Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Pumpkin, chickpea and tahini soup
Pumpkin and chickpeas simmered with cumin, blended smooth and finished with tahini.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 22 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm diced pumpkin is soft in 20 to 25 minutes
- Confirm the tahini does not split when whisked in off the heat
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 50 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 555 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 22 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains sesame. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
Cooking steps
Soften the diced onion in the oil over medium-low heat for 8 minutes.
Add the cumin and cook for a full minute before any liquid goes in.
Add the diced pumpkin, most of the drained chickpeas, keeping a handful back, and the stock. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pumpkin gives to a spoon.
Blend until completely smooth.
Take the pan off the heat and let it stop bubbling, then whisk in the tahini. Serve with the reserved chickpeas and the coriander scattered over.
The useful detail
Whisk the tahini in off the heat. Boiled it turns bitter and splits into oily threads, and the whole point of it here is the richness it gives without any cream.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl, half the pot. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Butternut squash instead of pumpkin
Sweeter and denser, giving a thicker soup.
Per serving: about 55 kcal more, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Peanut butter instead of tahini
Sweeter and heavier. Whisk it in the same way.
Per serving: about the same energy, about 1 g more protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Swaps sesame for peanuts.
Greek yoghurt instead of tahini
Lighter and sharper, and it adds protein rather than fat.
Per serving: about 35 kcal less, about 5 g more protein, about 7 g less fat.
Allergens: Swaps sesame for milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A blended soup that is still a meal, where the chickpeas carry the protein and the tahini does the job cream would.
| Energy | 555 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 22 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 78 g |
| of which sugars | not calculated |
| Fibre | 16 g |
| Sodium | 1,670 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| olive oil | 14 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 121 kcal | 0.0 g |
| ground cumin | 2 g | FDC 170923Spices, cumin seedFoodData Central records cumin seed; ground cumin is the same seed, milled. | 8 kcal | 0.4 g |
| pumpkin | 600 g | FDC 168448Pumpkin, raw | 156 kcal | 6.0 g |
| chickpeas | 400 g | FDC 173800Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, canned, drained solids | 556 kcal | 28.2 g |
| vegetable stock | 785 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 39 kcal | 1.9 g |
| tahini | 30 g | FDC 168604Seeds, sesame butter, tahini, type of kernels unspecified | 178 kcal | 5.2 g |
| fresh coriander | 10 g | FDC 169997Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw | 2 kcal | 0.2 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1108 kcal | 43.2 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. of which sugars could not be calculated, because one ingredient’s record does not cover it; the row above says which. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. It thickens overnight. Reheat gently; the tahini can split if it boils.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Butternut, white bean and sage soup
Roasted squash and white beans blended into a smooth sage soup.
About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian