Chickpea Rice Soup- Vegan, Oil-Free
This Chickpea Rice Soup, which is vegan, oil-free, and delicious, is easily one of my family’s favorites. My daughters like it with a little bit of salt (but no pepper!) and my husband and I add pepper but usually no salt (sometimes I’ll have a bit.) My husband, who is more diehard “Esselstyn” than I am, is a saint about not eating salt, but I find I like a little bit in soups.
As with all my soups (and most dinner recipes) it makes enough for our family for leftovers the next day. It can be strained of the broth and eaten over salad cold, or rewarmed as soup.
This is one recipe my daughters will always eat, and I know everyone will be happy when this shows up on the table. The chickpeas are hearty and tasty, friendly for all palettes.
I like a heartier soup, which is why I use so many carrots and stalks of celery, but you could easily halve the recipe and use 1 can of chickpeas, fewer veggies and 1/2 cup of rice.
It’s easy to make soups without oil, I don’t even think about it anymore- I just use a bit of water in the pan in place of oil. It doesn’t glaze like oil does, and we prefer the clean, fresh flavor that isn’t heavy with the added oil. This is great with a side salad and maybe a savory drop biscuit. Almost everyone goes back for seconds, which makes my mama heart happy!
Ingredients
Rice
- 1 cup brown rice
- 2 cup water
Soup
- 1/2 onion large, yellow, diced
- 3 carrots large, diced
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp tumeric
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cans chickpeas drained
- water to cover
- salt to taste (we omit)
- pepper to taste (we typically add after serving)
Instructions
Rice
- Bring 2c water to boil; add rice, cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
- While rice is cooking, chop and prepare onion, garlic, carrot and celery.
Soup
- In large pot, add onion and enough water to just cover the bottom. Allow onion to cook until softened.
- Add celery, carrot and garlic to the pot, adding more water if needed to keep the vegetables from sticking. Allow to cook for a few minutes, further softening the onion and melding the flavors together.
- Add chickpeas and spices, stir and cover with just enough water to keep everything together.
- When rice is done cooking, add to soup with a little more water if needed. Bring everything to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes, until carrots are soft.
- Serve- add pepper, salt, or even a dash of cayenne pepper as preferred.
Nutrition
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This was a warm, cozy soup that will be a new comfort food for me! We also enjoy a heartier soup and this delivered but I think I’m going to add a bit of chipotle powder next time to add some heat and a tad more flavor. Thanks for a simple, fast, and healthy recipe!