Easy Coconut Curried Chickpea Soup
This Easy Curry Chickpea Soup is packed with chickpeas, shredded chicken, cauliflower, and Indian spices. A bowl of this will warm you up from the inside out!
About Easy Curry Chickpea Soup
I love making a big, steaming pot of soup or stew that will last for a few days during a busy week where I find that I don’t have as much time to spend in the kitchen as I’d like.
I tweaked a traditional chicken and rice soup to create a rich Indian flavored chickpea curry soup.
This curry chickpea soup is a wonderful hearty soup recipe and a great way to use up any leftover chicken thighs, baked chicken breast, or meat from a leftover whole roasted chicken that you may have in your refrigerator.
★★★★★
5 Star Reader Review
“Absolutely delicious – thank you!!” —Perri
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
This curried chickpea soup is packed with bold flavors and comes together effortlessly, making it the perfect dish for a cozy night in.
It’s rich, warming, and easily adaptable—whether you prefer it with hearty chunks of chicken or as a satisfying meatless option. No matter how you make it, it’s sure to hit the spot on a chilly evening!
Tools Needed for this Recipe
You’ll need a few kitchen tools to prepare a batch of this coconut curry chickpea soup. Here’s what I recommend having on hand before getting started:
- Sharp Knife and Cutting Board — to chop the vegetables.
- Measuring Spoons and Cups — to measure the spices, broth, and other ingredients.
- Wooden Spoon — I like to use a wooden spoon when sautéing vegetables.
- Large Soup Pot — I love using my Le Creuset French Oven for making soups.
- Saucepan with a Lid or and Instant Pot — for preparing the rice.
- Soup Bowls and Ladle — for serving the soup.
Curry Chickpea Soup Ingredients
I made this chickpea curry soup with coconut milk to deliver that authentic curry flavor as well as plenty of creaminess.
Here’s what you’ll need to make the easy curry chickpea soup:
- Coconut oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Poblano pepper
- Fresh ginger
- Indian red curry powder
- Garam masala
- Tomato paste
- Fire-roasted tomatoes
- Chicken or vegetable broth
- Canned coconut milk
- Chickpeas
- Cooked chicken
- Cauliflower
- Frozen peas
- Cooked rice, for serving
For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions to make this easy curry chickpea soup, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.
How to Make Curry Chickpea Soup
This curried chickpea soup with coconut milk is incredibly easy to make, and the whole recipe takes less than 40 minutes to prepare. Here’s a quick overview of the process:
- Sauté aromatics: In a large soup pot, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion for 5 minutes, then add garlic and poblano, cooking for 1 more minute.
- Toast spices: Stir in curry powder, garam masala, and tomato paste, letting the spices toast for about 30 seconds.
- Simmer the soup: Add canned tomatoes with their juices, broth, coconut milk, chickpeas, and chicken. Bring to a boil and cook until the chicken is heated through.
- Cook vegetables: Stir in cauliflower and simmer until it reaches your desired tenderness. Add peas just before serving and cook until heated through.
- Assemble and serve: Spoon a small amount of rice into a serving bowl, ladle soup on top, and garnish with chopped cilantro. Enjoy!
The above is simply a quick summary of this curried chickpea soup. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Tips for Making this Recipe
- If you want to add even more savory flavor to this curried chickpea soup, try making my homemade Instant Pot Chicken Stock.
- If you don’t have already cooked rice on hand, try cooking rice in the instant pot. You can also make a large batch ahead of time and freeze rice for later.
- I found that this curried chickpea soup was full of flavor, but not too spicy. However, if you like a hotter curry soup, you can use a spicy curry powder, add extra poblano pepper, increase the spices, and/or add diced jalapeños to the soup.
- If you will be consuming all of the soup in one meal, you can stir your desired amount of rice directly into the pot before serving.
- If you will have leftovers, spoon the rice directly into the bowl to avoid mushy rice in your leftover soup.
- Don’t have leftover chicken on hand? Try this easy crockpot shredded chicken or poached chicken. Or for an even simpler option, purchase a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store and shred the chicken.
Easy Curry Chickpea Soup FAQs
Got questions about how to make this chickpea curry soup? Here are the answers to a few commonly asked questions. Feel free to leave any other questions in the comments on this post and I’ll respond with answers.
Can this recipe be made vegetarian?
Yes! As an alternative, you could easily shape this into a vegetarian chickpea curry, leave out the chicken, substitute vegetable broth.
