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.
Wow this is delicious! I make a lot of lentil dishes and usually all need coconut milk. This one was fabulous! I think the olive oil gave it a nice richness.
I’m glad you loved it, Jill!
Thank you so much for this! My whole family enjoys eating this soup and I was able to bring it to another family as well…they also enjoyed it! Yum!
Thankyou kate – fantastic soup! And so simple! I used leek and only 1/2 the onion; also added some celery and finished it off with fresh dill parsley and yoghurt. Best ever lentil soup!
My husband adores lentil soup so I am always on the search for a good one. I just made a pot. This is the best… I used baby kale leaves as the only sub…thank you!!
Baby kale leaves work too! Thanks for sharing, Susan.
Wonderful soup. My husband is not too fond of curry so I substituted the curry with 1/2 teaspoon each of Allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and oregano. I increased the thyme to 1 teaspoon and did add a pinch of cumin.
I also as suggested by someone else used Fennel instead of Onion and added some chopped celery.
Increased the Kale as well. This was extremely flavorful and the lemon at the end really added to the soup. Will definitely be making this again
Thank you for sharing, Wendy!
This recipe is the bomb. I went vegetarian for a month and had to stop myself from only eating this soup! Eating it now as I type this
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate the review.
I have much better luck when I add tomatoes and other acidic ingredients AFTER the legumes have cooked.
Thanks for sharing, Hannah!
OMG this is so good, nothing like canned soup (thank goodness for that, that other lentil soup in a can is so harsh). This is the first time I’ve made this and will make again for sure since I’ve sworn off any canned soup except for cream of mushroom or cream of chicken for cooking when needed. Thanks for a really good recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that, Judy!
Super excited to make this recipe this weekend! With 20 cm of snow in the forecast for the next two days, it’s perfect soup weather! Stupid question though, are the lentils that you use dry or have they been soaked overnight?
Yes
Dry, they cook in the soup
Snow, snow go away! This soup is perfect for days like that. If using the ones recommended in the recipe, you don’t need to soak.
Hey Kate!
Do you think red lentils instead of brown/green would work with this recipe?
Cheers!
Emily
Hi Emily! I wouldn’t recommend them as they don’t retain their shape as well. You can use them, but you will want to adjust the cooking time and maybe slightly less liquid.
I have used the Red Lentils in the soup and didn’t use less liquid. It turned out great. I will also soak the red lentils overnight next time as this will help break down the raffinose. Lentils contain high amounts of a complex sugar called raffinose, which the body has trouble breaking down and causes gas!! lol
Hi, I’m so excited to make this today. I don’t like curry. Could I substitute cumin (same amount?) or something else, or just leave it out? Thanks!
You could leave it out, or add more of your favorite spice. Although, curry is really what helps to make this soup the best!
I really hate curry so I just simply omitted it with no other changes. It was delicious! My husband and I thought it was the best we’ve had and I make a lot of lentil soup!
Thank you. I was looking how to make a simple but delicious lentil soup. Your instructions were great and fun to read. I’m on the way to the kitchen now. A big thank you for sharing this. Best, Colleen
You’re very welcome, Colleen!
I already had my ingredients at hand, but hadn’t used lentils in soup, so found your recipe and followed it in principal. I made a lot of subs and thought some might be useful for your readers.
I hadn’t been able to find my Sharwoods medium curry powder for some time, so I used smoked Spanish paprika and turmeric, plus a little cinnamon. I put a little fennel seed in the olive oil, and later added some bay leaf and savory, which is reputed to aid in digesting legumes. Kombu seaweed is supposed to help too, but I never really noticed a difference.
I didn’t have veg broth, but I used a big can of tomato juice and a bottle of beer with a little chipotle sauce. I thought I’d save some of the olive oil to drizzle over at serving to preserve its fragrance.
Without the kale, I used spinach. I also had zucchini and a red pepper. No lemons, but added a little buttermilk for tartness.
