Best Lentil Soup
This healthy lentil soup recipe comes together quickly with pantry ingredients. Simple spices, fresh greens and a squeeze of lemon make it the best! Vegan.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 3, 2024
This soup recipe was a long time coming! Over the years, I made some lackluster lentil soups that never saw the light of day on this website. No vegetarian food blog would be complete without a proper lentil soup, though, so I perfected one of my own.
Here it is. My lentil soup is made with mostly pantry ingredients but includes hearty greens and a squeeze of lemon for bright, fresh flavor. It’s seasoned with a few of my favorite spices and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Honestly, it’s the best lentil soup I’ve ever had.
The original title of this recipe was “Spiced Vegan Lentil Soup,” which is accurate, but a mouthful. With over 500 five-star reviews, I think it’s safe to call this the Best Lentil Soup. Period.
Whether you’re looking to lighten up your meals or warm up with a steaming bowl of soup, this healthy lentil soup recipe is for you! It’s one of my all-time favorites and I hope it becomes a staple in your kitchen as well.
How to Make the Best Lentil Soup
Five reasons to love this recipe:
- The recipe calls for seasonal vegetables and affordable pantry ingredients, but tastes gourmet.
- This lentil soup has an amazing hearty texture that’s lightly creamy (yet there is no cream). The trick is to blend up a portion of the soup once the lentils are tender, and then pour it back into the pot. It’s like magic.
- This nutritious, well-balanced soup counts as a meal if you enjoy a generous portion. Lentils are rich in protein, fiber, iron and folate.
- Lentil soup packs well for lunch in a leak-proof container, and it tastes even better the next day.
- This soup freezes and defrosts well. Make soup now and enjoy it later!
Watch How to Make Lentil Soup
Please let me know how this lentil soup turns out for you in the comments. I’m always so eager to hear from you.
If you love this soup, check out my hearty vegetarian chili, favorite black bean soup and pinto posole. You can check out all my soup and stew recipes here.
Don’t miss my lentil minestrone recipe in my cookbook—if you’re a fan of this soup, you’re going to love it.
Best Lentil Soup
This simple vegan lentil soup recipe comes together quickly with mostly pantry ingredients. Be sure to have your ingredients prepped and ready before you start cooking! Recipe yields four large bowls of soup, or six more modest servings.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, lightly drained
- 1 cup brown or green lentils, picked over and rinsed
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup chopped fresh collard greens or kale, tough ribs removed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice (½ to 1 medium lemon), to taste
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. One-fourth cup olive oil may seem like a lot, but it adds a lovely richness and heartiness to this nutritious soup.
- Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion and carrot and cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, cumin, curry powder and thyme. Cook until fragrant while stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Pour in the drained diced tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes, stirring often, in order to enhance their flavor.
- Pour in the lentils, broth and the water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper. Raise heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape.
- Transfer 2 cups of the soup to a blender. Securely fasten the lid, protect your hand from steam with a tea towel placed over the lid, and purée the soup until smooth. Pour the puréed soup back into the pot. (Or, use an immersion blender to blend a portion of the soup.)
- Add the chopped greens and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the greens have softened to your liking. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Taste and season with more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice until the flavors really sing. For spicier soup, add another pinch or two of red pepper flakes.
- Serve while hot. Leftovers will keep well for about 4 days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen for several months (just defrost before serving).
Notes
Soup recipe roughly based on America’s Test Kitchen’s lentil soup in The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, with reference to The First Mess’ favourite lentil soup.
Recommended equipment: I love my Vitamix blender and Le Creuset 5.5-quart Dutch oven (affiliate links).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I can’t tell you how many recipes I’ve tried for lentil soup over the years, and I thought all of them tasted (literally) like dirt. Lentils are too healthy to ignore, though, so I decided to keep trying. FINALLY, this is a lentil soup I truly enjoy! Well seasoned, bright with the lemon juice, and the fresh greens at the end put it over the top. Pureeing the soup also helps flavors to blend and may be the reason I don’t get the dirt taste in this recipe. Should have known it would come from you, Kate. Thank you!
I have made this soup a couple times. I absolutely love it, it is delicious. I did add celery
Can red lentils be used? Like, does the color of the lentils matter?
Hi Julie, red or yellow lentils are softer and cook more quickly than green or brown. I prefer the latter in this recipe.
We loved the lentil soup, being meat eaters I added sausitza. I used vadouvan for the curry.
It is delicious!
Thank you!
Can you use yellow lentils for this?
Hi Jayana, yellow lentils are more similar to red lentils, and cook more quickly than green and brown. I prefer green or brown lentils in this recipe.
This is my favorite lentil soup recipe! I don’t even try any others now. Probably make it at least once a month. I do add jalapeño to it but just our preference. Sometimes I add other vegetables such as broccoli leaves from my garden. I also substitute rosemary for the thyme when I’m out of thyme.