible. As long as you get the spices right, you can play around with your leafy greens and whatever legumes you have in the cupboard:
- Legumes: Black beans, white beans, and pinto beans (canned) work just fine. You can also use only lentils, but adjust the amount of broth accordingly.
- Leafy greens: You can swap Swiss chard or kale for spinach. Remove the stems, chop the leaves, and cook until tender.
- Soffritto: onion, carrot, and celery make a flavorsome base called soffritto. If you don’t have these veggies, skip this step and start the recipe with garlic and spices instead.
- Broth: I use this low-sodium vegetable broth, but you can use only hot water or regular vegetable or chicken broth. Adjust the seasoning accordingly at the end, as you never really know how strong the salt from the broth is.
Looking for more lentil soup recipes?
Looking for more chickpea soup recipes?
- 27 Fabulous chickpea recipes
- Easy garlic chickpea soup
- Italian pasta with chickpeas (pasta e ceci)
- Mediterranean chickpea soup
- Chickpea tomato soup
- Lemon chickpea soup
If you make this smoky chickpea and lentil soup or have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it.
I would love to hear from you!
Lentil Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stick, diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- ¾ Tbsp mild curry powder
- ¼ – ⅛ tsp chili flakes, or to taste
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained
- ¾ cup (140 grams) dried lentils, clean and rinsed
- 1 (200 grams) potato, cut into cubes
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste (or ⅓ cup canned diced tomatoes)
- 4 cups (960 ml) low sodium vegetable broth
- fine salt, to taste (see notes)*
- black pepper, to taste
- 4 oz (120 grams) baby spinach, washed (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add diced onion, carrot and celery. Saute' for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Add the garlic, curry powder, smoked paprika and chili flakes. Cook for about 1 minute stirring constantly.
- Add lentils, chickpeas, potato cubes, tomato paste and give a good stir. Pour the broth over the muxture and stir again to combine.
- Raise the heat, bring to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Stir occasionally.
- After 25-30 minutes, try smash the potato cubes with the back of a spoon to thicken the soup. Add a touch of water if you want to adjust the consistency, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper (see notes).
- At this point, add the spinach, a handful at a time, stirring until wilted. It takes a couple of minutes.
- Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and crusty bread.
This recipe is phenomenal!!! It’s going in the fave folder for sure!! Thanks for sharing!!
You’re very welcome, Angela! Glad you loved the recipe – your feedback is so appreciated. x
Delicious! I decided to include the liquid from the chickpeas … about 1 cup and then added 3+ cups of vegetable broth.
What a lovely feedback, thanks for taking the time to share!
Happy new year. xx
I made this soup last night and was very pleased with the results. The exchanges I made shouldn’t have affected the outcome too much; 1/4 tsp each of coriander, cumin and turmeric for the curry powder, chicken broth for the vegetable broth. I too used the liquid from the beans, not adding any more salt until the end. And, since I find that garlic overwhelms so many of the other flavors, I eliminated it. A very robust and satisfying soup that delivers so much flavor and nutrition.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Diana. I’m very pleased it turned out delicious. : )
I used sweet potato instead of regular potato. I also added bell pepper and used ranch style beans with the juice in the can. Would make again.
That’s great! Thanks so much for sharing, Erik. : )
This was delicious! I’ve made similar soups before but none as tasty as this one.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Beth! I’m so glad it turned out delicious : )
Hearty, Healthy and filling. I added chorizo. Very nice I now have a freezer full of soup as I batch cooked for 8 and there’s only me
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Richard! I use to freeze soups, they’re perfect in winter! : )
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! Cheers
This recipe is absolutely delicious!
For my own record I’m going to double your recipe so I will have 5ish meals. I like my food heavily seasoned (not salted) so I will up the spices to my liking.
Now to explore more of your recipes.
Thank you.
I’m so glad it turned out delicious, Greg! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback.
Have a great week. x
Made this for the 1st time last week & it didn’t disappoint. Ideal for work, warming & filling. Just about to make another batch for lunches this week. Any ideas on how many calories it is per portion?
Thanks
Thank you for your feedback, Emma.. I’m so pleased to hear that.
I’ve just added the nutritional values : )
Have a nice week!
We had this for dinner tonight and it was brilliant. My two young sons, who would eat meat like jungle cats if they could, loved it. I really dig the Italian/Middle Eastern fusion. I made my own curry powder, used more tomato paste, and used dried chickpeas (cooked before the soup), just because that’s what we had in the pantry, and it turned out great.
I will add that I’ve found kosher salt to be much easier to use and meter than fine salt, and a pinch of salt when sweating the soffritto greatly helps it to cook.
Thank you for the recipe! The more hearty vegetarian/vegan recipes, the better.
I’m so pleased you and your little jungle cats loved it, Jeff! 😉 Thanks for sharing your lovely feedback. x
This soup looks great – love the color! I just got a dutch oven and can’t wait to make this!
Brilliant, dutch ovens are the best when we cook hearty recipes! 😊
I made this and we all loved it. Thank you 😃
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely feedback, Betty! It would be very useful for the readers if you please rate the recipe next time.
Cheers x