It smells great simmering–can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for sharing–
Marion
What did you think of it, Marion?!
Love this soup. Followed recipe as written with one exception. I used spinached instead. Great flavor. It was the first time I made Lentil soup. I wii definitely make it again.
Thanks so much, Madelena! I appreciate the review.
Love this recipe. Easy to make, the aroma is divine and has a rich savory taste. The lemon adds a nice twist. This soup is like a warm hug on a cold day.
As I do in most recipes, I add the veggies (in this case carrots and onions) to the food processor and add a tbspn of marmite for umami flavor. I added 6 gloves of garlic and used 2 lemons, but otherwise, followed the recipe. This will be in my rotation! Thanks so much Cookie and Kate!
You’re welcome! I’m happy this will be in your rotation, Brooke.
Could I use red split lentles instead
My daughter has turned vegetarian so my staple lentil soup with bacon is a NO! I have made lentil soup for years and always soaked the lentils overnight and then cooked it in the broth for three hours. Is 30 minutes enough time for the lentils to soften and do you need to soak over night?
With this soup and the recommended lentils, it will work great with the cooking time.
This recipe was really fabulous! I didn’t have carrots so I substituted with sweet potatoes instead. I also have a hand blender so that worked really well for this recipe. I doubled the recipe and will freeze several portions for later. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Alicia! I’m happy you liked it.
Thank you. I’ve been housebound with a cold for a week, with my fridge fairly depleted by the end of the week. I was able to use your recipe. Luckily I still had most of the ingredients. I substituted cabbage for kale, because that’s what I had at hand. It was absolutely delicious. Note: Because I’m vegetarian and down with a cold, it’s easiest for me to make a one pot meal, so I also added 6 TBL of quinoa (some light and dark colored quinoa) and it worked very well to give some added protein, while not affecting the consistency of the soup. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is now my “go to” recipe for vegetarian lentil soup.
Oh no! That is the worst. I’m glad you were able to make this soup to help comfort. Thanks for sharing, Colleen and feel better!
My FAVORITE soup recipe. Have already made this 3 times and eaten for many meals. Fool proof!
Thank you, Julia!
This is the best soup I’ve ever made, thank you. It would be great if you would specify the color of curry when adding it as an ingredient. I’m new to Indian spices. Also, I added a chopped up sweet potato to this to give it a little more bulk and it worked well. I have also frozen and reheated this soup with fantastic results. I do wish chefs would give a measurement of garlic cloves, as in 1 Tbsp, etc., instead of measurement per clove. Cloves come in many different sizes and for the beginner cook, it would be helpful to have an exact measurement instead of guessing between 5 or more different sizes of clove.
I love hearing that, T! Thanks for sharing.
It’s funny when people leave comments that go “I loved this recipe… I only changed… *goes and changes half the recipe and ingredients*… and it was great!” Haha.
I made this exactly as written, and it’s amazing. Wouldn’t change a thing, thanks for sharing. :)
Thank you for trying it and leaving a review, Renee!
I’m with you Renee! I think to myself, “You’ve changed it so much, it’s not ‘this soup’ anymore!” Nothing wrong with a substitution or two, but my motto is that I’m making it as closely to the recipe as possible the first time – then make adjustments and understand that it’s not the same recipe anymore!
Delicious! Even my husband who usually have to have meat in his soup loved it!
That’s a win! Thanks, Kasia!
i’ve alre made this soup twice and everyone loved it! thank you so much for creating a recipe with ingredients that are easy to find in my pantry and easy on the wallet!
You’re welcome, Cynthia!
Ridiculously good- second time making this stew! First time my curry powder was old, but the stew was still good. This time I have a new high quality curry powder (and added 2 gold potatoes since I had them on hand) but the made recipe verbatim otherwise and WOW- what a difference fresh spices make! Definitely a keeper. Love!
