Bright and creamy Lemon Chickpea Rice Soup. A delicious and easy one-pot-meal made with pantry staples and packed with soul-soothing veggies! Vegan and gluten free.
Avegolemono! Have ya heard of this beloved lemony Greek soup? Me either. But she sure is a beaut.
Cozy, creamy, and comforting to boot, this lemony dream soup makes me feel bright and happy. We all need more bright and happy right now.
She’s made with pantry staples and easy peasy cashew cream in lieu of traditional cream. Yep, she’s vegan and gluten-free, too!
How to make Lemon Chickpea Rice Soup:
How to make Lemon Chickpea Rice Soup:While traditional avegolemono soup is made with chicken stock, we’re making a veg version today using water, dill and a bunch of vegetables instead since not everyone has broth on hand in these times.
If you do have veggie broth, feel free to use that in place of water! Just season with salt to taste.
- Cook the veggies. Sauté a mirepoix of onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in EVOO until softened. We’re building flavor since the recipe calls for water versus broth.
- Add water, fresh dill, chickpeas, and rice. Bring the soup to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice or grain of choice is tender.
- Make cashew milk. Blend raw cashews with water to make a silky smooth soup addition. Pour it into the pot along with lemon juice, a hefty dose of salt and pepper to taste, and a handful of spinach. Stir until wilted.
- Taste and adjust, as we must always do. Ladle soup into bowls and serve garnished with extra dill and lemon slices if you’ve got ’em. Voila!
Possible substitutions or variations:
Possible substitutions or variations:- Use orzo. This soup is traditionally made with orzo—I just didn’t have any on hand.
- Use cooked rice. No quick-cook rice? Feel free to use 2 cups of pre-cooked rice instead and reduce liquid to 5 cups.
- Up the veggies. Mushrooms, kale, asparagus, potatoes…they’d all be yummy here.
- Use broth. Homemade or store-bought broth would add even more flavor. Just be sure to reduce the salt since it’s based on using water.
What to serve with this soup:
This soup is so wonderful with crusty bread. What soup isn’t?!
It would also be delightful with a big Greek salad (this apple cider vinegar dressing would be fab). Add some feta if you’re not vegan! Oh, we’re living.
Craving more soup goodness? Don’t miss my other top-rated soups!
Craving more soup goodness? Don’t miss my other top-rated soups!- Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
- The Yummiest Vegetable Soup
- Healthy Salmon Corn Chowder
- Vegan Cream of Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup
- Golden French Lentil Soup
Lemon Chickpea Rice Soup
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Greek
Description
Bright and creamy Lemon Chickpea Rice Soup. A delicious and easy one-pot-meal made with pantry staples and packed with soul-soothing veggies! Vegan and gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups water (or broth, but reduce salt)
- 1–2 tbsp fresh dill (or 1–2 tsp dried, I used freeze-dried)
- 1 (15oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2/3 cup brown rice (can sub orzo, pasta, etc.)*
- 1/2 cup raw cashews + 1 cup water (can sub 1 1/12 cups milk, cream, etc.)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, more to taste
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 tsp salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add carrots and celery and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add water, dill, chickpeas, and uncooked rice. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for 35-45 minutes, or until rice/grain is tender. (If you use a 15-quick cook rice like I did or orzo/pasta, the cooking time will be reduced to 15 minutes). Turn off heat.
- Blend cashews with water in a high-speed blender (I used my Nutribullet) until smooth and creamy. Add to pot with lemon juice, salt (to taste), pepper, and spinach. Taste and add more seasoning/lemon juice to taste. It should be nice and bright!
Notes
*If you don’t have quick-cook rice, you can use 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fully cooked rice and reduce water to 5 cups or to your desired thickness.
This soup was delicious! A perfect soup for spring!
★★★★★
Wonderful, thank you so much Katie!
I’m Greek and very familiar with Avgolemono soup so when I saw a vegan version I was so excited and this did not disappoint! I added extra lemon because you can never have too much. Surprised how flavorful it was considering how few ingredients. Would definitely recommend!
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that, Athena! Love your name, too :_
Made this for supper tonight. I slow-cooked some dried chickpeas (~ 1 cup dried) in six cups of water for twelve hours and used those (~ 3 cups cooked chickpeas) and the liquid leftover (~ 4 cups) as my “broth”. I cooked my brown rice in advance as well since it was not quick-cook and used parsley and peas instead of the spinach. I wish I would have had fresh dill instead of dried – it would have been even better! The cashew cream was a great addition. A very nice refreshing soup! Thank you!
★★★★★
This is fantastic!!! Cozy soup but light and fresh. Perfect for a midwestern “spring” evening. Kids asked for seconds 🙂
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious! I used farro instead of rice. As I am not vegetarian, I used half chicken broth and half water for a little extra richness. One of my favorite soups ever!
★★★★★
Made it and it is awesome! We loved it 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome, thank you Carrie!!
Such a fresh and satisfying soup. I love how the cashew cream soaks into the rice and I pureed some yellow potatoes into the broth as well to add extra thickness which worked out great!
★★★★★
Mmmm yum! I love the potato addition. Thanks for letting me know, Elizabeth!
So good and easily adaptable with what you have on hand! I added mushrooms and a bit of leftover cooked quinoa, along with the rice. So good and will definitely add to my soup rotation!
★★★★★
Mmmm I love the mushroom addition! Thanks for letting me know, Rachel 🙂
This is a seriously delicious soup. It’s refreshing! So a great option for warmer weather when you still want that cozy feeling. It’ll be on repeat this spring. ✨
Heck yes! You made my day. Thanks for letting me know!!
Can’t wait to make this one, it’s in the plan for this week. Your soup recipes do not disappoint!
★★★★★
Awww thank you so much, Carrie! Please let me know if you try it.
Made it and it is awesome! We loved it 🙂
★★★★★
Hey! Could I substitute the cashew cream with coconut cream (full fat)? I am limiting my grocery trips and already have coconut cream on hand.
Hey there! I personally don’t love coconut milk in American soup recipes (I prefer it in curries/african peanut stew etc) but it should work if you like that flavor. You could also use 1/3 cup of tahini if you have that on hand!
Found this on your IG and made it the next day! I was able to freeze some to save for when the fam pulls out their meat filled soups (I’m vegetarian). Yay for not feeling left out anymore!!
★★★★★
I’m thrilled to hear that, Abby! Love that you loved it 😉
This recipe is exactly what I need in my life!! It so good and chock full of healthy goodness. I’m so glad I found this recipe. It definitely feeds me for 2-3 days and is great each time!!
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks for letting me know, Lauren!!
The perfect soup for spring! So good 🙂
★★★★★
Yayyyy thanks, Dylan! If spring soup were a thing…it would be this.
It’s so good. I have made it a few times now. The last time I made it with orzo in place of rice and loved it so much!