Chickpea Vegetable Chowder
This delicious vegan chickpea vegetable chowder is easy to make in 30 minutes for a healthy, comforting bowl of soup featuring simple ingredients like carrots, celery and potato.
Table of Contents
Recipe Features
The secret to this soup is pureed chickpeas! Along with potatoes, they add the perfect texture to this chowder. Here are a few more reasons you’ll love this recipe:
- quick and easy: ready in under 30 minutes!
- dietary: vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and sugar-free
- nutrition: low in fat with 7 grams of protein per serving
- satisfying, delicious and perfect for a warm meal any time of year
- perfect “clean out the fridge” recipe
- great for meal prep as it stores well in the fridge
- budget-friendly!
Ingredient Notes
- potato – russet or Yukon gold both work
- broth – any store-bought or homemade carton broth or bouillon cubes or powder work
- chickpeas – for convenience, canned works great here but you can cook your own from scratch and use those too
Complete list of ingredients with amounts and full instructions is located in the recipe card below.
Step-by-Step with Photos
Step 1. Saute the Veggies & Herbs
Start by adding the celery, onion and garlic to a large soup pot with 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth. Saute over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until softened.
Stir in the thyme and oregano and cook for a couple more minutes.
Step 2. Cook the Soup
Add everything but the lemon and bring to a light simmer. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.
Step 3. Blend Half the Soup
Carefully scoop about half of the soup out and into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour the blended portion back into the pot and stir to combine with the unblended soup.
Can I use an immersion blender? Sure, if you have a good immersion blender you can use it right in the pot. Pulse 5-6 times to create texture. I really do prefer the texture achieved by a blender here but it’s up to you. Just note it won’t be quite as creamy.
Step 4. Season and Enjoy!
Finally, squeeze in the fresh lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley and fresh cracked black pepper.
- It’s amazing served with a big slice of crusty bread for dunking!
- Pairs well with any sandwich or wrap like my buffalo cauliflower wraps.
- Try it alongside my vegan kale caesar salad or any light salad.
- Serve as a tasty appetizer or light main dish.
FAQs
Yes, this soup is flexible and easy to customize. Try sweet potato instead of potato, swapping half or all of the the potato or carrot for chopped cauliflower or stirring in green peas, green beans, spinach, kale or corn after blending.
No, you don’t have too but I definitely recommend blending at least 1-2 cups of it to add texture and creaminess.
Yes! For a completely pureed chickpea soup, go ahead and blend it all.
Yes. This soup is naturally gluten-free, however, if you’re using store-bought broth, double check the packaging as some may contain yeast extract made from wheat (most are gluten-free though!).
Storing & Reheating
- Let cool before storing.
- Fridge: Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Store in a freezer-safe container in one batch or individual portions. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Reheating: Reheat soup as needed on the stovetop or in the microwave. If it’s thickened substantially after storing, adjust the consistency by stirring in some water or broth.
Did you make this recipe? Click here to leave a review!
PrintVegan Chickpea Vegetable Chowder
-
Prep Time: 10 mins
-
Cook Time: 20 mins
-
Total Time: 30 minutes
-
Yield: 5 1x
-
Category: Soup
-
Method: Stovetop, Blender
-
Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
This vegan chickpea soup is a take on classic vegetable chowder. It’s made with a base of pureed chickpeas with chunks of carrot and potato for a healthy soup that’s full of flavour and nutrition!
Ingredients
- 1 heaping cup died white onion (175 g, 1 small onion)
- 1 cup chopped celery (150 g, approx. 2 stalks)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (20 g)
- 1 tsp ground thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 heaping cups peeled and diced yellow potato (340 g, 1 large potato)
- 2 cups peeled and diced carrots (300 g, approx. 4 large carrots)
- 4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (approx. 2.5 cups, 330 g)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (15 ml)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- finely chopped parsley, optional, for serving
Instructions
- Add the onion, garlic and celery to a large soup pot with 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth and cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Stir in the oregano and thyme and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring often. If the pan starts to dry out, add another splash of broth to loosen any bits sticking to the pan.
- Add everything except for the lemon, bring to a light simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, uncovered, until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.
- Transfer about 1/2 of the soup to a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy. Make sure you allow the steam to escape as you’re blending.
- Pour the blended soup back into the pot with the unblended portion and stir well to combine.
- Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with fresh chopped parsely.
