Chunky Chickpea Soup | Pasta-based Vegan Recipes (2024)

Maybe we all have memories of gray winter days, flurries of snow dancing in the air outside the window, the birds are nesting to keep warm and every so often a pipe bangs in the walls before warm air rushes through the vent. It’s so quiet and peaceful. You pull a soft sweater out from the bottom drawer, put on the fuzziest socks you have, and wrap your fingers around a warm mug filled with coffee.

It’s one of those days where the couch is the best place to cozy up with a novel. The cat doesn’t bother with grooming and lays next to you quietly stealing body heat. You might write in your journal, light a few candles, or even fill up the bathtub.

Around lunchtime, you turn on the stove. You reach far back in your cabinet to retrieve the big heavy-bottomed pot. Every vegetable in your refrigerator is heaped onto your countertop, waiting to be peeled, chopped, minced, diced, shredded, crushed, and sliced.

One by one, you throw each vegetable into the pot on top of a small pour of olive oil. Letting the vegetables brown, you rummage through your spice rack to find the black pepper. With a heavy hand, specks of pepper fall into the pot. Maybe you’ll add rosemary, possibly thyme. You rely on tradition and instinct and mood.

The soup needs to simmer, you remember. The flavors need to blend together and the potatoes need to soften. You’re hungry and impatient, checking almost too often if the potatoes fall apart at the touch of a fork. You place a bowl on the counter, a spoon in the container of grated parmesan, and tear off a piece of a crusty baguette.

Finally, the potatoes are the perfect amount of mushiness and firmness, still holding together but disintegrating when tempted. The big ladle is pulled from the utensil crock and you scoop up chunky vegetables and turn them into the bowl. You push the ladle underneath the liquid, this time collecting only broth. You dip a corner of crusty bread into the bowl, stealing a bite before you even sit down.

This recipe for chunky, classic, chickpea soup is full of hearty vegetables, slippery chickpeas, and fresh herbs. Served with your choice of wild rice, crusty bread, or pasta. Our favorite pasta for this soup is ‘campanelle’ which means ‘bellflowers’ in Italian. It’s shaped like a cone, with ruffled edges, and is perfect for capturing broth or sauce.