During the winter, and cold season, it’s good to have a recipe on hand that’s an alternative for the traditional “chicken noodle soup”. This fully plant-based and vegan recipe adds some healthy additions to the traditional soup that include turmeric and ginger – both excellent for those who are feeling under the weather (for their taste and soothing properties, and perhaps for their medicinal qualities too – some claim, at least).
At any rate, we enjoy a tasty and filling vegan soup. This recipe makes so much soup you may want to cut the quantities in half if you don’t have a lot of space in the fridge or freezer. But if you do, or you’re feeding a lot of people or have someone else to cook for – go for it. We always make a huge batch and enjoy the leftovers all week. Find more recipes for soup on our site.
Following this plant based recipe below, we have a bunch of ways you can adjust this recipe to your preferences or dietary needs.
Ginger Turmeric Chickpea Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 250 g noodles Dry measurement, about 4 cups cooked by volume - use any type of noodle you prefer.
- 10 cups water or no-chicken broth 10-12 cups work too.
- 2 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk Such as almond or oat. 2-3 cups work too.
- 12 new potatoes (small) Cut into quarters. Any waxy potato works well.
- 4 carrots Medium, chopped.
- 1 can chickpeas Canned or 15 oz cooked
- 1 onion Medium to large
- 1 cup celery Or substitute fennel.
- 1 red bell pepper Sliced
- fresh ginger Chunks, about 3 inches sliced
Seasonings
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2-3 Tbsp fresh ginger Minced
- 6 cloves fresh garlic Minced
- 2 Tbsp parsley flakes
- 1 Tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 Tbsp granulated onion powder Optional.
- 1 tsp black pepper Ground fresh.
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- 2 bay leaf
Optional additions & garnish
- Seitan or tofu Cubed
- kale Chopped, added after removed from heat
- fresh parsley To garnish/serve.
Instructions
- Add the noodles and water to a separate pot and cook according to package directions, and then set aside.
- Add the water or broth to a very large soup pot on the stovetop and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat.
- Add all of the seasonings to the water or broth and stir to combine.
- Add the fresh ginger chunks, potatoes, chickpeas, carrots, onion and celery to the pot and let simmer for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots reach desired tenderness.
- Add the unsweetened non-dairy milk, bell peppers, and any of the optional ingredients and allow to simmer about another 5 minutes or until heated and remove from stovetop.
- Add a serving of noodles to a bowl, and then add the soup to the bowl and combine well so noodles separate and warm. Alternatively, you can add them to the rest of the soup at this point (our pot wasn't large enough, and I prefer to keep separate for storage/leftovers).
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
Notes
Changes, swaps, and alternatives for this vegan soup recipe
There are many ways to change this recipe to meet your desired way of eating: gluten free, low or no sodium, avoiding noodles, and so on.
Using broth instead of water
You will need to adjust for what you decide to use, sodium heavily dependent on whether you make your own broth or use a store purchased option. We typically recommend a low sodium option, although tried a half water, half “no chicken” broth for this and it tasted quite delicious. We often “water down” our broth by using about half the recommended amount of product.
Choosing your noodles (Gluten free, etc)
You can use your favorite type of noodle for this recipe – gluten free, limited ingredient, and so on. We usually use a noodle with limited ingredients. Whatever type you use, cook it separately and add it at the end or use our alternative suggestion below.
I generally follow Dr. John McDougall’s advice regarding noodles – that they are acceptable within the diet, although they should play a minor role in your diet because the flours used are often highly refined. They are included on other sites following this way of eating, including Forks over Knives, so I choose the best noodle I can and not eat it every day all year long kind of thing. I consider noodles to be a special winter comfort food. If you do not consume noodles, the next section outlines how you can replace the noodles in the recipe with other options.
Omitting noodles from this soup recipe (Strict Whole Food)
You can also omit noodles from this recipe entirely, and just make a Ginger Turmeric Chickpea Potato soup. I increase the potatoes and chickpeas in the recipe to replace the noodles. You could also replace the noodles with barley. Any of these alternatives is still hearty and delicious.
Low or no sodium (SOS-Free)
This recipe is essentially sodium free as-is (our calculator has a little as its assuming processed plant-based milk, but we make our own which is sodium free). For a low/no sodium recipe to follow the SOS-Free way of eating:
- Cook your own chickpeas, or ensure your canned chickpeas do not contain sodium.
- Use water (don’t use the broth option), or use no-sodium vegetable broth (you may need to make your own).
- Ensure any dairy-free milk is sodium free. Again you may want to make your own if you don’t have this locally. We do recommend adding this, as it adds a great flavor and texture to the soup and really makes it stand out as a recipe!
- If you use seitan or tofu, you will need to check the packaging – or make your own. It’s actually not too difficult – although can be a bit time consuming.
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Saliz
Could not wait to try, made exactly as written. After adding all the herbs, spices, garlic , ginger, there was no flavor in the end. What went wrong? Too much water? This should have tons of flavor but it’s totally bland.
Jen @ Plant Based Recipe
Hi there. I’m really not sure why it doesn’t have flavor – I’ve made this tons of times, and I am very sensitive to flavorless food items (I almost always double any recipe). My main suspect would be the type of broth used, or if any of the spices used have been around for awhile since they can really lose flavor. But one star? Dude that’s rough. No wonder I’m thinking of quitting this whole thing.
Lara Hierro
Hey Jen, don’t quit, please!. We will try this today. I have read your notes, which help a lot. My Dad is recently diagnosed with CAD and must follow a daily diet of less than 1500mg of sodium. He’s an omnivore, I’m a committed Vegan and have followed a plant based diet for 5 years now and they have 3 meals cooked by me a week (which are plant based. I’ve been looking all over for resources and we’re still trying to adjust to the lack of salt and sodium all round. It’s very hard and miserable to adjust – salt (and sodium in general) is added to everything. It’s going to take a while, I think, for our taste buds to adjust. I gave up sugar for 2 weeks once, and I was miserable for the first 5 days, and spent the rest reading labels… I’ve heard Plantaforce by Vogel is supposed to be low sodium, but I have yet to check it out. I will come back and rate for you, and give my parents’ opinions too (or better yet, get them to write them). Keep going!