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:
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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.
I LOVE this recipe! It comes together quickly and is so delicious. My husband loves it, too. It will be on heavy rotation at my house this winter!
Thank you so much for this recipe!! It has become a favorite with my friends, family and especially husband. Incredibly easy, and super delicious especially on a cold winter even. Great stuff!! I have made this at least 6 times.
I made several changes, but still kept to the spirit of the recipe. I used a whole bag of dried chickpeas with lamb neck slices. I pressure cooked these with the spices and onion, so I didn’t need broth. I used 1 large carrot, added a diced red bell pepper and subbed baby kale for spinach. The soup is beautiful and my whole house smells amazing!
My new favourite soup! Beyond flavourful and consistently delicious. I only do 1 can chickpeas and add a zucchini instead. Perfect!
Delish made this today only change was ground beef instead of lamb. It was DELISH will make again and again.
Laurie (Canada)
OOPS
Amazingly tasty-definitely will make it again. I used beef mince and add zucchini instead baby spinach. Nagi is my favourite cook and I often visit her blog for inspiration. Well done Nagi!!
I made this recipe today exactly as is- no substitutions, left nothing out (I had cardamon in my pantry). It smells amazing, tastes amazing, and got rave reviews from all. That it takes less than half an hour to make is downright magical. Thank you!
Made this soup with cubed lamb, and it was great! Added a can of four bean mix in addition to chickpeas to really boost the fibre factor (lol).
Easy to cook and super tasty. My family love this curry. Great for vegetarian and vegan friends too
Whoops! Meant to comment this on your chickpea and potato curry. Absolutely love the shawarma though, just not for the vegans haha.
Just made this today and it is delicious!!
I messed up leg of lamb and wanted to salvage the leftovers. This was great. Made in instant pot. 50 minutes.
Perfect Sheepdoc – so glad you enjoyed it! N x
Hi Nagi, I am so excited to have just discovered your fabulous blog. Couple of things could I add 2 or 3 bashed green cardamom pods then fish them out of the soup. Also will you please share your vegetable version. I am helping a neighbour who is unwell And cooking soups etc., she would love the veggie version. Do all your recipes have conversion measurements? I am in the UK. Many thanks stay well and keep safe.
Hi Nina, you can definitely add more spice if you feel it needs it. If you want to do a veggie version, check note 3 for some hints on veggies you could use here. I try to have all the conversions on my recipes as well 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi
I cant wait to try this, do you think I could use bone in chicken thigh in slow cooker.
Hi Nagi. Can I use channa dal instead of chickpeas?
delightful recipe! We really enjoyed it. Distinctive flavors, nice assortment of vegies, very satisfying. Thanks!
Thanks so much Cathy!!
Hello Nagi – yet another delightfully flavorful winner of a recipe! SO good. I had to tweak it a bit due to what I had available. I used 12 oz. of lamb, and therefore the entire two cans of chickpeas. It smelled so good while prepping, I could hardly wait to eat it! And the flavor did not disappoint. Thank you so much for this gem.
I’m so glad you loved it Casey!
Hi Nagi! Face to palm, just realised I accidentally posted this to someone else’s comment, not the general comments…sorry about that. I’ll try this again haha. I really love all of your recipes and am so excited to try this one. I know you say you don’t need to cook this for ages, but do you think it could work in a slow cooker? I’ll be out of the house around dinner time and thought this could be great to come home to this. If you think it could work in a slow cooker, do you have recommendations for timing, high or low, and when to add the chickpeas and spinach? Thank you so much for your thoughts!
Hi Natalie, I would do it as per the recipe then transfer at step 5 to finish off cooking on hight for 2 hours or so. Stir through the spinach just at the end – N xx
Thank you so much for your reply back! I made this tonight using the slow cooker as you suggested and it was amazing 🙂
Delicious, Nagi! Thank you!!
Made this tonight for dinner. It was sensational!
I’m so happy you loved it Tash!
Yum yum yum. Made this tonight, so good with the yogurt as suggested. Tommorrow I’m making yr beef short ribs on mash. Who needs recipe books 😊
Yum! I hope you love the ribs Mona!