Chickpea Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa! Get ready to fall in love with soup all over again – this Chickpea Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa is about to become your new obsession!
Introducing a hearty and nutritious Chickpea Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa recipe that’s bursting with Mediterranean flavors with a hint of Southwestern flair. This low-fat soup is not only delicious but also brings a unique twist to your table. Packed with protein and wholesome ingredients, this easy-to-make soup is a must-try for anyone looking for a healthy and satisfying meal.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Get ready to elevate your soup game with a unique flavor experience! Our family absolutely adored this soup for its unexpected and delightful taste. The addition of quinoa not only adds extra heartiness but also brings a satisfying texture to every spoonful.
This recipe is a game-changer, offering a perfect blend of flavors and wholesome goodness that will have you coming back for more. Dive into a bowl of comfort and warmth with this extraordinary soup – it’s a culinary adventure you won’t want to miss!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This flavor profile of this soup is mostly Mediterranean with tiny hints of Southwestern flair. The chickpeas and cooked quinoa give it hardiness.
- Flavors to Marry: Make sure you allow at least 5 minutes for the flavors to marry. The flavors continue to develop once the soup slightly cools.
- Chickpea Substitutions: You can pretty much use just about any bean you enjoy in this recipe.
- Carrots: We used matchstick carrots; however, feel free to slice, dice, or grate the carrots. We suggest that you taste the raw carrots before adding to the soup. If you have a really flavorful carrot, then the soup broth will have a strong carrot undertone of carrot flavor. We enjoy carrots; however, we prefer the broth to have only a tiny hint of carrots. If your carrot is strong, use ¼ cup. If the carrot is mild, use ½ cup.
- Amount of Quinoa: We used 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. We had family members who really enjoyed a lot of quinoa in their soup. Feel free to scale back on the amount. Do not add the cooked quinoa to the finished soup broth. It will soak it all up and you won’t have any broth left. See Quinoa Served Restaurant Style in the next bullet.
- Quinoa Served Restaurant Style: This soup is best served restaurant style. Most restaurants keep the noodles/grains (like quinoa) separate from soup broths. The cooked quinoa is spooned into individual bowls, then the hot soup broth is poured over top. This trick accomplishes several things. First it keeps the integrity of the quinoa in great shape and doesn’t allow them to get mushy. It also preserves the soup broth. Quinoa is very thirsty, and it will suck up all the soup broth and you are left with a very thick soup-stew. Keep the soup and quinoa separate and refrigerate the leftover quinoa separately.
- Cooking Quinoa: When cooking quinoa, do a 1:1 ratio of water to quinoa to ensure a fluffy quinoa and to avoid a mushy, soggy quinoa.
- Quinoa Substitutions: You can pretty much substitute the quinoa for any cooked whole grain like rice, barley, farro, etc.
- Low-Fat Dish Expectations: This soup was designed to be low in fat. Because it is low in fat, you are not going to experience that endorphin rush associated with eating high-fat foods when eating this dish. It is very tasty for what it is, and that is a low-fat soup. We just want to make sure that our Readers recognize this when contemplating making this recipe.
- Spicy/Heat: This soup does not have any heat to it as the amount of hot sauce used is small. If you want it spicy, feel free to increase the amount of hot sauce to suit your personal preferences. Or simply add a splash to individual serving bowls as a condiment.
- Chili Powder: Feel free to use your favorite chili powder, just be sure to select a mild one and not one that has a lot of heat to it unless of course, you enjoy chili with some heat to it.
- Spices: Feel free to ramp up or reduce the spices based upon your favorites and level of spiciness desired. The recipe is easily customizable to suit your personal preferences.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda is often used as a neutralizer for dishes that contain a lot of acidity, typically from tomatoes. We use it in this dish to remove some of the tomato acidity (from the petite diced tomatoes) without losing the tomatoey flavor. When you add it, the mixture may bubble up, then settle down as it neutralizes the acidity. However, if you prefer that ‘tinny’ flavor that comes from canned tomatoes, then leave out the baking soda or perhaps use a tiny pinch.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container.
This soup freezes well.
Pantry Products:
- Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients. Feel free to use your favorite vegetable broth.
- Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Products:
- Large stock pot (to cook the soup)
- Small stock pot with a tight fitting lid to cook the quinoa
If you try this comforting dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
PrintChickpea Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 45 Minutes (+Rest Time)
- Yield: 7 Cups 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Introducing a hearty and nutritious Chickpea Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa recipe that’s bursting with Mediterranean flavors with a hint of Southwestern flair.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
- 2 red bell peppers, small dice
- 1 celery rib, small dice
- ¼ to ½ cup match-stick carrots *
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 – [14.5 oz. can ] petite diced tomatoes
- 2 ½ cups water
- 2 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth *
- 2 – [ 15 oz. cans ] chickpeas, drained and rinsed *
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (optional) *
Other Ingredients:
- ¼ teaspoon pure maple syrup (optional)
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons hot sauce *
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder (+/-) *
- ¼ teaspoon cumin (+/-) *
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika (+/-)
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano (+/-)
- ½ to 1 1/8 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
- Pinch black pepper (+/-) *
- 1 bay leaf
Serving Ideas:
- Cooked quinoa *
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.
- Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients (except the bay leaf) in a small bowl, mix well, set aside.
- In a large stock pot, add the diced onions, celery, carrots, and red bell peppers; sauté over medium heat until they begin to soften, approximately 7 to 9 minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons or so of water if they start to stick and/or to prevent burning.
- Add the minced garlic, sauté for one minute.
- Add all remaining Base Ingredients (except the baking soda), Spice/Herb mix, stir well to combine. Bring to a boil, tuck in the bay leaf, then immediately lower to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, stir in the baking soda, stir well, then add all the Other Ingredients, stir well. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then remove from the stove.
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes undisturbed to allow the flavors to marry. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Serve by placing some cooked quinoa in the center of a soup bowl and ladle the soup over top.
Notes
*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: 4 (makes 7 cups – no including the cooked quinoa)
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I bought a big bag of dried chickpeas. If I cook them first and portion out 15 oz., could I just proceed with the recipe and used the cooked chickpeas. (also could I do that for any recipe of yours that call for chickpeas? Thanks
Hi there Cindy,
Thank you for your question. Yes, you can totally do that for soup stews, etc. The only area of concern that we might have is in burgers, meatloaves, chickpea salads that use canned chickpeas as we are not sure if the manufacturer is counting the aquafaba in the weight measurement or not. We hope this helps.
-Ameera and Robin