I’m glad you are loving it! Yes, fresh spices are huge. Thanks for your review, RB.
Made it twice and am about to make it again. Maybe my favorite soup ever. The first time I was “in process” and realized I had no cumin. So I substituted garam marsala for the curry and the cumin. I may have used a little too much but I LOVED it. The second time I made the recipe as directed (after buying a big container of cumin as I use it in many recipes) and LOVED this batch too. For the third batch…well…we shall see. I also used homemade chicken stock instead of the veggie broth so mine was not vegetarian but it was certainly delicious. Thank you for the recipe. I’ve made several of your recipes and all have been wonderful.
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for the review, Linda.
Yummy. I can’t seem to follow a recipe exactly. But I used this as my base and it was great. Scallions, cuz no onions, no celery cuz had none. More carrot cuz had some. Way more curry and cumin cuz I think in TBS, oops not tsp. Used bottled lemon, it’s what I had. Threw in Parmasean rind cuz it was there and I heard it was a good thing to do with what otherwise would be trash. Left out the greens, fridge was barebones. All to say, it turned out great and don’t be afraid to work with what you have and don’t fret about what you haven’t. Great recipe, will return to this time and again.
Thank you for sharing, Kristin.
Oh my goodness, this was soooo good! Followed the recipe exactly, I was unsure about the lemon juice so I started with just 1 T lemon juice and ended up juicing the rest of the lemon for it as well. It really does make the soup “sing”! It brought out the curry and tomato and the hint of heat from the red pepper, making it all dance across my taste buds. It was so lovely that I delivered a quart sized mason jar of it to a friend for dinner lol. He spends a lot of time in rough conditions/terrain and I thought it would be the perfect way to warm up on a cold winter evening.
A great soup to warm up with! Thanks for the review, Heidi.
Fabulous recipe. A great go to when I don’t have lots of time to cook. I have substituted other greens like spinach and it still tastes great. The lemon added at the end brings the soup to life. Yum!!
Thank you, Eva!
My mom always made lentil soup…
I tried your recipe and absolutely loved it, so did my mom. Definitely a keeper in my recipe stash.
Great to hear, Aaron!
YUM! Curry powder and other spices gave a kicked up flavor over other lentil soup recipes. Easy, cooks up fast, and with ingredients largely on hand — except the kale which I was skeptical about, but even that worked well. Thank you for a keeper recipe I will make again many times.
I’m glad you like this recipe, Joan!
I made this soup twice already and I love it! Healthy, delicious and filling.
Thanks for sharing, Chipo! I appreciate the review.
I made this recipe WITHOUT the 1/4 cup of oil (sauted my onions & carrots in a little water) and this recipe turned out AMAZING!! The oil is 100% unneeded to make this the best dang soup I’ve ever had! Definitely worth making ! I almost didn’t when I saw you had to blend two cups at the end but trust me it’s so worth it!
That is good to know Jo. Removing the oil will make it a Zero point food under Weight Watchers!
I made this in February, 2019. Instead of fresh collard greens, I used a can of low sodium collard greens and drained all the juice out before adding to the pot. I had my doubts about this soup because I have several lentil soup recipes that I’ve made and enjoy. Your version is absolutely delicious! It is my #1 lentil soup & the easiest to make!
Thanks for trying it, Kathy!! I’m happy this one is a keeper for you.
This dish looks SO deliciously good. I wish I could eat that right now!
Thank you, Maggie! I appreciate the review. Let me know if you try it!
Made this for dinner last night. It was delicious. Definitely a keeper.
Thanks for the review, Lori!
So I must say I was skeptical when I read the title. You often see the best this or that and then the recipe comes up short. This is NOT the case with this recipe. This is by far the best lentil soup I’ve ever tasted! I officially have a new recipe to take to the vegan potluck
I’m really glad you agree, Toshia! Thanks so much for your review.
