Chickpea Soup

I love cooking with fresh beans, I do. Just check out our Cuban style red beans, Cuban white bean soup, and navy bean soup recipes. But, when it comes to chickpeas, it’s a love-hate relationship. I love to eat them, I hate that they’re super hard, even after soaking and long cooking times.

I’ve even asked my wise aunts, who are experienced and prolific cooks, for advice on how to get chickpeas to soften. They all came back with the same advice “use a pressure cooker”. I don’t use pressure cookers so there goes that idea.

I really didn’t want to give up, but a change of course was definitely needed. I decided to go with canned chickpeas. Finally, a chickpea soup with fantastic flavor and a creamy texture!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 medium Yellow Onion, finely diced
• 2 Carrots, diced
• 1 Celery Rib, diced
• 3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• ½ teaspoon Cumin
• ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 pound Smoked Pork Shanks, or ham hocks
• 4 cups Chicken Broth
• 4 cups Water
• 3 (16 ounce) cans Chickpeas (garbanzos), drained and rinsed
• 1 medium Potato, diced into bite sized pieces (we used a russet potato)

Prep work

Just because we're using canned beans that doesn’t mean we skimp on the process. There are plenty of vegetables to create a flavor base and smoked pork shanks to add amazing flavor to this soup.

Things will move quickly at the start of this chickpea soup recipe. It’s best to have everything ready to go before you start cooking.

• Dice the onions, carrots and celery. Mince the garlic, measure out the tomato paste and the spices.
• The salt, dried oregano, cumin and black pepper are all going in at the same time so keep them in the same bowl. I like using glass nesting bowls to organize all my ingredients. They make prep work a snap!
• Next, peel and dice the potatoes. Keep them in a bowl covered with cold water so they don’t start to brown.
• Rinse the pork shanks with cold water and pat them dry with a paper towel. They tend to be salty so we can control some of the salt.
• Finally, drain and rinse the chickpeas. The easiest way to do this is to add them to a large strainer and rinse them with cold water.

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Next, add the garlic, tomato paste, salt, dried oregano, cumin and black pepper to the pot. Stir the mixture well to combine. Cook for 1 minute while stirring.

Add the pork shanks, chicken broth and the water to the pot and stir well, while gently scraping any bits off the bottom of the pot.

Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to medium and cover the pot. Cook the broth with the pork shanks for 30 minutes.

Since we’re using canned chickpeas there’s no need to add them yet. Instead we’ll use the time to make a flavorful broth with the vegetables and pork.

We may be cheating with the canned chickpeas but this soup will still have that homemade, cooked-from-scratch taste.

Chop the smoked pork

Remove the pork shanks from the pot. Set them on a cutting board and allow them to cool a bit. Lower the heat on the broth to low, cover the pot and continue gently cooking the broth.

When the pork shanks are cool enough to handle, take the meat off the bone and chop it into small pieces. Discard the bone and any fatty pieces.

Finish the soup

Raise the heat to medium and add the chickpeas and the chopped pork to the pot, stir well. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the broth comes to a simmer. Raise the heat a touch if you need to.

Finally, add the potatoes to the pot. If you were keeping your potatoes in water, remember to drain them before adding them in. Yes, I have forgotten.

Lower the heat to medium-low, cover the pot and cook the soup for 25-30 minutes. We want the potatoes to be fall-apart tender and the chickpeas to be nice and creamy in the center.

Keep the soup boiling, so that the liquid thickens. The starchy potatoes and the chickpeas will break down some and thicken the soup nicely. Give the soup a stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom, especially as the soup starts to thicken.

Taste and add salt if needed. As a reference, we did not add extra salt to our chickpea soup.

What to do if the chickpea soup isn't thickening

If your chickpea soup is not thickening there’s an easy fix for that.

• First, uncover the pot and let the soup continue simmering for a few minutes. Some of the liquid will cook out and the soup will start to thicken.
• Then, use a small strainer to remove 2-3 tablespoons of the chickpeas and potatoes from the pot.
• Mash them up really well. Use a fork, kind of like making smashed potatoes.
• Finally, add that chickpea paste back to the soup and stir well. Let it simmer a little while longer and that should do it.
• This thickening method works really well with other bean soups as well.

Serve the chickpea soup with white rice or a nice piece of crusty bread for dipping. Enjoy!

You may also like these bean soup recipes:

• Lentil and Andouille Sausage Soup
• Bacon and Lentil Soup
• Lentil Sausage Soup
• Kale and White Bean Sausage Soup
• Cuban Split Pea Soup