This chickpea soup recipe is comforting yet bright, seasoned with fresh dill and lots of lemon. Easy to make in 30 minutes, it's a perfect weeknight meal!
This chickpea soup recipe is my idea of the perfect weeknight dinner. Canned chickpeas, the starting point of so many of my favorite dinners, are the star ingredient here. Some stay whole for texture, while the rest blend with tahini to make the soup lightly creamy. Spinach, dill, and a squeeze of lemon juice brighten the whole thing up.
This chickpea soup comes together in 30 minutes, calls for basic pantry ingredients, and is still somehow comforting, satisfying, and fresh.
I first shared it in Simple Feel Good Food, and it’s since become one of the most-made recipes in the book—by me and by readers. I hope it earns a spot in your weeknight rotation too!
Why You’ll Love This Chickpea Soup Recipe
- It’s bright and nourishing. This lemony chickpea soup is totally vegan and gluten-free. Blended chickpeas and tahini (not cream) create its creamy texture while adding fiber and plant-based protein. Leafy greens and herbs make it feel super-fresh.
- It calls for simple ingredients. Got a few cans of chickpeas and vegetable broth handy? You’re well on your way to making this soup!
- It’s easy to make in 30 minutes. Scallions and dill are the only ingredients you have to chop. What more could you want on a weeknight?
Chickpea Soup Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this chickpea soup recipe:
- Chickpeas, of course! You’ll blend some into a creamy puree that thickens the soup and leave the rest whole for texture.
- Scallions – For savory, onion-y depth of flavor. You’ll sauté them in olive oil before adding the other soup ingredients.
- Vegetable broth – Use store-bought, or make homemade vegetable broth.
- Tahini – It adds nutty richness to the soup and makes it lightly creamy.
- Spinach – You know I can’t make a soup recipe without adding veggies. 🙂 Fresh and frozen spinach are both great here. Other leafy green vegetables, like kale or Swiss chard, would work too.
- Fresh dill – It brings out the tangy flavor of the lemon juice. If you’re not a dill fan, feel free to use other fresh herbs like fresh parsley or cilantro instead.
- Fresh lemon juice – I love its brightness against the earthy chickpeas and tahini.
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Can I use dried chickpeas in this soup?
Yes, you can totally use dried chickpeas in this recipe. I recommend cooking them on their own separately before making the soup. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1 – Soaking: Place 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Soak overnight at room temperature.
Step 2 – Simmering: Drain the beans and place in a large pot or Dutch oven. Cover with 2 inches of cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender. At that point, they’re ready to use in the soup!
Tip: Don’t toss the chickpea cooking liquid! It’s a great substitute for the vegetable broth in this recipe.
How to Make Chickpea Soup
You can find the complete chickpea soup recipe in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. For now, here’s a quick overview of how it goes:
Start by sautéing the scallions in a large pot or Dutch oven until they soften.
Next, simmer the soup. Add 3 cups of broth and 1 2/3 cups of the chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes to develop the flavors.
Meanwhile, make the chickpea puree. Combine the remaining broth, chickpeas, and tahini in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the puree into the soup pot, stir, and simmer for 2 minutes.
Finally, add the spinach, dill, and lemon juice. Stir until the spinach is wilted and season to taste.
That’s it!
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve this soup how I serve my hummus—with a big swirl of olive oil and red pepper flakes on top and with pita bread on the side for dipping. (Crusty bread or focaccia is great too!)
If you like, round out the meal with a side salad like a simple green salad, fattoush, or tabbouleh!
Storage Tips
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
It also freezes well for up to 3 months. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this chickpea soup, try one of these hearty soups next:
Lemon Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus wedges for serving
- Red pepper flakes
- Pita, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the scallions, salt, and several grinds of pepper and cook for 2 minutes, or until softened but still bright green. Add 3 cups of the broth and 1⅔ cups of the chickpeas and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Combine the remaining 1 cup broth, the remaining 1⅓ cups chickpeas, and the tahini in a blender and blend until creamy. Stir into the soup pot and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes.
- Add the spinach, dill, and lemon juice and stir until the spinach is wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Portion into bowls and top with a generous swirl of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Serve with pita.
I replaced the dill with dried mint and I loved it! Will be making this again.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Delicious and very simple soup! I added some wild garlic since it is the season.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
What’s “a bunch” of scallions?? A package was 5.5 oz . I have no idea if I should use the whole package!
It’s usually about 6 scallions.
This was amazing, just what I was looking for! Light, spring-y, and easy. I added small pasta and used parsley instead of dill as that was all I had. Delicious! Thank you for sharing
I’m so glad you loved it!
Didn’t realize this was public – sorry!
Something has changed; L&L recipes are no longer coming to my inbox when I request them. (Not in my spam folder.) Can someone please help? Thanks!