I made this soup tonight for my husband and me. He usually groans a bit when I say a meal is vegetarian. The only groaning that happened tonight was over how delicious this soup is and how much he wanted some more. I already passed on the recipe to my mother-in-law and two friends. Outstanding recipe. Will definitely be making it again.
Winning! Thanks for sharing, Ruth. I’m so happy it was a hit.
Hi Kate,
I am going to try this recipe for my family today. Can you please tell me what brand of lentils did you use for this one and also the vegetable broth if it is a store bought one?
You can use any brand of lentils, as long as it’s the recommended type and your preferred vegetable broth will do! I don’t typically have a brand preference here.
Delicious, delicious, delicious!!!! It was husband, and 3 boys approved. That makes me one happy momma. Thanks cookieandkate!!
You’re welcome!
We thoroughly enjoyed this delicious recipe. It was thick, hearty and very satisfying. I had no red pepper flakes so I substituted ground red pepper instead. And the bunch of collard greens that I purchased to go in it produced a little over 3 cups chopped. I have boiled the remainder in a few cups of vegetable broth to freeze and save for the next time I prepare this.
I’m happy to hear that, Debra! Thanks for your review.
Wonderful taste and texture, but no way I could prep this in 10 minutes! It also took longer than usual for the lentils to soften even though I presoaked them for a while. I believe it may have been due to cooking them along with the tomatoes. I learned the hard way that acid seems to inhibit a bean’s ability to absorb water. The soup tasted even better the next day!
This recipe is a keeper. Thanks!!!
You’re welcome, Steve!
The instructions on this are very clear, easy to follow, and the soup is flavored so well. I’ve made it for my parents, in-laws, friends, and they’ve all loved it!
I’m happy to hear that, Punita! Thanks for your review.
This is really good. Instead of the spices in this recipe, I used the South Coast spice blend from Seven Happy Seeds. It gave a really rich flavor to the soup. My 10-year-old son had 2 bowls of it.
Thank you, Gary!
Excellent! I didn’t have the greens so I used a box of power greens. Worked out of course.
Great substitution, Marylou!
This is one of my go to soup recipes to make. Thanks for bringing it into my life!
You’re welcome, Nicki!
This is a delicious soup! Thank you for sharing the recipe! (It was even a hit with my meat-eating relatives…husband, dad and brother.) I’ve already made it twice!
You’re welcome, Stephanie!
made this today – was in the mood for some comfort soup on a snowy day. it was amazing!! so easy to make and so delicious. one of my new favorite recipes now.
I’m happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review, Judy
This is hands down my favorite lentil soup recipe ever! I love lentils – all types and cooked in all forms – but never seem to find an interesting enough brown lentil soup. I’ve finally found it. Though I love the recipe as is, omitting the red pepper was the perfect meal for post oral surgery healing. Thank you! Excellent job on this soup!
Love to hear that! THanks for sharing, Jeanette.
This was amazing. Great recipe, will absolutely make this again. Going to try the posole recipe next. Thank you.
which vegetable broth you used? i haven’t made this yet and want to get the basics right!
carl hampshire uk
Thank you, Christopher!
You’re right. This is the best lentil soup that I have ever made. Just amazing. I didn’t have any collard greens but improvised with spinach and it taste great. The only tweak that I made to the recipe is I added two more cups of vegetable broth at the end.
Thank you thank you thank you for sharing this :-)
I’m happy you agree, Angie! Thank you for your review.
Mmmm this is so good! Its pretty well a traditional East Indian dish, aside from a few steps in the beginning. I think I will do it that way next time: toast whole cumin seeds in the olive oil before adding the onion. I love that really strong East Indian flavour :) This is a fantastic recipe that can be tweaked in lots of ways and still be awesome! I’m eating this at work as I type this and I am so in love! Thank-you!
You’re welcome, Cortny!
Yummy yummy in my tummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it was delicious :-) :-) :-)
You’re welcome, Alex! Thank you for your review!