This post contains affiliate links.
This easy quinoa vegetable soup is a bone-warming meal that combines the comfort of chicken noodle soup with the health perks of a veggie-packed bowl (and it comes together in under 30 minutes!).
save this recipe!Your New Go-To Soup
This soup is impossible to mess up. Throw everything in one pot, heat it up, and boom: soup.
This veggie soup is flexible and forgiving, making it especially great for those nights when you forget to make a grocery pit stop (and your fridge is looking a little sparse). Don’t leave the warmth of your house – make this instead!
Reader rating
“Delicious new addition to my limited soup choices. I’m not a big fan of soup, but this is great!” —Krista
Key Ingredients
When I say this soup is easy, I mean easy. If you keep your veggies and spices pretty stocked, you likely already have everything! Jump down to the recipe card for exact measurements; this is just an overview!
- Quinoa: Cooks directly in the broth, which means it absorbs the flavor of every ingredient in the pot rather than tasting like plain quinoa. Rinse it before adding to remove any bitterness from the natural coating.
- Chickpeas: To bulk up the soup and add extra protein, throw in some chickpeas! You can use canned for convenience or cook chickpeas from scratch for a creamier texture.
- Mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery): The aromatic base that gives the soup its depth. Chop everything to a similar size so it all cooks evenly and gives the soup a consistent texture throughout.
- Veggie Broth: For our liquid base, we’ll use vegetable broth (learn how to make vegetable broth here!).
- Herbs: Add fresh thyme for an earthy note, oregano (always great in vegetable soup), and bay leaves for that extra hearty flavor boost.
- Parsley: Complete your soup with some chopped fresh parsley.
Can I add more vegetables?
Absolutely, and this soup is one of the more forgiving recipes on the site for customization. A few additions that work well without compromising the broth:
- Add with the quinoa and chickpeas: diced zucchini, corn, green beans, diced sweet potato, or frozen peas. They all cook through in the same 12-minute window.
- Add in the last two minutes: kale, spinach, or any other leafy green. They wilt quickly and don’t need much time. Adding them too early turns them dark and slightly bitter.
- Avoid: very starchy vegetables like raw potatoes or hard winter squash unless you dice them small and give them extra time before adding the broth.
Can I use a different grain instead of quinoa?
Yes, with small adjustments to the cook time.
- White rice: Add with the broth and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes. It produces a slightly thicker, starchier broth as it cooks.
- Farro or barley: Both add a chewier, heartier texture. Add with the broth and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Worth the extra time if you have it.
- Small pasta like ditalini or orzo: Cook time is similar to quinoa, about 10 to 12 minutes. Not gluten-free, but a good option if that’s what you have on hand.
All of these absorb more broth as they sit, so plan to add extra liquid when reheating leftovers.
Pair it with…
Crusty bread for dunking is the obvious pairing and genuinely the right one. Beyond that, this soup works well alongside my avocado bruschetta as a light lunch combination. If you’re in a soup rotation kind of week, easy vegan minestrone and creamy gnocchi soup with white beans are the two I’d put in the same weeknight category.
Quinoa Vegetable Soup With Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, 30 mL
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 12 cups vegetable broth, 3 quarts, 2.8 L
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup dried quinoa, 180 g
- 2 15-oz cans chickpeas, 2 425 g cans, drained
- ½ cup chopped parsley, 20 g
Instructions
- Base: Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add 1 yellow onion (diced), 2 carrots (diced), 3 stalks celery (diced), and 4 cloves garlic (minced), and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Fillings: Add 12 cups vegetable broth, 1 tsp fresh thyme, ½ tsp dried oregano, and 2 bay leaves, then bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add 1 cup dried quinoa and 2 15-oz cans chickpeas. Cook until quinoa is tender, about 12 minutes.
- Serve: Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup chopped parsley. Serve warm with crusty bread!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist, and should be taken as an estimate. For the most accurate nutritional information, calculate it using the actual ingredients in your recipe.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!Why is the sodium so high?
The sodium in this recipe comes almost entirely from the vegetable broth. Twelve cups of standard store-bought broth accounts for the bulk of it, which means the fix is simple: use a low-sodium broth and the number drops significantly. If you want full control over the sodium from the start, my homemade vegetable broth has no added salt and lets you season the soup entirely on your own terms.
Hi! When you say to bring the broth to a boil, add quinoa, and cook until done (12 minutes): did you leave out to reduce the heat to a simmer? Or did you actually mean to cook the quinoa at a roiling boil for 12 minutes?
Usually quinoa is cooked at a very low temperature, so just checking.
Thanks!
You’re right! Changing that now 😀 Thanks for pointing that out!
Hiya I am livinnng for and loving all of your recipes right now! I am on a fast and found you through looking for plant based, light recipes, that will be easy on my stomach yet nutritious and delicious for when I reintroduce meals- and I’ve found all that (and more) here on your page! I’ve written many of your recipes down and this is one of them- I just wanted to ask if this soup freezes well? Thank you Sarah!
This one should freeze decently! 😀 Enjoy!
Hi Sarah,
Could you use the liquid from the chickpeas as part of your broth rather than throw it away? Thanks
Yea I think that would work! 😀
Surprisingly good. Not a lot of spice added , but surprisingly flavorful. I was afraid it would be somewhat bland.
Hi Sarah; I am new to your site and your recipes, and I simply love the site as well as the information, recipes, the descriptions, and the advertisement of your foods. The recipes are beautifully displayed, and appealing for the palette to try. I am currently investigating all of the recipes I can find to be able to eat the comfort foods that I have grown up with all of my life and I readily prepared for my family (I was the cook for my family from age 6 to 18) when I moved out to be married., I was not allowed to practice veganism even though in my soul I was. So with this book I have written, lol I just wanted to explain and thank you for your dedication and your love for the foods, knowledge, clear descriptions of the preparation of the food and why. I am wishing you the very best of everything in life that you want to achieve and ask you to not give up and close this site. Please keep with educating the people, your devoted followers, and the newbies like me with all of your wonderful comfort foods, and also the new foods that I have yet to experience. May the Universe wrap you in it’s arms and keep you. Barb
Hi Sarah; This is Barb again, (the one who wrote you a letter that looked like a book lol ) but I was wondering what I could use as a replacement for the Quinoa and the Couscous if after trying to eat it with the way you said to prepare I still don’t like it? I love most all of the grains, and the old-fashioned cereals; you’d be surprised-but for some reason I have not been able to wrap my brain around the texture and bland taste of both of these grains. Thanks, Barb
You could use farro or sorghum for a fun texture! 😀 Enjoy!
Delicious new addition to my limited soup choices. I’m not a big fan of soup but this is great!!!
So happy to hear you liked it, Krista! Enjoy! 😀
Why so much sodium?
The veggie broth! You can use a low-sodium variety though 😀
12 cups broth seems like quite a bit based on ratio of other ingredients. I plan to add some remaining diced sweet potato and zucchini. I’m assuming less liquid would make it more like a stew?
Combining this recipe and one from your fabulous cookbook which I’m
Loving!
Hi Jennifer! The quinoa will absorb some of that, but you can definitely reduce it to 8 or 10 cups for more of a stew 🙂 Happy eating!
Add bone broth for extra protein.