Notes
Storing: Let cool before storing. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Store in a freezer-safe container in one batch or individual portions for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen. Reheat soup as needed on the stovetop or in the microwave. If it’s thickened substantially after storing, adjust the consistency by stirring in some water or broth.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 400 g (approx. 1/5th of recipe)
- Calories: 168
- Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 7 g
Keywords: vegetable chowder, vegan chickpea soup
Originally published January 18, 2018.
Just curious if anyone has a good substitute for carrots? I am highly allergic. ☹?
You can just leave them out or replace them with sweet potato, extra potato and celery or some squash. Enjoy!
Have made this twice. Hearty and good comfort food. Low Cal and Low Carb. It is delicious!!!
★★★★★
Oh, that’s so awesome. So glad you like it!
Would this soup freeze ok?
Yep, should be fine for freezing in an air-tight freezer safe container up to 3 months.
Tried this soup and it turned out amazing! The ingredients are so simple as well.
I do have to ask where did you get those soup bowls?
I got them at HomeSense actually! They were just a few dollars each! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the soup.
Excellent recipe! I made it exactly as is and it was perfect. Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
You’re so welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
So good! My husband and I love all kinds of soups all year long, but the real shocker here is my veggie-adverse 3-year-old ate this up eagerly. He usually picks the celery out but ate all of it this time. I think he liked that this soup was less chunky than I usually make, because of the blending. Thanks!
★★★★★
Haha, that’s awesome that your 3 year old loved it! It’s definitely a crowd-pleaser, so easy too!
Thank you for this recipe – it was excellent! I made Julia Child’s French baguettes to go with it and it all fed 4 hungry adults. Super easy to make and especially awesome because I just pulled out my pre-chopped veggies from the freezer and threw in the pot. Awesome!
★★★★★
That’s awesome, Kori! So happy to hear that. Sounds amazing with homemade baguettes!
Excellent soup. Made it and the whole family loved it.
Glad to hear it, Steve!
Just made this for lunch, it is delicious! My husband liked it a lot too, and he’s hit or miss on liking the healthy stuff I make. Definitely going into my regular rotation. Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
★★★★★
That’s awesome, Megan. So glad you guys liked and your husband approved!! haha. Thanks for the comment!! I appreciate it.
I made it tonight and it was delicious! Very filling as well. Goes into my recipe book 🙂
★★★★★
Making this right now…so excited! What is the measurement in cups for a serving size?
I’m not sure how much a serving is in cups. It’s 400 grams per serving if you have a kitchen scale. I’d say roughhhly 2-3 cups?? It makes 5 servings in total, so I guess you could divide it into 5 containers to see how much one serving is, a bit messy but then you would know!
Loove this soup!! Do you think it would freeze well? I’m making a bunch of freezer meals for after baby is born and this HAS to be one of them!
★★★★★
Yep, it will freeze ok! Glad you enjoy it!..and congrats!
Do you mean make it, then freeze it or assemble the ingredients into a freezer bag to make later?
I mean make it and then freeze.
Recipe is great! So easy and so tasty! But you’ve got to tell us where to get the soup crocks in the photos. I rarely get the gotta-have-its as bad as I have for these.
haha, I got them at HomeSense actually! Just a few dollars each! Glad you liked the recipe.
Loved it. I didn’t puree it. Just lightly used a potato masher to loosen the starches in the potatoes which made it thick enough for me.
★★★★★
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it, JoAnn!
My son with food allergies loves this soup! So does the rest of my family! Awesome recipe! Thank you!
★★★★★
Amazing. So happy you guys enjoy it!
Not only is this easy to make but it’s delicious! I’ll be making more of it. Love it!
This is so so delicious – it is perfect for a cold January day! Also, I absolutely loooove what you’ve served it in.
Thanks Freya! So happy you liked it! If found these little bowls at HomeSense, I love them!
Just made this!! so good and simple!
Awesome! So glad you liked it!
Making this now…once I purée half of it, so I add it to the rest of the soup? Sorry, I’m a dufus!
Yep, take half out and puree it, then pour it back in with the rest of the soup!
Thank you so much for your quick response…i added a little bit of vegan follow your heart parm and OMG! Heaven! Thanks for sharing. I made the veggie hash this morning and it was ?
★★★★★
That’s so awesome!! Glad to hear it. This is one of my faves for sure, so easy and yummy! Sounds amazing with parm!
First time making it… added a little heat. Will make again
★★★★
Glad you liked it! Thanks for your comment.
You know what I love about your blog (among many things)? I love how you have that little “jump to recipe” button. Keep up the good work, and I’m off to make a couple soups now.
I could eat this soup everyday during the rest of winter…it is so cold outside! love the touch of thyme and oregano