Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup

This naturally vegan lemon chickpea orzo soup is packed with delicious veggies and protein from the chickpeas for a nutritious, comforting, and filling meal. Serve it on its own or with a chunk of crusty bread, and you'll have the perfect quick weeknight dinner even non-vegans will love.

Inspired by the Greek revithia soup, which is a delicious chickpeas soup made with lots of olive oil and lemon juice, this lemon chickpea orzo soup takes it one step further with the addition of orzo.

The original Greek chickpea soup is smashing as is, but adding orzo transforms it into a super filling, satisfying bowl of goodness that's a meal in its own right.

What do you need to make this vegan orzo soup?

To make this lemon chickpea orzo soup, you only need a handful of ingredients. As it happens, it's a budget-friendly recipe that comes with the added benefit of being ready in just 45 minutes.

In order to make a vegan chickpea soup so quickly, you need to take a shortcut. Instead of soaking dry chickpeas overnight, I use tinned chickpeas, which work just as fine. You can, of course, use regular chickpeas instead, but you'll have to boil them for 30-40 minutes until tender before using them in the soup.

You'll also need lots of lemon juice in this soup. I use the juice of two large lemons, but feel free to adjust the quantity to your liking.

This soup benefits a lot from the addition of olive oil, so try to use the best quality you can. When the soup is ready, you can drizzle it with some extra olive oil, so you'll want the good stuff there.

I use a generous amount of dried oregano to flavour this soup, plus a sprinkle of dry red chilli flakes to give it a bit of a kick.

You'll also need orzo for this soup. Even though it looks like rice, orzo is, in fact, a type of pasta, which means that it goes from dry to a perfect al dente texture in about 10 minutes.

How to make lemon chickpea orzo soup?

Making this vegan chickpea soup with orzo is a matter of making a quick soffrito with the red onion, carrot and celery, adding garlic and herbs for extra flavour, then dumping the rest of the ingredients in a soup pot. It's that easy.

Once everything is in the pot, bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the orzo is al dente. Don't forget to stir from time to time, especially at the beginning, so the orzo doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

I like to serve this soup with extra lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, but it also goes well with some crusty bread.

How do you store and reheat the leftovers?

• This lemon chickpea orzo soup stores well in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
• Don't forget that the orzo will continue to absorb liquid as it sits, so you'll need to add a bit of water or veggie stock when you reheat the soup.
• You can reheat the soup in the microwave or on the stovetop over low-medium heat.

If you liked this vegan lemon chickpea orzo soup, you might also like some of my other quick and easy vegan soups:

Vegan Italian White Bean Soup

Vegan Minestrone alla Genovese

Creamy Pasta e Fagioli

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Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup

This naturally vegan lemon chickpea orzo soup is packed with delicious veggies and protein from the chickpeas for a nutritious, comforting, and filling meal. Serve it on its own or with a chunk of crusty bread, and you'll have the perfect quick weeknight dinner even non-vegans will love.

5 from 8 votes

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 587kcal

Author: Paris | Vegan Cocotte

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 large onion, diced
• ▢ 1 large carrot, diced
• ▢ 2 celery stalks, diced
• ▢ 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ▢ 2 teaspoon oregano
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) red chilli flakes
• ▢ 7 oz (200 g) orzo
• ▢ 2 cans (14 oz / 400 g) chickpeas
• ▢ 4 cups (1000 ml) vegetable stock
• ▢ 2 lemons, juice of
• ▢ 2 tablespoon fresh dill

Instructions

• In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes over medium heat until slightly softened.
  2 tbsp olive oil

  1 large onion
• Add the carrot and celery and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes. Next, add the garlic, oregano, and chilli flakes and saute everything for an additional 1 minute until fragrant.
  1 large carrot

  2 celery stalks

  4 garlic cloves

  2 tsp oregano

  ¼ tsp red chilli flakes
• Add the orzo to the pot and toast it for 1-2 minutes with the veggies, as you would do with rice for risotto.
  7 oz orzo
• Next, add the chickpeas, stock, lemon juice and dill. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and cook for 8-10 minutes until the orzo is al dente. Season to taste and serve immediately, drizzled with extra olive oil and lemon juice, if you want.
  2 cans (14 oz / 400 g) chickpeas

  4 cups vegetable stock

  2 lemons

  2 tbsp fresh dill

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 587kcal | Carbohydrates: 98g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 784mg | Fiber: 19g | Sugar: 22g