Italian Chickpea Vegetable Soup
Italian Chickpea Vegetable Soup is an easy, one-pot recipe filled with tons of veggies, chickpeas, Italian herbs and a secret ingredient. You’ll want to add this scrumptious soup to your weekly menu rotation!
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Whether you need some more veggies in your life or are looking for a healthy vegetarian recipe, Italian Chickpea Vegetable Soup is a fabulous, meat-free comfort food that will check all your boxes!
This vegetable-filled soup is nice and chunky due to the assortment of fresh vegetables. tomatoes, and canned green beans, then there’s the tender chickpeas!
It’s got lots of Italian herbs like oregano, thyme, and basil, then there’s my secret weapon – a parmesan cheese rind. Everything comes together so beautifully!
Chickpeas are one of my favorite staples in the pantry. I have cans and cans of them for homemade hummus or falafel, but I also have bags of dried chickpeas because I want certain chickpea textures for certain dishes.
You can make this soup with either canned or soaked, dried chickpeas, but the latter is my favorite for this recipe. (There are directions in the recipe for both varieties)
Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- Butter
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Carrot
- Celery
- Canned diced tomatoes
- Canned green beans
- Tomato paste
- Chickpeas – dried or canned
- Vegetable broth
- Dried thyme, bay leaf, dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper
- Parmesan cheese rind
Parmesan Cheese Rinds
Do you buy your parmesan cheese already shredded or grated or by the wedge?
If you buy it by the wedge, and you use it all up, save the rind!
The rind, the rock-hard edge of the parmesan wedge is a gold mine. When dropped in soups, it slowly releases a decadent, savory, richness that is a perfect umami flavor.
I keep my rinds in a baggie in the fridge so I’m ready for times like these!
How to make this Vegetable Soup Recipe:
- Sauté the fresh vegetables and herbs in butter, then add a little tomato paste to give it some depth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done. I like to top mine with a little parmesan cheese because, well, cheese. Enough said.
How to serve this soup
- This soup is fantastic served with a little parmesan cheese on top.
- We like to serve it with focaccia bread, Calabrian Chili Garlic Bread, or any kind of bread to dip into the flavorful broth.
- If you like spicy foods, some crushed red pepper flakes or a swirl of Calabrian chili peppers are a nice addition!
Looking for more chickpea recipes? Here are some favorites:
- Mediterranean Arugula Quinoa Salad
- One-Pot Spiced Rice & Chickpeas
- Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry (pictured below)
- Lemony Greek Chickpeas
Italian Chickpea Vegetable Soup
Equipment
- 1 Stock pot/large soup pot
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1-2 carrots chopped
- 1-2 celery stalks diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 8 ounces dried chickpeas soaked overnight OR (2) 15.5 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes undrained
- 14.5 ounce can cut green beans drained
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaf
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 parmesan cheese rind
- parmesan cheese optional garnish
Instructions
- Add butter, onion, garlic, carrot, and celery to a stockpot or Dutch oven. Sauté veggies in butter on medium/medium-high for about 5 minutes. Add the basil, oregano, and thyme to the veggies and cook another 5 minutes. Season with desired amount of salt & pepper. Add tomato paste to pot and stir around. Cook the veggies with the tomato paste for about a minute, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring soup to a boil.
If Using Canned Chickpeas
- Reduce heat and simmer soup on medium/medium-low for for at least 30 minutes. Stir the parmesan rind around to help it disperse in the soup. Taste for needed salt & pepper, remove bay leaf and parmesan rind and enjoy. If desired, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of bowls of soup.
If Using Soaked, Dried Chickpeas
- Reduce heat and simmer soup on medium/medium-low for at least an hour, hour and a half. At the hour mark, try a chickpea to see if they have softened enough. If not, continue to simmer until done. Taste for needed salt & pepper, remove bay leaf and parmesan rind and enjoy. If desired, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of bowls of soup.
Notes
- Keep leftover soup in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- The soup can be frozen in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. Note that the texture of the vegetables may change.
- If using dried chickpeas, make sure you soak them for at least 12 hours/overnight.
- While a parmesan rind is not essential to making this soup, it does elevate it to another level.
- Some parmesan cheeses are made with rennet from animals, and some are made with plant-based rennet. Whether this soup is vegetarian depends on what type of parmesan cheese you use. For more information on rennet and what makes it vegetarian, Vegetarian Times has an article about it on their site.
- I like to use fire-roasted diced tomatoes, as they add more flavor than regular diced tomatoes.
This was delicious!
All of these recipes look great. Can’t wait to try them.