Name: 5-Ingredient Creamy Chickpeas and Roasted Garlic Soup for One
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 4 garlic cloves , unpeeled; 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas; 1¼ cups chicken or vegetable broth , plus extra as needed; 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley , tarragon, or chives; 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Why This Recipe Works

To develop deep, nuanced flavor from such simple ingredients, we started by quick-roasting skin-on garlic cloves in a clean, dry saucepan until they turned a beautiful golden color and became intensely fragrant. Roasting the garlic this way yielded mellow, mildly sweet garlic that mimicked the flavor of oven-roasted garlic in a fraction of the time. We peeled the garlic and returned it to the saucepan with some broth and a full can of chickpeas and their liquid (the technique so nice we used it thrice in developing these recipes), and then blended the soup until it was smooth and velvety. A splash of lemon juice and some fresh parsley are more than just finishing elements here—they wake up the flavors by adding bright freshness, and cut through the rich, silky soup.

Before You Begin

If you don't have a blender, an immersion blender or a food processor would also work.

Instructions

Toast garlic in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and skins are just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove garlic from saucepan and let cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, peel garlic then return to now-empty saucepan along with chickpeas and their liquid and broth. Bring to simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas begin to break down, 5 to 7 minutes.

Process soup in blender until smooth, about 2 minutes. Return soup to now-empty saucepan and adjust consistency with extra hot broth as needed. Off heat, stir in parsley and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve. (Soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)