Replace the chicken with equal amounts of extra vegetables, extra chickpeas, or use browned, firm tofu cut into small cubes.
Can I use other veggies in this soup?
Yes! In this easy chickpea curry and rice soup you may use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I like cauliflower and frozen peas and think they pair well with coconut milk and curry, but I already had them in my kitchen.
Other vegetable ideas that would work well in this soup include items such as carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, green beans, or diced butternut squash.
Whatever ingredient combination you end up using, I think you’ll find this is a tasty soup that is very forgiving of what vegetables you have on hand.
Storage Instructions
Store any leftover chickpea curry soup and rice in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Storing the rice separately keeps it from absorbing more and more liquid while in the refrigerator which causes rice to become mushy.
Can this soup be frozen?
Yes! Check out my tutorial for more details on how to freeze soup.
I do not recommend freezing the soup and rice in the same container (for the same reasons mentioned above). Either freeze the rice separately, or make a fresh batch of rice just before serving the soup after thawing and reheating.
More Chickpea Recipes
This Warm Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes makes a great side dish or an easy meatless lunch when served with pita bread!
Spiced Chickpea Smothered Sweet Potatoes are an easy and hearty vegetarian meal that is perfect for winter.
These Roasted Chili Lime Spicy Chickpeas make for a great snack or salad topping. You need just 5 minutes of hands on prep and 7 ingredients!
Don’t see what you’re looking for here? You can always head over to check out the recipe index to look for more recipes.
Get More Recipes via Email
Did you love this recipe? Sign up to receive Good Life Eats Email Updates and never miss another recipe!
Curry Chickpea Soup
Easy Curry Chickpea Soup is loaded with chickpeas, chicken, and warm Indian spices. Cozy, flavorful, and adaptable—make it with or without meat!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 poblano pepper, deseeded and diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
- 3 - 4 teaspoons Indian curry powder
- 1 - 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 - 14.5 oz. cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 - 14 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 - 15 oz. can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 lbs. cooked cubed or shredded chicken breast
- 1 small to medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 2 - 3 cups cooked rice
- chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- In a large french oven or soup pot, melt the coconut oil. Sauté the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes until translucent and tender.
- Add the garlic and poblano to the onions and sauté for 1 more minute.
- Add the curry and garam masala to the onion mixture, stirring to combine, and cooking for another minute to allow the spices to develop in flavor.
- Stir in the tomato paste followed by both cans of tomatoes and their juices, the broth, coconut milk, chickpeas, and chicken.
- Bring mixture to a boil and cook until chicken is heated through and tender.
- Stir in the cauliflower and cook just until it reaches your desired tenderness.
- Add the peas right before serving and cook only until heated through so they do not become mushy.
- Spoon a small amount of rice into an individually sized serving bowl. Top with desired amount of soup and garnish with chopped cilantro.
Notes
Recipe Tip:
If you will be consuming all of the soup in one meal, you can stir your desired amount of rice directly into the pot before serving. If you will have leftovers, spoon the rice directly into the bowl to avoid mushy rice in your leftover soup.
Meatless Option:
Make this recipe meatless by leaving out the chicken and substituting vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth. Replace the chicken with equal amounts of extra vegetables, extra chickpeas, or browned, firm tofu cut into small cubes.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 579Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 106mgSodium: 331mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 10gSugar: 9gProtein: 42g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Perri says
HI Katie,
Absolutely delicious – thank you!!
Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says
Hello from Melissa French, The More With Less Mom. I have included this recipe in my May Real Food Meal Plan. I’m all over the comfort food. Thanks for sharing! http://www.morewithlessmom.com/index.php/2014/05/05/may-real-food-monthly-meal-plan/
The Ninja Baker says
Brilliant use of flavors, Katie. And thanks to you I can put a gift of garam masala to good use =)
Most recent soups I’ve made are miso and celebration soups. (A broth for Japanese year-end buckwheat noodles and tofu dumpling soup for Chinese New Year.)
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet says
This looks sooo good! Perfect for a cloudy day like today!
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
I love everything about this soup! I just might make it today, with it being a cloudy, cool and rainy day (perfect soup weather)!
Bev @ Bev Cooks says
Ooooohohohoho this look deelarhsush.
marla says
A beautiful soup Katie!
Liz @ EatingPlaces says
This looks delicious, especially with the cauliflower. I made a coconut curry soup with chickpeas, squash, and eggplant recently that was delicious.
Thanks for the recipe!