

It’s the simplicity for me with this soup! I kept this one to a core selection of about ten ingredients (I don’t count oil, salt or pepper hehe). I pretty much always have the fresh and pantry ingredients needed in this recipe on hand. So if you’re like me, this soup is a cozy option to keep in your back pocket. Ready in about 45 minutes too!
We use my go-to move of blending half of the fully cooked chickpeas soup for creaminess. It works well here because we have potatoes in the mix! So creamy and hearty. The classic base of onions, carrots, and celery gets fully cooked out for for maximum flavour. I opted for lemon zest and juice to really bring home the lemony vibes.
Some tips for this chickpea soup!
- Since the ingredients are on minimal side, I recommend a homemade vegetable stock. My recipe and technique can be found here.
- Start with the 1 teaspoon of lemon juice that’s specified and see if you need more. I tend to enjoy acidic flavours and worked my way up to 1 tablespoon total.
- If you want to freeze this soup, make the whole thing, but stop at the part where you add the spinach and lemon. The spinach will be sludgy after defrosting and reheating and the freshness of the lemon will fade. After it’s thawed, just add the spinach and fresh lemon juice when you’re ready to reheat.
- Chomping down on big bits of celery and onion in a soup like this is not my favourite thing. I take extra care to chop them super fine here.
- If you’re not into potatoes, you could use an equal amount of diced cauliflower or celery root! Just be aware that the distinct flavour of both will really impact the final result. Diced zucchini would give you a more neutral-tasting finished soup!
Fans of my Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale, Rosemary & Lemon will love this recipe. I also have plenty of soup season options to inspire you in this Vegan Soup Recipes roundup post.
I finished our bowls with a nice swoop of olive oil (got this one recently and it’s so delicious). We also went in with extra ground chillies, black pepper, and some extra little thyme leaves for fun.
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Lemony Chickpea Soup with Spinach & Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
- 1 medium carrot, small dice
- 1 stick celery, small dice
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground chillies or chili flakes, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 medium new potatoes, cut into ¾ inch cubes (about 3 cups diced potato)
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed if using canned
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 4 cups baby spinach, not packed
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus extra (see note)
Equipment
Notes
- If you’re not into the potatoes, you could substitute them with an equal amount of chopped cauliflower, being mindful that this will change the flavour to more of a classic cauliflower soup. I think celery root would also work here!
- I tend to favour super acidic and lemony flavours in my food. Start with the 1 teaspoon of lemon juice listed here and add more if you need to. I worked up to 1 tablespoon for my personal taste.
- I love using a homemade stock in a simple recipe like this. My technique and recipe can be found here.
Instructions
- Heat a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, add the olive oil and swirl it around. Add the onions to the pot. Sauté and stir them occasionally until very soft and totally translucent, about 6-7 minutes. If they are beginning to brown, lower the heat.
- Add the carrot and celery to the pot. Sauté with the onions, stirring occasionally, until celery is slightly softened around the edges, about 5 minutes. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper.
- Add the garlic, chillies, thyme, and lemon zest to the pot and stir. Sauté until the garlic and lemon is super fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the potatoes and chickpeas to the pot and season again with salt and pepper. Give everything a stir. Then add the vegetable stock to the pot. Give the soup another stir and place the lid on top.
- Bring the soup to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Set the lid askew on top of the pot so that some steam can escape. Keep simmering until the potatoes are very tender, about 15 minutes.
- Carefully ladle half of the soup into the pitcher of an upright, vented blender. Blend this mixture on high until completely smooth. Pour the pureed portion of the soup back into the pot and stir. Add the baby spinach to the pot and stir again. Once the spinach is wilted, add the lemon juice and stir once more. Check the soup for seasoning and adjust if necessary (more lemon, salt, pepper, chili etc!).
- Serve the soup hot with drizzles of olive oil and extra black pepper on top.
Such a delicious weeknight dinner that the whole family really enjoyed. I added a little turmeric and used a potato masher instead of blending to turn it into more of a stew. I also used chopped kale instead of spinach and it turned out beautifully!
Wow! This is fantastic!!! The creaminess is luxurious and so very delicious. The spice and acidity work well together, too! Cant wait to make again.
Loved this soup! The only things that I did differently was that I added more lemon juice. Instead of a teaspoon, I think I used 3 teaspoons. And I added additional chickpeas at the end. After I had blended half of the soup, I felt like it needed more texture. So very good! Thank you!
Loved it! I used 1 tablespoon if lemon juice and upped the red chilies. I would definitely make again
Love this! Made it twice now as written.
I really wanted to love this (it gets such great ratings!), but it was just okay. I had to put in about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice at the end to have just a hint of lemon flavor. I love all the veggies in it, but the flavor was pretty bland overall–not enhanced much with more salt and pepper (I had already added quite a bit in the cooking process). I can’t figure out what could have improved it. One commenter said ginger, and that’s a possibility. I might try it again at some point, but, for now, it’s not on my menu rotation.
This was delicious!!! I used a combo of coconut oil and olive, subbed chopped cauliflower for potato and topped with croutons, chopped Italian parsley and lemon zest.
I love this soup! I added some fresh ginger – highly recommend.
Delicious flavours and simple to execute. Love the hint of lemon zest in there!
