30 minute Chickpea Lime & Coconut Soup – warm, satisfying & easy to make! | Gluten Free + Vegan + Grain Free
I know it’s still very much summer and I should be posting ice cream or salad or some other type of BBQ worthy recipe that doesn’t require standing over over a hot stove…..but apparently Sheffield hasn’t quite received that memo.
The weather has been so hot/cold this past week. Rain in the morning & sunshine in the evening – I’m so seasonally confused I don’t know how to dress myself in the morning let alone decide what to make for dinner.
Good thing I’m fiercely committed to eating soups no matter what the season. If anything this just gives me a more legitimate reason to go for it.
And hey! If the rain stops & the sun comes out before I’m finished with this bowl I’ve got some chocolate ice cream in the freezer to cool me down. It’s a win-win no matter what.
So then….shall we begin?
The inspiration for this soup actually came from my Coconut Lime Chicken recipe. It’s easily my most popular recipe & thought it was time for a little meatless make over. Since the coconut lime sauce is the real MVP of that recipe – turning that base into a soup was a no brainer.
This soup is made all in one pot and comes together in about 30 minutes.
The base flavours here are:
Red Onion
Garlic
Coconut Milk
Vegetable Broth
Lime Juice
It’s warm, savoury with a lot of added ‘zing’ from the lime juice.
This also works great as an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink recipe.
If you’ve got any odd bits and pieces of veggies that need using, go ahead and throw them in here. Add more or less veggies based on what you like. Not a fan of sweet potatoes? Swap them with white potatoes or leave them out. Got a bunch of kale that’s starting to wilt – pop it in!
Once you’ve got your base coconut soup worked out feel free to play around with what you have in and make this your own.
In the end you’ll be left with a clean fridge and a nourished body – what more could you want?
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Chickpea Lime & Coconut Soup
30 minute Chickpea Lime & Coconut Soup - warm, satisfying & easy to make! | Gluten Free + Vegan + Grain Free
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped (about 1/2 of an onion)
- 2 teaspoons crushed garlic (about 2 medium cloves)
- 1 red chili, chopped & deseeded (optional - half if you want a little extra kick and a whole pepper if you like things spicy)
- 2 small or medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 red bell pepper, deseeded & chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 can | 14 oz coconut milk
- 3 cups | 720 ml vegetable broth
- 1 can | 15 oz chickpeas, drained
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 tablespoons | 30 ml fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teasoon sea salt or to taste
- chopped cilantro, optional
Instructions
- Heat the coconut oil in a large, heavy bottom pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the onion. Cook until very soft, translucent and breaking down, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and chilli pepper. Stir and cook until fragrant, constantly stirring to avoid burning the garlic.
- Add the the sweet potato, red pepper and turmeric to the pot & stir.
- Add the entire can of coconut milk and the vegetable stock. Stir the pot, place a lid on top, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat on the stove to a simmer and remove the lid. Cook until the potatoes are just-tender, about 15 minutes.
- Add the chickpeas and spinach.
- Stir in the lime juice. Taste and season with salt as needed and add cilantro.
- Serve over rice and enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 344Saturated Fat: 16gSodium: 550mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 8gSugar: 10gProtein: 8g
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This was a tasty and very colorful soup.
I tweaked it just a bit, cooked the chickpeas for about 5 minutes at the end. Used lemon juice as organic lines are practically non existent here in BC. Used Tabasco sauce in place of chili pepper, about 5 drops.
Served with some savory muffins I had baked, instead of rice.
Would definitely make again.😊 Thanks!
Well done with recipe and your beautiful site.
Geraldine
author of The Groovy Green Kitchen series
Thanks Geraldine! Love the sound of those muffins – bread & soup are such a cozy combo!
Cannot believe how something so simple to make can taste so amazing. And brilliant, as you say, for using up leftovers in the fridge – I added in a small handful of broccoli, cauliflower, a bit of aubergine, some mange tout and a couple of cooked jersey royal potatoes I had left over. Have bookmarked to add to my favourite go-to recipes that produce maximum results for minimum effort!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it so much! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Hello
I made the soup and its amazing!!!
I have a question about the nutritional information though. How many cups of soup is it for and does it include the brown rice, if yes for what amount?
