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.
Just made this, perfect for a cold autumn night. Just reduced the oil a bit and added more vegies, the spices are lovely.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed this Kathleen, thanks for letting me know! N x
This is my son’s favorite so far! Again, so delicious!! ..I’d have never believed I’d be using so many recipes OR that I’d find someone elses taste so similar to my own! Stoked as! Thank you!!
Made this tonight as well as your Chinese chicken soup. This is delicious. I just tasted it and eating it tomorrow. Delicious. Thanks again for another recipe. I really love how your recipes are so clear and full of notes/details to ensure success. You don’t know how valuable that is for many of us. I’ve made a few recipes from other sites and often important details are left out.
That’s wonderful to hear Steven! Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed this! N xx
Oh my word – I thought your recipes couldn’t get any better and then I made this last night. We had good friends over for dinner and I made this with some bread – I had to print off copies of the recipe for them to take home. The depth of flavour is amazing. Guess what we’re having for lunch today?! Thanks again for another souper recipe 🙂
I LOVE HEARING THAT!!! N xx
the spices in this soup are amazing together!
Love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed this Cassie! N xx
I have soup for lunch nearly everyday and have now made this recipe twice and it is excellent.
I put it in one portion freezer containers and it freezes really well. I do omit the spinach though when freezing, but that’s personal.
I hate tinned chickpeas so prepare dried ones, I use the 1 hour method of cooking and soaking them and then cooking as usual.
I read here that some-one eats it with couscous, what a great idea so everytime I put a couple of tablespoons of couscous in the bowl (I use a medium grain couscous), pour on the soup let it sit a minute or so and then its ready.
I have also added a lambshank (love the chunky pieces of lamb) and halved the mince and just cook both together. When the shank is ready I remove all the meat and return it to the pan. I do let this soup get very cold as to be able to remove the layer of fat from the top, I use very lean mince but the shank does make it very fatty.
So thanks so much for this wonderful recipe.
Love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed this Rose! N xx
That soup is amazing!!! My family loved it. So easy and I feel you could add whatever veges you have in the fridge! Fantastic Sunday night dinner for us and grownup children had bowlfulls as they wandered in for the night.
So glad everyone enjoyed this Stephanie! Thanks for letting me know! N x
I love this soup, decided to make it vegetarian. I used about 5 cups of vegetables (mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, squash) and veggie stock instead of chicken stock. So delicious with and without the yogurt. I plan to make this for my mother today, going to have to tweak it depending on the veggies I find in Trinidad (maybe eggplant, red peppers, mushrooms and pumpkin…I don’t know!), looks like I will use fresh coriander as I can’t find any powdered form :)…. I suppose it’s because it goes wild in everyone’s backyard!
Thank you for sharing these recipes, they’re really are simple and flavourful! I think I made a movement with my coworkers, trying recipes and convincing them to try it as well and cook home, yours seem to be a hit! They are awesome!!!
That’s terrific to hear Nadka! Thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
Made the Chickpea Lamb Shawarma Soup last night. Great flavor and a hit with all. Went together easily and was a quick fix after work. If it was a weekend I’d have made your flat bread to go with it
Thanks from New Mexico!
Love hearing that Jean! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N xx
Would this freeze well? Have you tried? I’ve never frozen anything with chickpeas in it so I’m not sure.
Hi Cassie! I haven’t frozen this but I’m sure it will be fine because I have frozen canned chickpeas plenty of times! 🙂
Great recipe for using up Xmas leftovers – all the carrots and some more turkey went really well in this. I added half an aubergine and a yellow pepper, as they also needed using, which didn’t hurt any. Delicious – thanks!
Ooh what a GREAT way with Xmas leftovers! N xx
Hi Nagi! Merry Christmas! Your pic looks like an Christmas day in Arizona!
And, yes. You can use pork. I was going to use beef, but I did not want to wait for it to thaw, so I went looking for Lamb, or Veal. None at my local market. I used Extra Lean Farmer John’s brand ground pork.
This is seriously good! Don’t forget the garlic Naan!
Mine has a bit of a bite to it since I used two whole Anaheim peppers in my home made chicken stock.
This recipe is great and will be a regular. We used chicken thighs chopped small, and smoked paprika which gave it great depth. A real winner!
That’s so great to hear Thomas! Thanks for letting me know – N x ❤️
Ha, Haaa, ho, HOOO, Dozer smelling ROSES, you shoul stop and do the same. Love, loveSOUP, ALWYS HAPPYMAKE SOME, THANK YOU.
😘
It’s bitterly cold here in Canada where I live, -18C or 0 Farenheit. I made this soup for dinner tonight. This is a winner and a definite keeper in my tried and true file. I followed the recipe exactly with this tiny exception, I didn’t have cardamom powder but I did have green cardamom pods or seeds (don’t know what you call those things) so I split a few open with my mortar and pestle and threw in the little black seeds. This is a wonderful stick to your ribs, warm you up, cold weather soup that’s quick and easy to prepare. 10 thumbs up!!!
That’s so great to hear Judith! Thanks for letting me know – N x ❤️
Hi, Nagi! This was SOOOO goood!! Sadly, I must avoid red meat, so I used ground turkey. I also added some fresh cauliflower I needed to use up, diced up small, a few minutes before the spinach (which was frozen because that’s all I had). The cauliflower paired well with the spices and heartiness of the meat and chickpeas. I might add some raisins next time. Ate two big bowls and had to force myself to stop so there’d be adequate leftovers for the week. This will get heavy rotation this winter. I love one-pot dishes. Thanks for a killer addition to my collection!
WHOOT! So pleased to hear that Barbara, thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
Wow. My vote here for my favorite dish of the year from your site.
I’ve made North African (in this case Moroccan style) spiced dishes before
and they were pretty much one day wonders. This one is a keeper as
the leftovers can be easily incorporated into slightly different dishes AND
used up a bunch of protein from my deep freeze that is tough and gamey.
Venison was what I used.
With a fine blade (mince/grind- whatever you call it)
even the toughest cuts can be made palatable with a good dose of spice.
This is a GREAT(!) dose of spice!! Had it as a soup the 1st day and over couscous (2nd day)
and then over a rice blend (white/wild/red) the 3rd day. By the 3rd day some frozen peas
and dried mint seem to have fallen into the mix. Left out the spinach in the initial recipe (as I knew the batch
was going to last a few days and I dont like reheated spinach). Just roughly whacked it up and tossed it into the bowl as part of plating.
By the time it cooled down enough to eat the greens were very nicely wilted.
Wow! That’s a HIGH PRAISE Greg! So pleased you enjoyed this, thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
It looks so comfy and delicious! Thanks for sharing
Well, well, well, I have a gallon of chicken stock freshly made that this will do just fine with. I have whole Cumin, coriander, cardamom, and pepper corn…have you tried toasting these first before grinding?
You amaze me young lady. 🙂 Can you format your printed recipes to fit on post-it notes so I have more room on my fridge? 😉 😀
This one has been moved to the front of the line.
I made your amazing recipe with a few tweaks. I didn’t have chickpeas, so I added a cup of orzo instead. I didn’t have spinach. And I replaced the can of crushed tomatoes with a sliced fresh cherry toms and marinara sauce. This is one of the best recipes I’ve had this year! I know this will be a classic dish for the winter months in the midwest. Thank you!