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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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.
Can’t wait to try this!
I hope you love it!
Hi Nagi,
I have made this a few times now and absolutely love it. However I have just watched the video and note that paprika is included in the spice mix but not listed in the recipe (unless I am missing it 🤔). I added a teaspoon to today’s soup and hope that is the right amount.
Carmel
Ok I see my error now 🙄 I’ve been missing the coriander and the paprika. I blame the small print not my inability to read instructions properly. Sorry Nagi!
Hi
It’s in the first line of the instructional spice requirements.
Helen
Thanks Nagi, for another great recipe. Simple, easy ingredients list that has substitutes available.
Really enjoying working my way through your whole collection!
Haven’t had a ‘miss’ yet! Keep up your fabulous work!
I’m so glad! Thank you for letting me know Celia! N x
LAMB SHAWARMA CHICKPEA SOUP
The whole family enjoyed another fantastic meal from Nagi – Delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it Frances! Thanks for letting me know – N x
After making your lamb shawarma (delicious and had a stop hubby from eating it all) I saved some of the meat to use in this soup instead of the lamb mince. Turned out fantastic. So much flavour and took no time at all. Another great recipe.
Terrific to hear you enjoyed this Nat!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know – N x
Hi Nagi
I just made this with chicken and oh my god it was sensational. Thank you so much for providing your recipes. I’m a keen follower of yours.
That’s terrific to hear Nick! So glad you enjoyed this! N x
Very tasty. I substituted meat with härkis and it worked wonderfully. Definitely a make-again food. Thanks for the recipe.
That’s terrific to hear Karina! So glad you enjoyed this! N x
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 ❤️