Garbanzo Bean Soup

Easy Garbanzo Bean Soup is flavored with garlic, Sumac, Olive Oil, and Lemon; make it in the slow cooker or on the stove. And this very flavorful soup with garbanzo beans is vegetarian if you switch out chicken broth for vegetable broth!

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Garbanzo Bean Soup is an easy and tasty soup recipe that’s loaded with interesting flavors. And after I rediscovered it when I made Fattoush, I’ve been loving the flavor of powdered Sumac! And that’s the maroon-colored spice you see sprinkled on top of this delicious soup made from dried garbanzo beans.

But if you don’t have Sumac, don’t let that stop you from making this amazing Garbanzo Bean Soup, especially if you like hummus, falafel, or any of the other tasty things made with chickpeas. I started with dried beans and a bit of skepticism as I added onions, garlic, and chicken stock to the crockpot with cumin and a few bay leaves. But after cooking all day on low, the beans were softened and the soup was smelling great.

This soup with garbanzo beans did remind me of the Greek Chickpea soup called Revithia, but the addition of cumin and the use of Sumac made the flavor of this soup quite remarkable. And this budget-friendly soup can easily be vegetarian if you switch the chicken stock for vegetable stock, and it’s perfect to make for the freezer when winter is coming.

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• dried Garbanzo Beans
• chicken stock or canned chicken broth (affiliate link), or use vegetable broth for a meatless soup
• water
• onion
• Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
• Bay Leaves (affiliate link)
• ground cumin (affiliate link)
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• Olive Oil (affiliate link), for drizzling on finished soup
• Sumac (affiliate link), optional, but VERY tasty for sprinkling on finished soup
• lemons, optional, for squeezing on finished soup

What are Garbanzo Beans?

Garbanzo beans are also called chickpeas, and the name will vary depending where you are in the world. This popular type of bean has other names around the world, including ceci beans, chichi beans, gram, chana, or Egyptian peas.

What is Sumac?

I’m a huge fan of Sumac, a reddish-purple ground spice that’s common in middle eastern cooking. It has a lemony flavor that’s good on so many foods. I’ve used Sumac on hummus, in Fattoush Lebanese Salad, in salad dressing, and even on Cauliflower Rice. It’s often used with garbanzo beans, and it adds a nice flavor to this soup. Sumac also one of the components of Za’atar, a middle eastern blend of spices.

Can you make Garbanzo Bean Soup without Sumac?

If you don’t have Sumac and don’t want to buy it for this recipe, you can get a good result using Smoked Paprika (affiliate link). But if you like interesting flavors and enjoy cooking middle eastern food, I do urge you to get some Sumac. I bet you’re going to love it!

Is Garbanzo Bean Soup low in carbs?

Garbanzo beans are not a low-carb food of course. But chickpeas have quite a bit of fiber, so this soup with chickpeas has 16 net carbs per serving and 7 grams of protein. I bet that’s lower in carbs than you were thinking!

Do you have to soak the beans for Garbanzo Bean Soup?

In one of the most popular posts on this site, I compare the slow cooker cooking time for soaked and unsoaked dried beans. The cooking time is close, but  soaked beans are much less likely to cause gastric distress that some people experience with eating beans. Your choice on that, but I prefer soaking the beans when I make this soup if I can remember to plan ahead.

What size Slow Cooker did I use?

I used a Crock-Pot 3 Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for the Garbanzo Bean Soup recipe. If you only have a larger size I’d simply double the recipe and stash some soup in the freezer!

How to Make Garbanzo Bean Soup:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. I started with 2 cups of dried chickpeas, but if you sometimes have issues with dried beans, I’d recommend soaking the beans in the crockpot overnight, then discarding that water before you start cooking the soup.
2. You can also soak the beans all day while you’re at work and then make this soup on the stove in a few hours. If you use a crockpot, remember you need to allow room for the beans to expand as they cook.
3. Put beans, chicken broth or stock (or vegetable broth), 2 cups water, finely chopped onion, minced garlic, bay leaves, cumin, salt, and pepper in crockpot.
4. Here’s how the mixture looked after cooking for 7 hours on low. At this point I added 1 cup more water and cooked for another hour.
5. I used my Immersion Blender (affiliate link), which makes it so easy to puree soups. You can also use a food processor or regular blender, but be careful with the hot liquid if you do it that way.
6. I blended the soup right in the crockpot, and I thought the consistency of the soup was just perfect, with the amount of liquid I used, but if you’d like a thinner soup, add a bit more hot water.
7. I ate some soup right away and froze the rest, and the Garbanzo Bean Soup was delicious, even after being frozen.

