Chickpea Noodle Soup is a vegetarian version of chicken noodle soup, featuring protein-rich chickpeas instead of chicken. It has all of the flavor and comfort of the original!
This soup is special because you don’t need any vegetable broth to make it. The veggies and spices create plenty of flavor as they simmer, and the noodles add starchiness to the broth as they cook, helping to thicken it up a bit, too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in chickpea noodle soup?
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onion
- Noodles
- Chickpeas
- and loads of flavor!
If you use a chickpea-based pasta for this recipe, like I tend to do, the broth will get extra starchy, because gluten-free pastas tend to release more starch than regular white or whole wheat noodles do.
You can always add extra liquid to this soup, if you prefer a runnier texture, but in that case be sure to season with extra salt to compensate for the flavor getting diluted with extra liquid.
The flavor of this soup is entirely dependent on you seasoning it enough, so don’t be light-handed with the salt.
Don’t skip the tamari (you can use soy sauce, if you don’t need a gluten-free recipe) because it adds an umami flavor that makes this recipe extra delicious.
How to Make Chickpea Noodle Soup
1. Sauté the veggies. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and saute the onion, carrots and celery until tender, about 8 minutes.
Add in the garlic, tamari (shh… this is our secret ingredient!), and thyme, and stir briefly for 1 more minute.
2. Simmer. Add the noodles, chickpeas, and water, then season with salt and pepper.
Bring the broth to a simmer, and let the soup cook until the noodles are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Enjoy! Adjust any seasoning to taste, then serve warm right away. This soup tastes just as delicious as the version made with chicken, if not better!
This recipe is actually adapted from my popular Chicken & Vegetable Soup, which I’ve been making for years with water, instead of broth, too.
I hope you’ll give it a try, because it’s such a time saver, and makes this soup more budget-friendly.
Helpful Tips & FAQ
Need to make it gluten-free? This soup is naturally gluten-free when you use gluten-free pasta, like chickpea or brown rice noodles, and tamari, which is a gluten-free soy sauce.
Is it vegan? Yes! This recipe is vegan as-written.
Can I make it soy-free? Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce, so you can leave it out if you need a soy-free recipe. In that case, you can swap it for coconut aminos for a boost of flavor, or simply just season it with extra salt. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice, to brighten up the flavor.
Need to swap the beans? If you don’t have chickpeas on hand, you can use any other white bean with similar results, or leave the beans out all together for a veggie noodle soup.
Want to use the Instant Pot? You can make this recipe in an electric pressure cooker using the directions in the notes below this recipe. Just like cooking Instant Pot pasta, you’ll need to allow plenty of time after pressure cooking for the foam to settle, so don’t try to quick release this recipe!
I hope you’ll try this vegetarian chicken noodle soup soon, and I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
More Soup Recipes
If you want more healthy comfort food, try these other ideas!
- Ultimate Detox Soup
- Roasted Tomato Soup
- Red Lentil Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup
- Miso Soup
Chickpea Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 3 carrots , chopped
- 3 celery stalks , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 tablespoon tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas
- 8 ounces short pasta
- 8 cups water
- fine sea salt (I use Real Salt brand)
- ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and sauté the onion, carrots, and celery until they start to soften, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic, tamari, and thyme and stir for 1 more minute.
- Add in the chickpeas, pasta, water, 2 teaspoons of salt, and a 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, until the pasta is tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- When the pasta is tender, adjust any seasoning to taste. I usually add another teaspoon of salt (start with just a 1/2 teaspoon at a time), and then serve warm. Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Chickpea Noodle Soup, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it.
—
Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite kind of soup?
SaveSave
I made it in the Instant Pot and it was so easy. Came out great. I made a double batch and served it to my employees and the next day leftover to a friend and my son and it went over great with everyone. One gentleman preferred a little more spice and suggested curry. But everyone could doctor up his bowl as he wished. Thanks for this recipe. IT was great.
Love this heart warming comfort soup!
I made this for dinner yesterday and everyone loved it. Since I was out of thyme I added a bay leaf and the flavor was spot on! Thanks for the awesome recipe.
I made this is the crockpot so it was ready after a long day outside. First I sauted the onions and gralic then added the chickpeas and tamari (I used liquid amino acids, is it the same thing?) to the pan. Once those falvors were all married I put it in the crock pot for 5 hrs on high and added the zoodles the last hour. It’s delicious! I used water bc I didnt have any broth on hand, and just added a few whole carrots and celery to make a little more stock flavor. My only issue with cooking this way (and always is with crockpot meals) is the salt. There was no where near enough salt, but this is something that was easily fixed. Absolutely love this recipe! Thanks!
I made this last weekend and have been eating it all week for lunch. I really like how much flavor the beans take on from sauteeing them with the onions, garlic & tamari. That is definitely a technique that I will use when creating soups from scratch going forward. I gave some to a friend of mine who declared that it was perfect, (which makes a lot of sense since she likes her food on the bland side), but I have found myself adding a lot of salt, herbamare and even grains of paradise to turn up the flavor volume. I like a very strong broth, so when I make it again — which I definitely will — I will use vegetable stock instead of water. With that one tweak, I feel like this is going to be a nice staple in my food rotation.
I just made it again using half water and half vegetable stock, and it was perfect! It really is the perfect meal for a cold, rainy winter day! Excited that I not only have enough leftovers for tomorrow, but was able to freeze a bunch as well for later.
Loved this soup! I added Japanese Soba noodles instead of zucchini. Even my 5 year old can’t get enough of it!
I’m so glad to hear that!
We love this soup! It’s warm and cozy and feels so virtuous. I always seem to have some left over though. Has anyone had any luck freezing this?
This soup is SO deliciousness my son loves it and I do too!!!!
