This bright, dilly chickpea and couscous soup is filled to the brim with all veggies, herbs, tender pearl couscous, and hearty chickpeas.
This chickpea and couscous soup is a vegan dinner recipe dream. It’s so easy to make, and you can add any veggie that you like to it!
Making this soup is just a dream. It takes about an hour from the cutting board to the table (including prep!), but it’s so flavorful!
How to make my chickpea and couscous soup recipe:
What you need
- Soup veggies: You’ll use onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Try it with almost any veggie, like fennel, green beans, diced zucchini, cubed butternut squash in place of potatoes, or mushrooms. Try stirring fresh spinach or escarole at the very end of cooking!
- Pearl couscous and chickpeas: You can use any white bean. Not a fan of pearl couscous? Use a small pasta shape like an orzo or ditalini instead. You could even use brown rice and just adjust the cooking time.
- Lemon and herbs: I used fresh dill, parsley, and lemon juice to give this soup a nice herby brightness. You could add a little thyme or scallions to the soup as well.
How to make it
- Step 1: Sauté with the veggies in batches. Start with the onion, carrots, and celery, and then add the potatoes and garlic.
- Step 2: Pour in the vegan broth. I used the Wegmans brand chicken-less broth concentrate, but I also love Better than Bouillon’s No Chicken Base! Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are almost fork-tender. Make sure you season it well!
- Step 3: Add in the pearl couscous and chickpeas and continue cooking the soup until the pearl couscous is tender.
- Step 4: Finish it up! Add in the herbs and lemon juice and simmer briefly. You don’t want to simmer the herbs too long.
From there, simply serve it up!
One thing to note is that–like with any pasta–pearl couscous will swell in the broth the longer it sits. Personally, we don’t mind pasta swelling, but if you’re averse to that, you’ll want to cook the couscous separately according to package instructions. Ladle the broth over the cooked couscous and store them separately in the fridge overnight. Drizzle the cooked couscous with a little olive oil before refrigerating to prevent it from clumping or sticking.
This recipe originally appeared on Exploring Vegan.
Chickpea and Couscous Soup
Equipment
- Large pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 4 ribs celery, trimmed and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- ½ pound baby gold potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
- 6 cups vegan chicken broth
- 1¼ cups pearl couscous
- 14.5- ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup loosely packed parsley, minced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil, for serving
Instructions
Cook the aromatics:
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook for 8–10 minutes until the onion is translucent. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the garlic and potatoes and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer the soup:
- Pour in the vegan chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are almost fork-tender. Taste and season.
Cook the pearl couscous:
- Return the soup to a boil. Add the couscous and chickpeas and cook for 10–15 minutes or until the couscous is tender. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
Finish the soup:
- Reduce the heat to low and stir in the dill, parsley, and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
To serve:
- Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with a pinch of fresh dill and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!
