No bland chickpea soup in my world! Exploding with flavour, this tastes like your favourite Chicken Shawarma – except it’s in soup form with lamb and chickpeas. Filling, nutritious and quick to make!
Chickpea soup with flavour explosion!
I had every intention of making a wholesome, chickpea and vegetable soup.
I really, really tried to get excited about it.
It is possible to make a great meat-free chickpea soup (I promise I will share mine one day!). But, but, but…. I wanted kapow flavours. Actually, I was really tempted to do the long haul drive for a good laksa fix. I felt like I deserved it. (But then, I always feel I deserve it….)
So I compromised. Chickpeas. Veggie loaded – there’s a whole bunch of spinach in this, plus carrots plus onion (yes that counts towards your daily veggie intake, I checked!). Lamb for protein, cooked with my Chicken Shawarma spice mix – wait until you smell this part!!!! It’s SO GOOD!
Shawarma Spice Mix
This is the same shawarma spice mix I use for Chicken Shawarma, a long standing reader favourite. The combination of spices in this is intoxicating!
Oh boy. If you like kapow flavours, or if you are dubious about chickpea soups having been scarred by bland ones in the past, this Lamb Shawarma Chickpea Soup is for you!! It’s really fragrant, the soup itself is quite intense from both the spices and also the lamb. It’s hearty, almost stew-like. Actually, I didn’t know whether to call this a stew or soup.
Because the soup flavouring is from the Shawarma Spice Mix, there’s no need to simmer this for ages. Just long enough for the carrot to become tender. Oh, also, I use canned chickpeas here. Speedy, unplanned meal. 🙂
But if you do have the foresight to plan and want to take it over the top, add a side of homemade flatbreads (simple, no yeast!) or make this mind blowingly easy crusty Artisan bread.
Update: I recently created a similar but different variation of this soup in the form of Beef & Lentil Soup. This was has more Moroccan-inspired flavours. Give it a try too!
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chickpea Lamb Shawarma Soup
Ingredients
Spices:
- 2 tsp EACH cumin powder, coriander, paprika
- 1 tsp cardamon powder (can omit if you don’t have)
- ¼ tsp cinnamon powder
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to taste)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
Soup:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 500 g / 1 lb lamb mince (ground lamb, or beef) (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 carrots , peeled and chopped (about size of chickpeas)
- 600 g / 21 oz canned chickpeas , drained and rinsed (1.5 standard cans, Note 2)
- 400 g / 14 oz can crushed tomato
- 3 cups / 750 ml chicken broth / stock
- 1 bunch spinach , roughly chopped (about 4 packed cups) (wilts a lot)
Garnishes (highly recommended):
- Plain yoghurt (or sour cream)
- Chopped fresh coriander / cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute until starting to turn translucent.
- Add lamb and cook, breaking it up as you go. When it has mostly turned from pink to light brown, add spices.
- Cook for 1 minute, then add tomato paste and cook for another 1 minute. (It smells amazing!)
- Add carrots, chickpeas, tomato and broth. Stir and bring to simmer.
- Cover with lid, lower heat so it is bubbling energetically but not crazy rapidly. Cook for 10 minutes until carrot is tender but not super soft – I like it to have a bit of bite still, if you want super soft, keep cooking.
- Stir through spinach. Once wilted, adjust salt, pepper and spiciness (cayenne) to taste, and water if you want more liquid.
- Ladle into bowls, add a dollop of yoghurt and a generous sprinkling of coriander. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More hearty soups
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Chicken Noodle Soup from scratch – or a quick version!
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Browse all Soups
Life of Dozer
Spent my afternoon tea break trying to teach him to hold a flower in his mouth, just because I think it would be so cute! But once he realised it wasn’t edible, he was completely uninterested. I give up.
Love this soup. It’s so flavourful and so easy. I used chicken mince and added some diced butternut pum
*****oops. Pumpkin and frozen corn. Excellent recipe that freezes so well, it will be high on our rotation
Delicious, fast and cheap. There was no conversation at the dinner table when this was served beccause people were focused on their dinner! Highly recommended.
I made this soup & it was delicious!! The whole family loved it!
I plan to try this (with slight changes to hide the chickpeas from my chickpea hating partner) but mostly I just want to say: I GOT NAGI’S COOKBOOK THIS WEEK! I AM SO HAPPY! IT’S AMAZEBALLS! NOW I NEED TO BUY MORE COPIES FOR ALL MY FRIENDS!
Thank you, Nagi, for everything you do. You rock. You BOULDER.
I have a chickpea hating partner too, how did you hide them??
Absolutely delicious, what a cracker recipe. A real ‘meal in a bowl. Husband loved it and said it’s all the flavours of a doner kebab. Totally agree.
I tried this recipe on a whim, having exhausted my usual soups + casserole variations. This looked like a weird cross between both, and I was a little skeptical – but it was amazing!! The spices all give it such a nice flavour and as Nagi said, it’s deceptively veggie-laden. Adults and kids alike really enjoyed. Total 10/10!
So easy to make and absolutely delicious to eat. I didn’t have any spinach and I don’t think I missed out by not having it.
Really easy & really yummy! Thank you for another winning recipe, Nagi!
Have made this numerous times for family and friends and it always gets rave reviews! Even my toddler is a fan. Thanks Nagi for helping us eat well! PS for anyone wondering it freezes very well.
Yum!! This was so delicious! The perfect spicy soup that I was craving.
Definitely be making this again
I cooked this last night. I added in a few extra veggies that I needed to use up from the fridge. It was absolutely delicious! My daughter loved it so much she had leftovers for breakfast! The flavours were next level. Thank you for an absolute winner Nagi!
More of a stew than a soup. Delicious. Even with additional water, it was very stew like. I added more seasoning to make up for the additional water. I bought the sour cream and cilantro but thought it was just as good without it.
So far, this is a great recipe! I added 1 tsp of orange blossom water and another Tsp of Kashmiri red chili powder as I like things spicy (i didn’t have cayenne and this is a great substitute). I’m just cooking it down now. It’s tastes amazing but it’s a bit soupy for me. Will reduce it a bit for my taste.
Hi Nagi, I love this soup. I made too much and would like to freeze for a later time. Is it possible to freeze and for how long?
This soup was FANTASTIC!! Full of lots of flavor and healthy vegetables. Will definitely make this again. Thank you.
Teens & I really loved this. Naan bread or pappadums with it & you are not disappointed.
Delicious, healthy and hearty soup. The whole family loved it. Will be making again. Thanks Nagi!!
I followed as per the recipe but it was a little spicy for me.. I measured the cayenne and pepper but the particular brand I have must be an extra spicy one!! So next time I might add half. To tone it down a bit though I added a few ladles of the stew into a skillet, cracked a couple of eggs in and simmered gently until the eggs were cooked. A shakshuka of sorts. It was really delicious since the eggs balanced out the spicy/acidic (from tomatoes). A chunky soft piece of white bread with butter would also be amazing with it. Thanks!
I honestly wasn’t sure how this would taste, but give me lamb, chickpeas and spinach… I’ll give it a try. My goodness!!!! It was so delicious! I wanted, but of course couldn’t, drink/eat the whole pot!!! The flavors were extraordinary scrumptious and the textures with the carrots was perfect. Nagi, once again you do not disappoint!! Thank you so much! BTW, I married a Greek man raised on his mama’s cooking. Thanks for helping out this Southern girl (USA) to give him the flavors he is use to. 🙂
Delicious! Made per the recipe. Will be doubling this next time so there are some leftovers for freezing!