Meet your new favorite cozy weeknight soup🍲
This hearty vegan chickpea minestrone soup is packed with cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and chickpeas, all simmered in a rich tomato broth — deeply savory, a little sweet, and incredibly satisfying.
The flavor is inspired by a Japanese school lunch classic: pork and beans.
Chickpeas have a naturally meaty, savory aroma that recreates that cozy, nostalgic taste — without any pork at all.
The result is a filling, comforting bowl full of umami, made in one pot with simple ingredients.
Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or a batch-cook weekend meal.
🌿 Love batch cooking? My Vegan Borscht uses almost the same ingredients — so you can shop once and make two completely different soups.
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🇯🇵 What is Japanese-style Pork & Beans?
If you grew up in Japan, port and beans (ポークビーンズ) is a school lunch staple — a hearty tomato-based stew with soft white beans and tender chunks of pork, lightly sweetened and deeply savory. It's the kind of dish that feels like a warm hug.
This recipe recreates that flavor, entirely plant-based.
The secret is chickpeas. Unlike regular white beans, chickpeas have a subtle nuttiness and a savory depth that naturally echoes the flavor of pork — it sounds surprising, but once you try it, it makes perfect sense.
Paired with a rich tomato base and a touch of sweetness, this vegan minestrone soup captures everything that made the original so comforting, without any meat.
🫘 Ingredients
Vegetables
- Cooked chickpeas: The star of this vegan chickpea dish. Their savory, slightly nutty flavor is what gives this soup its unmistakable pork-and-beans character — it's one of those things you have to taste to believe. You can cook them from scratch using a pressure cooker (here's how), or use canned or packaged chickpeas for convenience.
- cabbage
- carrot
- shimeji mushrooms
- potato
- onion
Seasoning
- Canned tomatoes: The base of this minestrone soup. I use unsalted.
- Chickpea cooking liquid: Don't pour this down the drain! The liquid from cooking your chickpeas is full of flavor and helps deepen the soup. If you're using canned chickpeas with added salt, make sure to season with less salt when sautéing to balance the flavor, or swap to plain water instead.
- onion Koji: My secret weapon for this vegan minestrone recipe. Onion koji acts as a natural vegan consommé and brings a depth of umami that's hard to replicate with store-bought broth. It's a game-changer for soups, Japanese curry, and pasta sauces — worth making a batch to keep on hand. A commercial vegan-friendly consommé works as a substitute, though the flavor will be slightly different.
- olive oil: Any neutral oil works here.
- sugar: Just one small spoonful. Pork and beans has a characteristic mild sweetness that comes from the pork itself — this single spoonful recreates that balance in a plant-based version. I use vegan-certified unrefined sugar, but mirin or another sweetener works fine.
- soy sauce: Added at the end to taste.
- salt: A pinch during sautéing draws out the natural flavor of the vegetables — a small step that makes a big difference in plant-based cooking.
👩🏻🍳 Instructions
Simple steps, cut, sauté, simmer and season.
- Cut: Cut all vegetables (except the chickpeas) into small, even cubes.
💡 Cut the potatoes slightly larger than the rest — this keeps them from breaking apart as they cook.
- Sauté: Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and give everything a good stir so the oil coats all the vegetables.
- Braise: Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and braise for 10 minutes.
💡 Lift the lid a few times during cooking to stir and prevent burning.
- Simmer & season: Add the chickpeas, chickpea cooking liquid, canned tomatoes, and onion koji. Simmer until all the vegetables are tender. Finish with a touch of sugar and soy sauce, adjusting to your taste.
☝️ Tips for the Best Flavor
If time allows, let the finished soup cool completely — this gives the flavors time to meld together. Then simply reheat and enjoy it piping hot.
Like most bean soups, this minestrone tastes even better the next day.
🥄 Tools
- kitchen knife
- cutting board
- pot
- wooden spatula
🫙 Storage
Keeps well in the refrigerator for 2–3 days. Reheat thoroughly before serving.
💭 FAQ
You can use a commercial vegan-friendly consommé in its place, though the flavor will be slightly different. If possible, look for an onion-based consommé for the closest result.
Yes, it can. In that case, either season with less salt when sautéing to balance the flavor, or swap the chickpea cooking liquid for plain water instead.
If you feel like whispering a thought, asking a question, or simply saying hello — the comment section is always open 📮
🐥 Recipes with Chickpeas
Other vegan chickpea recipes:
🍅 Recipes with Canned Tomatoes
Other vegan recipes using canned tomatoes:
🧅 Using Onion Koji
More vegan recipes with onion koji:
✏️ Recipe Card
Hearty Vegan Chickpea Minestrone Soup (Japanese-style Pork & Beans)
Equipment
- kitchen knife
- cutting board
- pot
- wooden spatula
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 80 g cabbage
- 150 g cooked chickpeas
- 50 g shimeji mushrooms
- 150 g potato (1 medium-sized)
- 60 g carrot (½ medium-sized)
- 40 g onion (¼ medium-sized)
Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 200 g canned tomatoes
- 300 ml chickpea cooking liquid (substitute with water)
- 11/2 tablespoon onion koji (substitute with vegan-friendly consommé/Bouillon cube)
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar (substitute with mirin)
Instructions
- Cut:Cut all vegetables into small, even cubes. Cut the potatoes slightly larger than the rest — this keeps them from breaking apart as they cook.80 g cabbage50 g shimeji mushrooms150 g potato60 g carrot40 g onion
- Saute: Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and give everything a good stir so the oil coats all the vegetables.1 tablespoon olive oil1 pinch salt
- Braise: Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and braise for 10 minutes. Lift the lid a few times during cooking to stir and prevent burning.
- Simmer & season: Add the chickpeas, chickpea cooking liquid, canned tomatoes, and onion koji. Simmer until all the vegetables are tender.150 g cooked chickpeas200 g canned tomatoes300 ml chickpea cooking liquid11/2 tablespoon onion koji
- Finishing touches: Add sugar and soy sauce to taste. If time allows, let the soup cool completely before serving — this gives the flavors time to meld together. Reheat and enjoy piping hot.½ teaspoon soy sauce1 tablespoon sugar
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If this recipe hit the spot, you might be surprised how many other things chickpeas can do. Check out my other chickpea recipes for more 💫
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