Excellent soup recipe ! Thank you so much
Great recipe that uses ingredients I often have on hand. Simple, but delicious. Next time I will double the recipe since we ate it as the main meal with bread. Only served 3 of us as written.
My non vegan brother picked this recipe out to make for us on a recent trip to see him. We had a great experience cooking together and enjoying such a fabulous recipe. We all loved it and the pot was empty by the end of the night!! Good food really does bring people together!
OMG!! This was the most delicious soup I have had in a long time! The flavors are perfect together. I added a whole green pepper cut into slices just before the 15 minute simmer. Well done ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Really great soup for spring too
We’ve been on a chickpea kick lately and this really speaks to me as far as adding some more variation to our lineup. I also happen to have all the ingredients so thats nice!
This soup was so awesome! I loved the lemony taste. I did use vegan chicken broth and my non-vegan husband loved the taste. This was the perfect cold weather soup and will be top of my favs list.
This sounds great!! I’d like to make this for my Mom but she’s not a fan of lemon. What would be a good substitute?
Hi Kathy,
You could use a little splash of any type of vinegar that you like at the end for a little acidity. White wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, white balsamic, or even apple cider vinegar would all be great. Just start with 1/2 teaspoon, stir it in, and see if you’d like more from there.
-L
This soup is absolutely delicious! And unlike a lot of soups that need to sit a day to manifest full flavor, this was incredibly flavorful immediately. And it’s so healthy! An absolute keeper
This was delicious and so simple to make!
Made this tonight and it is delicious. I did use chicken stock and red pepper flakes instead of the chili flakes. I also topped with fried shallots. The soup is delicious with or without the shallots. I highly recommend this recipe!
Words cannot describe how much I love this soup. It is perfect for chilly days, sick days, or just when you need some nourishing comfort. I make this quite frequently, and for such simple ingredients it’s so delicious.
This is the best soup recipe I’ve made in the longest time. I typically make a soup from the combination of my own imagination and the contents of my refrigerator, but let me tell you, your imagination is far superior! I was lucky to have seen this recipe and realized I had all the ingredients on hand; the only change I made was the inclusion of kale ribbons in place of spinach. Absolute perfection with a thick chunk of warm, crusty bread!
delicious flavor! I seared a pound of shitake mushrooms at the beginning and then reintroduced it to the soup with the potatoes and chickpeas. One question: how do you counteract the starchiness of the potatoes? It made the consistency of the soup very gummy/viscous. Thanks.
I used some previously steamed potatoes from my refrigerator and it came out beautifully.
Hi Connor,
Any time potato is pureed for soup, there is a risk of the gummy texture unfortunately. I used new Yukon gold potatoes here and stopped blending the potatoes when they were just liquified, and did not run into that texture issue here.Sometimes the gummy-ness can arise after reheating too because the soup is getting stirred/agitated again. Did you use a starchy potato by chance?
-L
This sounds delicious – does it freeze? Anyone tried?
So easy and delicious, reminds me of a soup my mom made growing up. Definitely will make this again.
Made this last night and it was delish! I put some slices of lemon in with the broth which really made it pop and then took the slices out before serving. A bit of labour in getting everything chopped up finely, but worth it for the mouthfeel of the soup. Will be making this again :)
Another commenter said it perfectly- this soup is definitely more than the sum of its parts. It was so, so delicious! I added extra lemon juice to taste and used red-skinned potatoes (what I had on hand), but otherwise made the recipe as stated. Thank you, Laura!
Definitely more than the sum of it’s parts- gorgeous!
My family loved this soup. I used dried herbs, and added lots of lemon. Very tasty, even my 1 year old enjoyed it!
Could you freeze it?
This is a fabulous soup…rich, lemony (I added 1T), and the perfect consistency. I was a bit short on Spinach since we doubled the recipe, so I tossed in some kale (sooner than the spinach since it holds up) I also used my immersion blender and kept my eye on it to only get about half pureed. This soup will be a standard in our house! Thank you.
Delicious soup: The lemon brings to a lovely brightness to the flavor. I used an immersion blender to puree half the soup (faster to achieve and easier to clean!). This recipe is definitely going on a regular rotation in my house as the cold months approach. Thank you!
Going to make this, thank you! Would other greens work in this soup?
Hi Luna,
Yep, you could use chopped kale, collards, mustard greens, chard, anything that you like. Some of the more hearty greens will need more time to wilt in the simmering soup though!
-L
I made this today and it was super good and super easy! I definitely added extra lemon juice. It finally feels like fall today so it was the perfect soup.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, we’ve just ate the soup for dinner, it’s delicious and comforting!
This was easy and delicious—really rich and flavorful despite a pretty simple ingredients list. (I used extra garlic and chili flakes.)
Laura, I have followed your blog for years and have never written a review. This soup was SO GOOD!! Even better with CSA potatoes and veggies to use. I usually tweak recipes but you always have such good balance with your ingredients. I can’t wait to make it again!!
Made this tonight and it was wonderful and will make it again but double it. It does not possibly feed 6 people and just barely feeds 4 adults.
This was exactly what I needed tonight. So comforting. Thank you!
So easy, comforting and absolutely delicious! This one will be on repeat this fall and winter!