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.
On a raw wintry day, this was the perfect soup to make. I shared some with a friend and three jars went into the freezer. I didn’t have lemon, but it was still delicious.
I found this soup while looking for nourishing postpartum freezer meals and I’m so happy I found it! I added 1/2 cup of quinoa when I added the lentils and used bone broth instead of veggie broth. Overall a great stable recipe and simple to modify. Love it!
Great soup. Great basic recipe that can be modified a little or alot. I liked the cumin curry spice combination. I used roasted crushed tomatoes, but did not see any sense in draining & discarding the delicious liquid & used it to replace 1 cup of water.
I’m exploring spices & would appreciate recipes & suggestions for other spices as a change up to the flavor profile.
Addicted to this delicious easy soup. I now make this about every three weeks and we never tire of it. Some slight modifications—usually a smidge more of the spices-sometimes I vary the curry powder as well. Added parsnips a few times when they had been hanging around too long. I add all the liquid from the tomatoes and mix up the proportions of water/broth depending on what’s in the pantry. Same with the greens. And, I’ve never puréed any part of the soup. I’m sure it’s wonderful but for me it’s not needed. Never skip the lemon at the end-I’ve also used Myer lemons for a slightly sweeter taste. It’s so easy I can make it on a weeknight.
I’ve made this one before and the adults loved it. I added butternut squash last time, and plan to do the same this evening. Also adding some chickpeas for additional protein and fiber.
I LOVE this recipe, make it monthly since I don’t eat that much meat. Wanted to share I use a large can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies, small petite diced tomatos and vegetable stock. It is just the best! Even my daughter eats it and she don’t like bean soups.
This recipe is simple but so very flavorful! The curry spice takes it over the top! It is our favorite lentil soup! We love all your recipes Kathryn.
i made this with a few substitutions snd loved it. i used a combo of red lentils and brown basmati rice. didnt have curry pdr. used more of the other herbs and spices and some bouilllon. i will make it again very soon!
Delicious lentil soup. I never liked my lentil soup that much. This just made me a big fan of lentil soup. I will never go back to my old recipe. Thank you so much!
Love. Love, love this Lentil soup recipe!!! Just the perfect amount of each ingredient to make it my absolute favorite! I try to cook it at least 1x a week. My kids and grandkids love it too!
Best lentil soup I’ve made. I received many, many compliments. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
My only regret is not doubling the recipe because I’m sad it’s gone. 10/10. This will be a staple in our house
Made your soup . Added a few little different things but it turned out amazing !! Added the lemon also. Added a garma masla slice blend. I was missing a few spices in my cupboard. Will make again.
This lentil soup was amazing. I made a double batch and we ate it for dinner plus packed leftovers for lunch for a few days. I was so excited for lunch each day to enjoy this soup again.
This is just lovely. I’m. Not a vegetarian and wanted to change the macros a bit and increase the protein so I added some ground turkey and substituted homemade chicken bone broth for the vegetable broth… otherwise I followed the directions. I was wondering about the lemon…. Holy cow that is the key!! The initial taste test before was pretty good, but oh wow, after adding the lemon and a little more salt I was blown away. I can’t wait to enjoy this for lunches this week with fresh homemade bread.
This soup was so good! I made it exactly as written, except I had some extra yellow and green chives in my fridge that I added. So delicious. It’s also very low in calories. The nutrition listed says there are only four servings in this recipe, but this makes a lot of soup.
Perfect exactly as written, but also delicious when you don’t have exact ingredients and need to improvise.
And now, I add curry to all my soup recipes!
Oh my goodness, this was so good! Perfect for a winter night. I added a few small potatoes and a little celery and subbed spinach for the kale, since that was what I had. I also used Aleppo peppers instead of red pepper flakes. This will definitely go on regular rotation. Delicious!
Bit of a rookie here. Does 1 cup of lentils refer to uncooked ones? I have both. Just want to be sure.
Thanks.
if it says rinsed and sorted/picked through, dried.
There can be little stones in dried legumes, but not in canned/cooked.
This is hands down my go to soup when I’m wanting an easy and delicious week night dinner. I like to use sweet curry, and I usually add more lemon! I make this recipe almost once a week, my boyfriend and family love it as well.
My wife has been asking for lentil soup for a while, I never made it before and wasn’t a huge fan of lentils. This recipe is awesome and we both love it. Thank you!
I had to restrain myself. It was very tasty & delicious. I think I could have eaten the whole pot in one day.
This lentil soup recipe is absolutely delicious—so comforting and packed with flavor! I love how simple the ingredients are, yet the taste is so rich and hearty. It’s perfect for meal prepping too!
I’ve been using a “Sublime Groceria” app to keep track of ingredients for recipes like this, and it’s been a total game-changer. It makes shopping and planning so much easier!
Greetings from Sweden! I did the receipe last night and my family loved it. So delicious and tasty – or simply as you say “Best lentil soup!” I had some difficulties converting to the metric system from ounces and cups. Would it be possible to add the metric option to the receipies? I’ve seen this from other food creators. Thanks in advance.