Make it a Meal:

Garbanzo Bean Soup would be amazing served with a low-carb bread like Olive Bread, Low-Carb High-Fiber Savory Muffins, or Savory Almond Flour Bread. Or 

Weekend Food Prep:

The Garbanzo Bean Soup recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: 6 servings

Garbanzo Bean Soup

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes

Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Soup is loaded with flavor from garlic, Sumac, olive oil, and lemon, and this can be made in the slow cooker or on the stove. And this tasty soup can easily be vegetarian if you use vegetable broth.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried Garbanzo Beans
• 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 2 cups + 1 cup water
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 T minced garlic
• 2 large bay leaves
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• olive oil, for drizzling on finished soup
• powdered Sumac (optional, for sprinkling on finished soup, or use paprika)
• 1 lemon (optional, for squeezing on finished soup)

Instructions

Crockpot Recipe:

1. Put beans, chicken broth or stock, 2 cups water, finely chopped onion, minced garlic, bay leaves, cumin, salt, and pepper in crockpot.
2. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until beans are very soft. (If you start with soaked beans, they will get softer more quickly, but it won’t hurt if you cook them all day if you’re not home to check.)
3. After 7-8 hours, check the amount of liquid in the crockpot and see if you want to add more. (I cooked for 7 hours, added 1 cup hot water, and cooked 1 hour more.)
4. When beans are very soft, remove bay leaves, then puree the soup either using an immersion blender, or in batches using a food process or blender. (If you use a food processor or blender, be careful not to overfill so the hot liquid doesn’t spill out.) You can puree completely like I did, or leave the soup a bit chunky.
5. Serve the Garbanzo Bean Soup hot. I drizzled each bowl of soup with olive oil, sprinkled on Ground Sumac (affiliate link), and squeezed on fresh lemon juice.

Stovetop Recipe:

1. Put beans, chicken stock, 2 cups water, finely chopped onion, minced garlic, bay leaves, cumin, salt, and pepper in large soup pot. (For stovetop cooking, I would definitely soak the beans.)
2. Bring to a low simmer and cook until beans are well-softened, checking the beans every 30 minutes or so and adding more water as needed. (Cooking time for dried beans depends on how fresh the beans are, so if you have beans which have been stored for a while it could take 2-3 hours for them to get soft, even with pre-soaked beans.)
3. When beans are well-softened, check the amount of liquid and see if you want to add a bit more hot water before pureeing soup. (Stovetop cooking will probably take at least twice as much water as crockpot cooking.)
4. Puree soup and serve with olive oil, Ground Sumac (affiliate link), and lemon juice as described above.

Notes

Whether cooking in crockpot or on stove, pre-soaking the beans is recommended if you have trouble digesting dried beans. Soak for 8 hours, then discard the soaking water and rinse beans before proceeding with recipe. Cooking time for either version of the recipe will be shorter if you use soaked beans.

Recipe inspired by Chickpea Soup from The Pink Peppercorn, who used smoked Paprika and made the soup on the stove.

This recipe created by Kalyn.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 148Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 5mgSodium 878mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 5gSugar 5gProtein 7g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Beans aren’t low in carbs, but they have lots of fiber so this Garbanzo Bean Soup has only 16 net carbs per serving. You decide if that’s too much of a carb splurge if you’re limiting carbs. All types of dried beans are perfect for any phase of the original South Beach Diet.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for Garbanzo Bean Soup was posted in 2009 and I made it regularly back in the days when I ate beans more often. It was last updated with more information in 2025.

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