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 loved this recipe.
This lentil soup is hands down one of my favorites of all time. My friend introduced me to her “secret place” to get recipes (Cookie and Kate) and now I come to this website all the time to check out recipes and make it this soup all the time. Everyone raves about it.
Thank you for your contribution to uplift the world!
Hi Leilani, thank you so much for your kind words!
This sounds amazing. I would love to make it on this snowy day but only have frozen spinach. Will that work?
Hi Sarah, I think you could sub frozen spinach. The texture will be different than freshly wilted in the soup. I’d defrost and drain to avoid adding extra liquid to the soup.
Fabulous soup all the right mix and love the zing of lemon juice . Thank you
Just made this soup for the first time and it is spectacular! I used red lentils as they’re m favourite, but it is still utterly delicious. Will be trying out the chickpea tomato soup next.
Delicious!
I went a little rogue and added some ground turkey, bell pepper, mushrooms and used spicy chicken broth instead of vegetable and it is FABULOUS!
Thank you!
So basically you made a different recipe. Got it.
What is the serving size for the nutrition? It says serves 4, but not the size of each serving. It’s hard to believe that this recipe only serves 4.
Hi Mary, the nutrition information is approximate and provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database via Nutrifox, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators. It would be based on the total ingredients as specified, and divided into 4. I can get 6 servings out of this if I’m serving it with a side salad or a sandwich, or 4 large bowls.
I made this soup last week. It is hands down one of the best soups I’ve ever made. I don’t have a blender so I added 2 diced sweet potatoes which broke down well and made the soup thicker. I’m making a double batch tonight so we can have more leftovers
Love this recipe we have it often
So delicious…I modified it slightly to add more to the flavor. Added in some red pepper along with the garlic outlined in the steps. And right before adding in parboiled lentils to the veg mix with broth, I also added in a bit of tomato paste and some passata (tomato sauce). It turned out fabulous and I don’t typically leave comments but this was worth it..thank you.
Love this soup! Forgive me if I’m missing this, but can you provide instructions for turning it into a freezer meal?
Hi Laura, to freeze, just let it cool and divide into portions in a plastic freezer bag or Souper Cubes. It will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.
I enjoyed this soup so much. It was perfect for a cold spring dinner. We now have another favorite soup.
Finally made this delicious lentil soup! Will be on my rotation. So much flavor!
Delicious! I didn’t have any kale.
EXCELLENT! And fully agree it is the best lentil soup ever.
This is by far the best lentil soup recipe yet. I did swap out the kale for spinach it was delicious. I don’t have Instagram to post Pic but between my son and I this soup doesn’t last long enough for a Pic. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Omg this is sooo delicious!!
I made it today ( I am not a very experienced cooker lol)
And it turned out super good!
I am vegetarian so sometimes I struggle to find good recipes online but lentil soup has a ton of protein which is a big pro to this recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi Diana, I’m so glad to be able to help you on your vegetarian journey. This recipe is very beginner friendly! You’ll find lots of simple, straightforward recipes that explain techniques on my site.
So good! I had to substitute fennel for the onion because I have trouble with onions these days and it was still delicious. It really hit the spot on a cold spring night. Thank you!
This is one of our favorite soups! I use 5-6 Carrots or sometimes add a couple of diced potatoes. I don’t put the lentils in a blender (too much work for me), but we love this soup! The flavor is amazing! Thank you!!
This is supposed to be a dog recipe and dogs are not supposed to eat things that are listed in the ingredients here (onions, for example). I’m sure this soup is great for humans, but it doesn’t belong here.
This recipe isn’t intended for dog food.
As with any of your recipes, you can make it the first time and serve it to company. I added a cup of whole wheat macaroni at the end. The pasta absorbed some of the broth and made it more like a stew. Crusty bread and a green salad and you’re done! Perfecto!
The soup is for cats!
Just wonderful! Thank you! I added sausage to this recipe because my husband is a meat guy. But I tasted it before adding the meat and boy! It stands well all by its own!
I’ve made this soup dozens of times with only a couple of minor changes to taste and its honestly AMAZING.
I love this soup having made it twice as written. I freeze some to have for a fast dinner Last time I cooked some down until think, blended smooth making delicious dip I enjoyed it on veggies and Pita Bread. That you for sharing your delicious soup recipe.
Love this recipe so much. But can you please tell me how much is a “serving” for purposes of figuring calories. Is it 1 cup or 2 or some other amount. Thank you.