We made this a couple weeks ago on a rainy summer day and LOVED it! I didn’t have spiralized zuchinni noodles, so I used the brown rice spiral noodles instead. Then I chopped a zuchinni to add to the soup and it turned out great. The broth turns out so flavorful and comforting! We used the InstaPot and it came together super fast! Thanks!
I’ve made this a couple of times now. I have yet to use the zucchini due to making it ahead for week lunches. I’ve used some precooked frozen rice and recently decided to use some frozen riced cauliflower. I liked the cauliflower for some extra vegetables and did not notice a huge difference between that and the regular rice (a little softer). Great flavor!
This was great, and even my semi-picky 5 year old and 2 year old enjoyed it!
I made the following modifications:
used vegetable stock;
only 1 tsp salt (because my stock was not low sodium);
only 1 can of chickpeas;
1/4 tsp ground thyme (because it seemed more concentrated than dried thyme, which I am out of);
1 bay leaf during the simmer;
and 1 cup of ditalini pasta instead of the zucchini.
I am SURE it’s wonderful as written, and it was great this way as well!
Can’t wait to make this. Do you drain and rinse the beans?
Made this for lunch today and it’s was so easy! I chopped my veggies this morning so I could throw the soup together quickly for lunch. Very tasty and comforting! Will definitely make this again.
Perfection!! Love this recipe so much. I added extra garlic and onion because we have a head cold and it was a huge hit. Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup, Steph! Hope you feel better soon, too!
Delicious and easy!
Wow – was surprised how great this turned out. Used chickpea pasta and it does make a big diff as described. The suggested liquid volume seems low – 8oz wouldn’t even cover the contents though I didn’t carefully measure out veggies. This will be a cold weather lunch staple for us. Thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed the soup, Jordan! For the liquid measurement, this recipe calls for 8 cups, not 8 ounces. 8 cups = 64 ounces of liquid. Hope that helps!
We made this tonight for dinner, and it was delicious. Super easy, tasty, and filling. We used vegetable broth instead of water, which added to the flavor. We’ll definitely be making it again! Thanks, Megan!
This soup is fantastic. I did sub low carb noodles, added zoodles n chopped cauliflower to make it lower carb. But the flavor is awesome! Thank you!
We loved this soup and it was easy to make!! I used Banza chickpea pasta!
Awesome vegan comfort food. So easy to make in the instapot and so yummy with fresh farmers market veggies this time of year! The noodles really swell, which I forgot because I haven’t made a noodle soup in so long. So, the only thing I would change is my noodle choice next time around, something smaller or going to try the zucchini noodles. Thanks for another amazing vegan substitute to a childhood favorite!
This was so satisfying! I substituted about 3 cups of homemade unsalted chicken broth I had in the freezer and the flavor was perfection- did not need extra salt at the end. I love that this can be made so easily with ingredients on hand, perfect for fall/cold season.
This was SO filling and tasty! I didn’t even miss the chicken. The chickpeas were the perfect filler. Excited to add this to my fall and winter dinner rotation!
I’m not going to lie…I was nervous not using at least a veggie broth, but wow, this did not disappoint! I added a couple bay leaves at the end and let it sit for a few hours and the flavors have come together nicely and the water taste went away! I’m making the noodles separately so my family can add or just eat the broth. Yum!
This soup came together so quick and easy and was just the comfort food I needed on a crisp fall night. I did add some herbamare at the end because I do like my food on the salty side, but I was surprised by how much flavor this soup had without broth. I will definitely be making this soup again!
This was so awesome and so easy to make. I doubled it and I used fresh thyme, added extra tamari, extra salt and peppercorns and it literally tastes just like chicken soup! Will definitely make again! Will add a bay leaf next time and maybe some Nori.
I really like this soup! I made it with green pea pasta and it’s delicious (and has some extra protein). I added more soy sauce…just because I love it.
Really delicious soup. I’m going to freeze some to have for later.
This is one of the best soups I’ve ever made! I added some chopped kale and used about 2 cups of chicken broth I had in the fridge. I can’t stop eating it!
Love this soup. So easy and delicious.and I always have the ingredients. Love it. My husband and son like it too! Healthiness.
Simple but very delicious and satisfying. This will definitely enter my soup rotation.
I just tried this as part of Megan’s 21 Day Veggie Reset, subbing half of the water with prepared vegetable broth and added a few seasonings at the end. It was a very hearty soup. I would definitely make it again!
This was delicious. I used cavatappi pasta and added fresh Italian parsley at the end.
Another Detoxinista hit on rotation! I make this soup with Trader Joe’s pre-cut Mirepoix and it turns it into literally the easiest, quickest and most comforting soup ever. During the Winter months It is always on rotation in our menu. Delish!
We made your recipe tonight and it was delicious. We had previously had another chickpea noodle soup, but this was the best! We used one quart of low sodium veggie broth, and one quart water, reducing the salt to three quarters of a teaspoon. So flavorful and easy. Will certainly make this again. Love your website!
Hi! Could I use gluten free noodles? If so, how would I adjust this?
Yes, I actually tested this recipe with chickpea noodles (Banza brand), so gluten-free noodles will definitely work here. Gluten-free noodles tend to be starchier than wheat-based noodles, so they thicken up the broth as they cook nicely.
This recipe got rave reviews, and I followed it to a T! However, all I could taste was the 1 tablespoon of tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)…therefore, it did not taste like chicken/chickpea noodle soup.
Wonderful soup! I added some chopped fresh ginger, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, and chopped kale. My boyfriend who hates chickpeas loved it.
This soup couldn’t be easier and tastes amazing. The broth is super yummy and would make a great base for any siup. Thank you once again for another amazing recipe.