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.
Fabulous! My husband poo-poos vegetarian recipes, so to get him onboard I used chicken stock instead of veggie and I added a bit of chicken sausage (I browned and removed the sausage in the pot before adding the onions, to build flavor, and added it back in at the end with the kale). We both enjoyed the result. I’m sure this soup is lovely in its vegetarian state, which I will make for myself next week when he’s out of town :)
Thanks for sharing, Lisa! Maybe next time he won’t even want the meat. :) I’m glad you were able to make it work to suit your needs.
This was the bomb! I added cauliflower to mine and it was delicious. The lime adds a great touch as well. Love the texture you get from blending some of the soup. Thanks for the tips!
Only problem is I didn’t make enough! XD
This seriously is the BEST lentil soup I’ve ever had. Love it!!!
Great to hear, Marie!
YUM! I have never made anything with lentils that I liked but decided to give it another go. The reviews looked promising. This soup did not disappoint! The flavors both surprised and pleased me. Wow, I’ll be making this again for sure!
I’m glad it didn’t disappoint! Thanks, Sharlee!
Have made this exact recipe 5 times now… it gets better every time!!!! Can’t recommend it highly enough, Thank you Kate for sharing ❤️
I love it! Thanks for recommending it to others. I appreciate the review.
Making this for the second time in two weeks – absolutely love this recipe. Hits all the spots !
I love it! Thanks, Emily.
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for quite sometime now but have always been worried about the curry as I’m not a big fan of it. Finally made it tonight and OH MY it is sooooooo delicious!! My hubby loved it too and ate so much of the soup for dinner! I raved about it to my mom and forwarded the recipe to her so she can make it for my dad who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Thank you for this recipe! Looks like it will be a favourite in our household. :)
I’m glad you finally made it, Trish! Thanks for your review.
Thanks for the review. Very sorry to hear about your father and hope he gets better.
My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe! I only had 1 cup of vegetable broth left so I used it with garlic base. Since I was using garlic base I did not add in the garlic the recipe called for and it turned out amazing!
I’m glad you both loved it, Christina! Thanks for your review.
Absolutely delicious! My husband and I both consider this to be our favorite soup!
A good favorite to have! Thanks for the review, JW.
Just made a batch. Followed your instructions, but added some potatoes and celery seed. The broth is very flavourful! It is really quite delicious, and easy to make, and not too thick, not too thin. I have always loved lentil soups. I plan to make this again, perhaps trying it with celery, a fennel bulb and red peppers added at the beginning.
Thank you for sharing, Laura!
Great recipe! Now the new default soup in the house..
Thanks, Christo!
I just made this using spinach instead of kale bit following everything else as written and it is absolutely delicious. Definitely going in my recipe files.
Thanks for sharing, Adele!
This was DELICIOUS! I was a little skeptical due to my kids being picky eaters, but they LOVED this! My 4-year old even asked for seconds! I brought the leftovers to work for lunch and had my co-worker try it. She fell in love with it too!
I will definitely make again!
Hooray!! Seconds for picky eaters. That’s great.
This soup is amazing. The flavor is excellent. I did not have curry so just left it out but I do not feel like I missed anything.
Thank you for another great recipe!
I’m happy you loved it, Lori!
Wow. The name doesn’t lie. The flavor in this is so delicious! I know I’ll be adding this to my recipe rotation!
Great! Thanks, Brieanna!
I only have red lentils. Will it make a difference?
Red lentils don’t tend to hold their shape as well. If you try it, I would suggest cutting down the amount of liquid and watch the timing closely. Won’t likely take as long.
This soup was incredibly delicious. I also added potato and some lamb cut into small pieces.
anyone make this where it is lower in sodium? If so what did you change?
Missy, I made this soup as written, but used Imagine organic low sodium vegetable broth (560 mg sodium per quart), Muir Glen organic no salt added diced tomatoes (25 mg sodium per 14.5 oz can times two), and did not add any salt. Total 610 mg sodium per entire pot which equals 4 large servings at 153 mg each or 6 moderate servings at 102 mg each. It was really delicious and I will definitely make it again.
I love this recipe – I use fire roasted tomatoes and I make it almost every week in my instant pot. I eat it for breakfast! Great way to start the day.
Yummy! I have never made anything with lentils that I preferred however chose to give it another go. The surveys looked encouraging. This soup did not disillusion! The flavors both astonished and satisfied me. Amazing, I’ll be making this again without a doubt!
This recipe is excellent!! We are a couple in our mid 60’s who have switched to a healthy eating diet (basically flexitarian, mostly vegetarian with occasional meat).
I find wonderful recipes on cookieandkate, it has become my “go to place” for a yummy, healthy meal.
Thank you so much Kate!
Thanku for sharing this recipe. With your recipe i can easily make Lentil Soupat home thanku so much.
I have been trying to make recipes with lentils for a while now, I just couldn’t find one that I was crazy over until I made this recipe today. It’s delicious thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Jennifer!
This is my 1st attempt at Lentle soup. I’ve just started to like it! I’m 61 and Italian so me not liking Lentle soup is unforgivable lol
But when I read this recipe I had to try it.
I love it!! My husband loves it. And said it’s the best he’s ever had. Well I’m hooked! I did only use the teeniest bit of hot pepper but stuck to everything else including my San Marzano tomatoes. Thank you so much for finally making me a Lentle soup recruit!!! Kimi Kopet
I’m glad you loved this one!