I love this recipe! I made it yesterday and enjoyed it tremendously. This will become one of my go-to soup recipes. I have to leave the lemon out when making it for my acid-avoiding daughter-in-law, but everyone else will love it as written.
I’m so glad you loved the soup, Gayle!
If I served soup for supper I’d be disowned!! It does make a nice lunch, however, served with some nice thick bread.
This was so good! Are there any other recipes that have a similar vibe with the creaminess from the tahini?
Hi Jenny, I’m so glad you loved the soup! I don’t think we have any other soups with tahini on the blog. We do have more with blended beans/vegetables though. You might like this cauliflower soup, kale soup, or vegan potato soup.
Hi! This recipe sounds so good! My daughter has a sesame allergy. Any substitute suggestions for the tahini?
Hi Laura, I haven’t tried this, but I think it would work to go up to 3 tablespoons olive oil and omit the tahini. Season to taste with lemon and salt as needed!
This looks like a good soup to try for those who are skeptic about chickpeas !
Reading through your many comments regarding the sodium content: I agree that it’s good to clarify. That said, IMO most of these recipes are too high in sodium due to the combination of ingredients such as canned stock or broth plus salt etc.
My suggestions: If you can’t make your own stock, then buy the UNSALTED versions which are available. Furthermore, don’t add much if any salt during cooking. People can add salt at the table if they wish.
Embedded salt within recipes does enhance flavor but it risks too high sodium for many people.
Hi Suzan, you’re right that the salt content here is due to the broth. We calculate our nutrition facts using information stored in a nutrition database—this is based on the data it has stored for vegetable broth. Different brands can vary, and you can always substitute low-sodium or no-sodium broth to lower the sodium content.
Made the chickpea soup today with no changes. Added some Swiss Chard from the garden. It was really GOOD 😊.
I’m so glad you loved it, Ricky! Jealous of your garden Swiss chard. 😊
I haven’t tried this recipe yet…Looking forward to doing so.
That said, I am not a fan of dill…
Any other herbs you’d recommend in its place?
Thanks
Hi Barbara, a little parsley would be great here!
Soooo good! I substituted kale and added chopped fresh carrots.
Yum! So glad you loved it!
Can I use dry dill? How much?
I now live in Portugal, no luck with fresh dill here.
I used dried dill. Came out great! I also added some lemon zest just because I love lemon.
Hi Elsy, I think 2-3 teaspoons dried dill would work. Fresh parsley would work well too.
Hi! This sounds delicious but is the sodium for one serving actually 75% of the daily recommended amount or is that an error? Thanks.
Hello,
The 1734 mg is the total amount of sodium in 3/4 teaspoons of salt. There are four servings, so there is approximately 433.5 mg of sodium per serving. I hope this helps.
This does make sense and thanks for clearing up the actual amount of sodium per serving. However not everybody reads the comments. I almost deleted this post when I saw the 1734 g of sodium since that is insanely high of course. Since it made no sense based on the ingredients I was going to post a question, then saw somebody else had done so. Can you not just edit the nutrient info box to reflect the correct sodium content per serving?
Hi David, the nutrition facts here are for 1/4 of the recipe. The salt number is high because we calculate our nutrition facts using information stored in a nutrition database—this is based on the data it has stored for vegetable broth as well as our salt measurement. Different brands of broth can vary—yours may be lower than the estimate here. You can always substitute low-sodium or no-sodium broth to lower the sodium content.
I got about eight servings out of the batch.
Thanks for jumping in here, but actually the nutrition facts listed are for 1/4 of the recipe. The high sodium reading is due to our database’s sodium value for vegetable broth. Different brands of broth can vary, and you can always use low-sodium or no-sodium broth to reduce the salt here.
Hi Valerie, it’s due to the sodium value our nutrition database has stored for vegetable broth. We’ve run into this issue with other soups as well. Different brands can vary. If you’d like to know that this soup is less salty, you could use low- or no-sodium broth and season to taste. I hope this helps clarify!
This looks and sounds delicious. Ready to make and share with my elderly neighbors who eat vegatarian. Then I saw the amount of sodium! Seems awful high. One of the neighbors has chronic kidney disease. I don’t think this soup would be appropriate for her. I may try it and reduce the sodium for myself.
Hi Janette, this is an issue we’ve run into with other soups because of the value our nutrition database has stored for the sodium in vegetable broth. Different brands can vary, so you can compare at the store to find a lower-sodium option. You can also always use low- or no-sodium broth and season to taste to reduce the salt.
Looks BEYOND delicious! Can’t wait to try it. It’s the perfect soup for Spring/Summer. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes. I follow you not only on Instagram, but your blog as well.
Hi Ron, so glad you love the recipes! I hope you enjoy this soup.