I am trying to track my meals better.
Thank you!
Thanks Boryana! Glad to hear it 🙂
This soup makes about 6-7 cups altogether. The brown rice isn’t included in the nutritional info because it’s just a serving suggestion. You can use brown rice, quinoa or even cauliflower rice if you’re looking for some lower calorie ideas!
This made a delicious soup! (I forgot to make rice) :). The broth is excellent. Thanks so much for sharing
Thanks Allie! So glad you enjoyed it!
If u skip putting it on rice can u just throw cauliflower and eat it as a soup in a bowl?
Definitely! So long as it’s rice cauliflower so that it warms up evenly and quickly – that’s how I usually make it.
Who said that vegan food is boring?
This soup is so pretty as well as lovely!!
Thanks Liv!!
Love this receipe – make it and variations all the time. Pondering adding fish…what do you think? A bit of snapper was what I had in mind…
Hi Eileen! I think that would be a great idea – think I’m going to do that myself next time! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Love this soup! Prep time is definitely underestimated.
Thanks Kristine!
Would this be a recipe that I could freeze?
That’s no problem! Just freeze it as you would. Since this has coconut milk in it the cream might separate a little bit when frozen but it should mix together again just fine when you heat it up all the way
This recipe was absolutely amazing!! Most definitely will stay in my rotation.
So glad you liked it!
This is fantastic! I’m always on the lookout for quick-to-make veggie soups and this sounded right up my street – the final flavour is delicate and balanced, and amazing considering how easy it is to put together.
Thanks Sheona! So glad you liked it!
This was flippin’ AMAZING!! I made it EXACTLY as written and couldn’t be happier with the results! I only have an electric skillet and a microwave – I’m remodeling my kitchen – and I could hardly stand smelling it while it was cooking!! 🙂 Soooo easy, soooo delicious! I had with and without rice. Thanks!! It is going to be one of my go-to recipes!
That makes me so happy to hear! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought! Here’s to hoping your kitchen remodel is a speedy one!
Sooo good, thank you so much for sharing ! It tastes unbelievable !!
Thanks Abla!
So good!! Do you happen to have nutritional values for the recipe?
Thanks Valeria! The nutritional info according to myfitnesspal: 401 cal/serving | total fat: 16 grams | carbs: 53 grams | fibre: 13 grams | protein: 15 grams | sugar: 12 grams
This is based on six servings but you can always adjust the amount per serving using the myfitnesspal recipe calculator http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box
Thank you!
Is this nutritional value information with or without the rice?
Hi Lisa! It does not include the rice.
I decided to try this as a Crock-Pot recipe. This is what I did:
Added 1 T sweet garlic chili sauce
1 raw onion 1 can coconut milk 3 cup low sodium veggie broth 1.5 red/orange bell pepper 1 medium/ 1 small diced sweet potato 1 T tumeric himilayian sea salt ground pepper cayenne pepper and let all this cook on low.
Then 90 minutes prior to serving I added:
Lime juice a little more tumeric a little garlic powder lots of spinach the drained chick peas and 3/4 a cup of brown rice. Then I turned the Crock-Pot on high for 2 hours.
The rice soaked up all the juice and it was delicious!😊
I hope this helps give a new spin on those with time constraints. I went to the gym during the last 90 minutes and dinner was ready when I got home!!
Thank you so much for the recipe! We’re transitioning into vegan and recipes can get with mundane.
Thank you for sharing your crock pot adjustments – as someone who loves reading comments that people leave behind on recipe sites sharing what they changed I always find those really helpful! So glad you enjoyed the soup & good luck with your new diet changes!
Thank you SO much for this recipe! I am a big fan of Tom Kah soup but I can never get the flavor right AND honestly I love the color from the tumeric. This is a GREAT base for a soup to warm your soul! I added an extra small sweet potato and mushrooms and instead of the chili (because i am a wussy and cant handle heat lol) I added crushed ginger instead – about a teaspoon – added when the garlic is added to release the aroma. I also during the simmering process added one lime worth of zest, which made the citrus bounce a bit more when adding the juice, as well as a bay leaf to round out the flavor. Everything came out PERFECT! Dry Pan fried tofu squares to garnish alongside an extra lime squeeze and cilantro, omitted the rice to make it more soupy. WILL make this again, this will be a big hit for the family of foodies!