Hi Anna, I’ve been thinking about finding a way to do that but want to make sure it is easy to follow and accurate. Thanks for sharing your input.
Well this was aptly named. It really is the BEST lentil soup! My only modification was adding 3 stalks of celery and doubling the amount of kale. Like another commenter, I used roasted crushed tomatoes and didn’t drain them either. I used my immersion blender to thicken it easily. I was generous with the spices too making them heaping teaspoons and such. I’ve had low iron and have been looking for something high in iron to eat like lentils and kale. Perfect! This one’s a keeper! Thank you!
Made this to have on Friday’s during lent, very easy to follow recipe and comes out delicious.
This is my go to recipe for lentil soup. Sometimes I add a little Braggs aminos or tamari just to give it a little bit more depth. But it is an amazing and easy recipe. I always have extra to store in my freezer too.
Yum! So good. I added some chickpeas for a bit more “heft” to the soup, and I subbed fresh spinach for the kale, as that’s what I had on hand. Delightful!
This is truly my favorite lentil soup recipe ever – I’ve had it for my birthday dinner the last 2 years and almost every rainy day. I’ve recommended it and/or made it for pretty much everyone in my family. I’ve never reviewed a recipe before but this soup is 100% worth it!
This lentil soup is on repeat at my house! So flavorful and healthy!
I made this lentil soup for my family. I followed the directions and this turned out DELICIOUS! I will be making this again.
This is the best lentil soup. My family loves it and it’s become a staple in our home.
One of my favorite recipes that I make consistently. I like substituting the onion with shallots.
Absolutely delicious! I would make this again. I used spinach, as that was what I had, and topped with some sour cream. Looking forward to our leftovers.
Scrumptious!!! The very best lentil soup I have ever had. You are super great cooks!!!
I have made many lentil soups. This is by far the most flavorful and least boring. Didn’t change a thing other than adding diced ripe avocado to the individual servings (so good) and drizzling with more olive oil. It’s truly delicious and nutritious. This is going in the books.
I made thus lentil soup and it was so good!
Any adaptations for the Instant Pot?
Hi Sara, I have found that an instant pot doesn’t really simplify or improve cooking for most vegetarian recipes, as they don’t have that long of cook times to begin with. Plus they’re bulky and annoying to clean. Moisture doesn’t evaporate out of an Instant Pot like it does in a cooking pot, so I find that the flavors aren’t as developed.
Delicious! I’ve made this several times. I freeze some to enjoy another day and it reheats perfectly.
I choose to blend the veggies together, as I don’t care for carrots or the texture of tomatoes. It turns into a nice puree that mixes perfectly with the broth.
I’ve made this soup about 15 times now, it’s soooo delicious!!! Thank you so much !!
I wanted to make an all-vegetable lentil soup and came across this recipe online. Simple and easily accessible ingredients and really easy to make. I believe that this is the best lentil soup, maybe even the best soup I have ever eaten and will be making it at least once a month but possibly every week from now on.
Wow – fantastic!!! I rarely follow soup recipes to a T – and this time I did and Holy Cow is this delish!
If you don’t have lemon on hand, you can brighten the flavor with a splash or two of almost any vinegar [wine, balsamic, cider].
Had a similar soup at a country club and went looking for a recipe. This hit the spot. Just what I wanted. Thank you for a great recipe.
Absolutely delish!! Thank you, I agree, this IS the best lentil soup! Yum!!
I have only had lentil soup a handful of times but this is by far one of the best ones I’ve ever had and definitely a favorite! Every time I make this my family finishes the whole pot and I have a house full of picky eaters so that is truly saying something. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! It will continue to be a staple in our kitchen for years to come ❤️
Delicious soup. I can eat this all year. Making this every week especially for mom who is on an all purée diet.
Easy and delicious! The cumin and curry spice mix are wonderful and very aromatic. Substitutions that I made: I used red lentils, red onion , and spinach because that’s what I had and it still turned out great.
This was really good. Lots of flavor. I forgot the lemon and still loved it.
This soup is delicious and easy to make, definitely my current go-to for lentil soup. Even our toddler likes it! Only sub I made was frozen spinach in place of the kale since that’s what I had on hand. I really like the use of the lemon juice in this recipe, too.
Just made this recipe first time and I’m so happy with it.
I love kale so I added WAY more kale than the recipe called for- two whole bunches in fact. So I also doubled the broth, using half veg and half mushroom broth. It ended up more like a stew and it’s perfect. I drizzled good olive oil and flake salt over top of serving. This way also makes a lot more than 4 servings so I will freeze a good portion. Now I need to make some fresh crusty sourdough to go with it! Yummm!
This is my absolute favorite. I’ve eaten it for lunch almost every day for over two months. Am I weird? Yes. Am I obsessed? Also yes. It’s SO good. Like SO GOOD. Packed with fiber and clearly addictive.