Hi Barbara, the nutrition information calculates based on 1/4 of the recipe for the serving size, which is a large bowl between 8-12 ounces. The calculations are a general guideline.
This soup is SO SO good. I was getting a little bored with my current line-up of soup recipes and this one knocked it out of the park. I used homemade bone broth and oh, my lawd the most nourishing meal ever. Thank you!
I loved this recipe ! I used less curry powder but the lentils are so good.
I really appreciate your recipes and this is one of my favorites! This is a regular in our dinner rotation. Thank you!
My first time making lentil soup. I am glad I started crotch this winner. I thought it would be too tomato but perfect. Added spinach in place of Kale
I’m am cooking this soup for the fifth time now….so delicious. It’s such a nourishing healthy soup to have on a cold day.
Love this recipe
One of my favorite soups to make. I have basically memorized the recipe from making it so many times. I always sort of 1.5x the recipe. More spices, lentils, and kale. I also add celery. It’s so delicious!!!
My husband is the chef in our house and he made over the weekend, agreed best lentil soup ever!! My only issue is that I have an aversion to cooked tomatoes, and his had some pretty big tomato chunks. Is that normal or is there a brand of diced tomatos with a small chunk size? I had the idea of blending them but he was skeptical that it would impact the flavor. Any ideas/recommendations? For now I just eat around them because it is that good! Thanks
Hi Julie, you can get petite-diced tomatoes if you want smaller chunks, or blend them without impacting the flavor. It will just change the texture.
As a seventh day adventist lentils are a popular ingredient to use! This soup recipe is outstanding and will be so popular at our church potlucks! Thank you for sharing!
I typically find vegetarian recipes are too light on the spices (I like spicy!) and this one hit the nail on the head. It had a perfect balance of heat, and so simple to make. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!
I would like to print out the nutrition part of the recipe, but seem unable to do so.
I have asked for the nutrition information to show.
Any advice?
Thanks,
I made it tonight, and for a change followed the recipe exactly. My husband, daughter and I loves it! Then I cut up some chicken sausages from trsder Joe, fried them and threw them in our second helpings. Delicious! Thank you for this recipe!
I absolutely love this soup! I live alone so it’s a pretty big quantity so I eat it every day, in fact I just finished the pot and I’m making it again. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet!
Excellent
What is the difference between brown and green lentils?
Taste, texture ,etc?
Hi Sue, brown lentils are the most common and have an earthy flavor. They cook more quickly. “Regular” green lentils are similar and can be used interchangeably in recipes, as they both break down softly. These are the most common in American grocery stores, and you can use either in this recipe. French or du Puy green lentils are more peppery, and these also hold their shape better so are ideal for salads.
This soup is delicious. But, get this – I substituted the canned tomatoes for coconut milk and it was also delicious. I opted to cook it in a slow-cooker and added a little chopped sweet potato. I love this recipe because it seems very customizable.
Made this soup tonight and it was delicious!
Yup! This lentil soup is delicious!!!
I used red lentils, used more garlic and hot pepper. Made a triple batch so I could freeze some for later, and share some with a neighbor. Yum!
This is my go to soup. I make it about once a month. It is delicious. I for some reason always cook the lentils separate and I add nutritional yeast. Seriously the best soup.
Honestly one of the best soup recipes I have ever had, requested repeatedly by all the family.
Also your Banana Bread, what can I say, amazing, again one of the best ever. Loved by everyone. :):)
Thank you
The lentil soup is my favorite. Instead of the broth I use water with carrots.
I absolutely love this soup. It’s become my signature dish and I recommend it every time I get the chance.
This is hands-down the best lentil soup recipe I have ever tried! I have cooked it many times during potluck events and my friends keep raving about it. Thank you so much for preparing these amazing recipes for us to enjoy. I keep coming back to your website for other recipes as well.
Great recipe. The only substitutions I made were using homemade chicken stock instead of vegetable, and I don’t like thyme so used sweet smoked paprika and some parsley. Really yummy.
I made this with diced tomatoes with habanero that gives it a nice flavor with a bit more kick.
Dislike kale intensely – assume silver beet or spinach would work just as well?
Yes, you can substitute greens based on your preference.
Kate, I absolutely love this recipe!!I also substituted the collar greens or kale with sorrel from my garden.
Thank you Aneta
I never ever ever ever comment on recipes but this isn’t just the best lentil soup I’ve ever had. It’s the best soup I’ve ever had, period. It literally makes my mouth happy with every spoonful. If I could only eat one dish for the rest of my life, this soup would be a serious contender.