Healthy Nibbles

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Chickpea Minestrone Soup

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Now that we have a big pot of slow cooker chickpeas, let’s continue cooking with it. This chickpea minestrone soup is made with the leftover broth from the slow cooker, and the flavors are spot on. I can’t keep my hands off it!

Simple and delicious Chickpea Minestrone Soup

Over here, we don’t judge books by their covers. Well, I do sometimes, but only when I have trouble making a decision at the bookstore (which happens quite often). Today, we won’t judge something by its appearance.

This minestrone soup looks plain. I didn’t even bother to put pasta in here because potatoes deserve more spotlight. I’m really selling this soup to you, aren’t I? But give this soup a little taste, and you’ll see why it is one of the top 5 soups that has come out of my little kitchen.

Chickpea Broth

The secret is in the broth. It’s vegetable broth that’s been slowly simmering with chickpeas and bay leaves for 8 hours. Mmm, flavor. You darn tootin’ it’s delicious. Remember that I told you last week to save the leftover broth from your slow cooker chickpeas? I know you listened to me and bottled that up. You wouldn’t disappoint. And if you just poured it all away…we can still be friends. Just don’t do it again. It’s really the broth that gives the minestrone a distinct rich flavor.

Simple and delicious Chickpea Minestrone Soup

The other secret that makes this minestrone special is fish sauce. First I leave out the pasta, and now, fish sauce in a minestrone? Look, I never said that I was going to dish out an authentic minestrone soup today. I added fish sauce to the fun because I craved umami flavor.

Friends, I haven’t been able to stop myself from eating this. It’s fueled me up for several lunches and dinners, and I just made another batch yesterday. It’s THAT good. Do yourself a favor. Make this, snuggle up, and enjoy. You won’t regret it.

Simple and delicious Chickpea Minestrone Soup

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Chickpea Minestrone Soup

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Serves 5 to 6.

  • Author: Lisa Lin
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Category: Soup, Appetizer
Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 1/2 small yellow onion, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • 2 small yukon potatoes (200g), diced into small cubes
  • 2 cups (480ml) chickpea broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 cup (240ml) water
  • 1 28 oz (800g) can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes
  • 1 TBS dried oregano
  • 2 cups cooked chickpeas (340g)
  • 2 to 3 TBS fish sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • chopped fresh basil (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a small pot over medium-low heat. Place the onions and garlic in the pot. When the garlic is browned, added the carrots and celery, and sweat out the vegetables for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the potatoes, and let it cook for another two minutes.
  2. Add the chickpea broth, water, crushed tomatoes, and dried oregano. If you want the chickpeas to be softer when served, add them now. Otherwise, wait until the water boils before adding the chickpeas.
  3. When the soup boils, stir in the fish sauce, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until the potatoes are fully cooked or easily pierced with a fork.
  4. Serve with chopped fresh basil.

For those of you who made that batch of slow cooker chickpeas, here’s a couple more notes for you:

  • First, yay! I’m glad you gave it a go.
  • Second, try to finish the refrigerated chickpeas in 4 days. Otherwise, freeze them. I used frozen chickpeas the second time I made the soup, and it worked out fine.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dear Lisa, I love the sound of this soup…It looks beautiful too. With those beautiful slices of bread, I could not think of anything better! xo, Catherine

    Reply

  17. Yeah! Chickpea broth is so delicious, I always save mine! Loving the looks of this soup, and it’s still definitely soup season in my part of the world, so bookmarking this one for a weekend soon. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  18. Wahoo! Minestrone soup is my all-time favorite soup! I love the idea of using the slow cooker chickpeas in the recipe. And I’m totally up for the fish sauce idea – I love that it adds so much flavor to a dish, so I totes trust your judgement on it! Needing a huge bowl of this for lunch right now!

    Reply

    • I had no idea it’s your fave soup! I still have enough of this soup for you. Wish I could just mail it over!

      Reply

  19. mmm looks tasty, and beautiful! i’ve never had chickpeas in minestrone soup, but i like the sound of it! i’m pinning this in hopes of making it in the near future! (found your blog through BlogHer’s FB page xox)

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  20. LOVE IT!
    I ate in a restaurant in Israel a tomato- chickpea – fish sauce soup and tried to find the recipe.
    Browsing thought the net I found this brilliant dish.
    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

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