🥣 Mediterranean Chickpea Soup

Our Mediterranean Chickpea Soup is the perfect comfort food! Full of hearty veggies and chickpeas, your belly will be so satisfied!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American, Italian, Mediterranean

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 23

Total Time 28

Servings

Calories 462kcal

2 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped thinly
8 cups vegetable broth
1 cup carrots, chopped (frozen or fresh)
5-6 baby yukon gold potatoes, cut into small pieces (or 2-3 medium potatoes)
5 ounce cauliflower florets (frozen or fresh)
4 ounce mushrooms (baby bella or crimini), cut into small pieces
2 Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 Teaspoon sugar
1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
1/2 Teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
15 ounce can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
15 ounce can diced tomatoes
2 cups small pasta (like ditalini, alphabets, orzo, acini di pepe, Israeli or Pearl couscous)
1 cup water
2 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded (for topping)
[optional: garlic bread]

Heat large stockpot on low-medium and add olive oil. Once heated, add onion, garlic and celery. Cook for 2-3 mins, stirring frequently.
Turn heat to high, add broth. Bring broth to a boil while you add all the other ingredients (except pasta and thickening agent). Stir periodically to make sure nothing sticks to bottom of pan.
Once veggies are soft, add pasta and stir regularly.
Meanwhile, combine water and cornstarch in small bowl and whisk together. Once pasta is done, reduce heat to medium and stir cornstarch mixture into pot. Stir regularly until soup is slightly thickened. Serve this simple chickpea soup in bowls, with parmesan cheese sprinkled atop.

If time is an issue, use frozen or canned veggies so you don't have to chop much, a squeezy bottle of minced garlic, and Kraft Parmesan cheese instead of grating it yourself.
If you are using fresh veggies, chop them ahead of time or buy them pre-cut. You can use baby carrots instead of full size...you just have to cut them in thirds and that's it. FYI, your soup will cook more evenly if you cut most of your veggies roughly the same size.
Consider putting a lid on your pot to speed up the boiling process. Some burners are slower than others.
This soup soaks up all the broth pretty quickly, so add extra broth, if needed.
We think the soup goes really well with Pepperidge Farm Garlic Bread (find in frozen aisle).