Soup is best kind of comfort food you can make. This lemon chickpea orzo soup brings plenty of herbs like rosemary and thyme, uses aromatics, and finishes with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. We love that the orzo cooks right in the Instant Pot for easy clean-up. From start to finish, this quick and easy soup takes only 30 minutes or so.
How To Make This Recipe
Once we’ve prepped the vegetables, this soup comes together in a snap. To our vegetable broth, we bring a mirepoix of onion, carrots, and celery along with garlic. Then, we amplify this iconic soup blend with thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf.
To make this soup a hearty meal, we add spinach, chickpeas, and orzo. Both fresh and frozen spinach work well in this soup. If you’re aiming for a whole food, plant-based option, simply use whole wheat orzo. Because this soup uses no oil or other processed ingredients, it is otherwise well aligned with a whole food, plant-based approach to eating.
Fresh vegetables, aromatics, spices, and orzo.
Prepare Soup
We begin by adding our vegetable broth, mirapoix, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf into our Instant Pot. Before adding our next layer of ingredients, we grab our large spoon and give it a quick stir.
Combine broth, mirepoix, and spices.
Next, we all in our spinach, chickpeas, and orzo. Once again, we mix to combine.
Spinach, chickpeas, and orzo.
Cook Under Pressure
Once everything is mixed together, we close the lid and seal the vent. We then cook this soup at HIGH pressure for 3 minutes.
Once the cycle completes, allow the pressure to release naturally for 7 minutes. Then, very gently, we release all remaining pressure. We like to protect our hand from spray by covering it with a dish towel as we release.
Ready to Serve
Once all pressure has released, we remove the lid. Then, we finish the soup by stirring in our lemon juice along with salt and pepper to taste. If we find any clumps of orzo as we stir, we break them up with our spoon.
Finish with lemon juice.
After those finishing touches, we’re ready to serve. We like to serve this soup warm with a hunk of crusty bread for dipping.
Enjoy your lemon chickpea orzo soup.
We prefer to serve this soup immediately. However, leftovers will keep for several days. Simply store them in a covered, airtight container in the refrigerator. As it sits, the orzo will continue to absorb broth. So, we often need to add a bit more water to thin out the soup when reheating leftovers.
Grab a spoon and dig in.
More savory soups:
Recipe Card for Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup
Here’s the recipe card for Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup. Print, share or save!
Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 cups vegetable broth chicken style
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 ribs celery sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 pinch dried rosemary
- 1 each bay leaf
- 4 ounces spinach fresh or frozen
- 15 ounces chickpeas or one can, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup orzo pasta uncooked
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add vegetable broth, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf, into the Instant Pot and stir.
- Add in spinach, beans, and orzo and stir. Close the lid and seal the vent.
- Cook at HIGH Pressure for 3 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally for 7 minutes and then very carefully release all remaining pressure.
- Stir in lemon juice and season to taste immediately before serving.