Aww thanks Carolyn! LOVE hearing that you and your family enjoyed it! Adding lime zest is such a good idea – doing that the next time I make this as I love it when the citrus pops. Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know how it went!
This looks delicious. I was wondering about the calorie count. That can’t be per serving? Is it?
Thanks Ali! And it is though you can enter it in to myfitnesspal or another calorie counter app if you want to play around with the serving sizes. This is a pretty generous serving considering the fact that chickpeas, sweet potato and coconut milk are all high calorie plant based foods.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made a double batch and it lasted our little family of 4 for a few days. We have spent a fair amount of time in Thailand and this recipe is reminiscent of many of the qualities we love about eating there. We all loved it (even our 3 and 7 year olds!).
That’s wonderful – really glad you all enjoyed it! Thanks so much for letting me know what you guys thought!
Outstanding! I didn’t have a chili pepper and only had reduced fat coconut milk. Delicious!!! Next time I think I will try adding already cooked tofu in it as a swap for the beans. The flavor combo of the coconut milk, vegetable stock, tumeric and lime juice were perfect. Thank you!
Thanks Linda! So glad you liked it!
FYI, I have shared this on a group FB page and 3 people have already made it and LOVED it. We triple batched it this weekend and my husband added chicken to his.
Thank you so much for sharing, Linda! I really appreciate it and I’m SO happy to hear people are enjoying it!
This looks absolutely delicious! I love chickpeas in salads, but not so much in hot foods- the texture when they’re canned just doesn’t do it for me. I’ve tried every which way, including using dried, but I can’t get them to have the rich, creamy texture they have in Indian food. Any ideas?
I’m still going to try this soup!
Hi Robynne! Thank you! I know what you mean about chickpeas – while the can have a nice texture it hot things it can also be hard to get that nice, creamy texture since they hold their shape so well. Have you ever tried mashing the chickpeas up a bit before adding them to your food? I do that every now and then to get a thicker consistency when making soups. With soups/stews you could also try bending up about half a cup of the soup along with some chickpeas and then add it back to the top – that really makes a huge difference for me. Hope that helps & I hope you like it if you try this!
Switch it out for Cannolini beans (white kidney beans) or pimento beans! Super creamy texture!
Pinto**
Sounds delicious. Could I also substitute chick peas with red lentils and chilli with ginger?
Absolutely! Hope you like it!
I made this for the hospital i work at. I added a touch of honey and thickened with corn starch and coconut milk. I made 15 gallons and was all gone. It was a hit. Thank you. / CMH Astoria oregon
That’s so great – so it went down well! I also really love the sound of adding a bit of honey too! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how it went!
Just made this for dinner and it was a hit with my sick wife!
Put a dry red pepper in it to drive the “sick,” away and the extra garlic always helps. Thanks for an amazing recipe on a cold LA night; I know right? Awesome!
Extra garlic is always a good idea! Hope your wife feels better soon! Really glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
This recipe looks yummy but I’m trying to stay away from rice (just for weight loss). Do you think maybe quinoa would be a good substitution?
Or maybe make it thicker and totally leave out a starch totally?
Thanks in advance, Jen
Hi Jen! Quinoa would absolutely work! I’ve also made this with and without rice. Without rice I just try to add more veggies to bulk it out. You could also add riced cauliflower so you get that rice kind of feeling without the calories
This was an amazing recipe! My boyfriend and I loved it so much. Adding the optional chili pepper really, really spiced things up! We will probably add half of one next time. I am going to remake this recipe again and again.
So happy to hear that you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for mentioning about the chilli! I made a note about the spiciness so that it’s not too unexpectedly overpowering for other people. Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how it went 🙂
So yummy! Thanks for sharing your brilliant creation 🙂 I have made this recipe twice now with different variations. I think my favorite is to add 3/4 lb cubed chicken breast, 1/2 bunch curly kale, a couple celery sticks, an extra Serrano chili, and some chopped green beans!
Yay! SO glad you like it! Your additions sound delicious – gonna have to make it your way now! Thanks for coming back to leave comment/review letting me know how it went 🙂