Delicious! I used roasted tomatoes in mine, which added a little smoke to the flavor. If you are not counting calories, this soup screams for a dollop of sour cream. Very smooth and appealing texture. ANd oh yes, I threw some baby spinach in too!
Sounds great! Thanks, Dean.
Hey first, I wanted to say thanks for the recipe it’s a big help. I’ve never cooked lentils before and this would be my first attempt. My question was do you think I could substitute the leafy greens for maybe string beans? I just checked my freezer and I had a bag of steam-able ones. (Trying to clean out the freezer and make some room.) Thanks again!
I’m not sure exactly how it would taste, but I think it would be worth a shot.
I just made this soup and ….wow! So flavorful and delicious!
Thank you for reporting back, Lauren!
Fantastic soup! I stumbled on this after searching for dinner options at work. My partner and I polished off the lot. Best thing was I had all the ingredients at home so no need to stop off at the supermarket. I didn’t have kale so threw in some handfuls of baby spinach. Definitely will be making this again.
Great to hear, Stella! I’m happy you liked it.
Oh my goodness so freaking good! Warm, hearty, filling, perfect for a cold day.
We have only recently started meatless Monday’s in our home and my husband complains about it everytime, but he complained about this one the least! Me on the other hand, think this is the best lentil soup, and my 10 month old loved it too!
Will be going into the books for sure! Only change I made was I used arugula which was surprisingly delicious, since I dont like kale and life is too short to eat food you don’t like ( unless you’re my husband and then your forced to eat meatless once a week)
Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing, Tara! I wouldn’t have thought to try arugula. I’m glad you liked it!
Actually is the BEST lentil soup – the flavor combinations are fantastic. I think after making it the first time I added a little more red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick, but other than adding more heat, the flavors are just right.
I went three weeks (during the winter) making this as my meal prep for the week. It saves well, it is very filling, and warming to the soul in the depressing winter of Minnesota.
I did try the recipe with quinoa instead of lentils once. The quinoa distorted the flavor, for whatever reason. It was actually better after being refrigerated a couple days, but I would stick to the lentils – Kate knows best!
Thank you, Brooke! I appreciate the review and compliment :)
It doesn’t have any nutrition listed. If I’m going to make soup my main meal that’s important. We don’t ingest enough. At least I don’t. Putting half the soup and pureeing it makes extra steps. I don’t like cooking any longer now that I’m disabled. Thanks for great explanations.
Hi Brenda, The nutritional information is below the notes of the recipes. You need to click to expand and make sure you allow cookies within your browser as this is a plug-in feature. I hope this helps! Let me know if it still isn’t working.
It worked for other recipes.
Wonderful recipe! I made this for some Vegan friends recovering from surgery, and doubled the batch so my family could have some. And everyone raved about how good it was!
Great to hear, Mary!
This recipe was easy and and absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and I’m making another pot of it for the weekend.Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome!
I love lentil soup. The local diner (whose owner made awesome lentil soup) closed after 26 years. It was heartbreaking for both of us. LOL Not wanting to abstain forever I took to Google. After perusing the rest of the recipes I concluded this one looked the most viable. No Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, I decided to go for the triple batch and take my chances. BEST EVER!!
People at work think I am a genius. Every other day I have to print the recipe for someone who walked by me at lunch.
Thank you, Ed!
This really IS the best lentil soup recipe. Flavours are complex and satisfying. Mom-approved, partner-approved, company approved!
Thank you, Erica!
Pretty good, I did have to add a bit of sugar to cut the acid of the tomatoes down a bit and increased the spices. But the GF loved it. thanks!
Thanks for sharing, Rocky!
I’m trying to cut out meat and I heard about lentils. This was the first recipe I saw and all I can say is wow. It is so good, and blending some of the soup really improved the texture. Thanks
I’m glad you loved it!
Hello! I made this soup and it is truly amazing! It goes to the top of my “favorites” list. My only question is that I cannot seem to view the nutrition information. I click on the link, but only the disclaimer shows, no nutrition information. I really am only curious about the calories. Thank you!
I’m glad you love it, Kathryn! It can take a second to load sometimes. Make sure you allow cookies in your browser as this is a plug-in on my site. Let me know if you still have issues!
I had been craving lentil lately and after a quick Google search, I came across your recipe. My husband made this soup for me last night while I was babysitting a neighbor’s children so I didn’t actually get to try it until today for lunch. This soup is AMAZING. It has such a rich flavor! We didn’t have onions (subbed onion powder) or lemon and this is literally the best lentil soup I’ve ever had. Thank you for sharing!
I’m glad you all loved it! Thanks for sharing, Melissa.
I love your lentil soup! I am so satisfied, so I don’t have to search for other lentil soup recipe. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Yoko!
I make this over and over again…. simply excellent!!!!
Love to hear that! Thank you for your review.
Loved this soup! It’s definitely the best lentil soup I’ve had, just like the name states. I didn’t have a lemon, but did have limes so I used lime juice instead at the end. Was still delicious! Will definitely make again!
Thank you, Kristina!
Can you also put all your recipes in metric quantities. Ounces / Cups are not universally used
Hi Bob! Sorry to disappoint, but unfortunately I cook with US measurements so I don’t have those available as I don’t cook with them. I know some readers use myrecipes.com to convert to metrics or have actually bought US measuring cups if they make a lot of my recipes.
Loved this soup- easy to make and so tasty!
Thank you for commenting, Caroline.
This recipe is wonderful! My house smelled so good when it was cooking! Thank you for your website and your wonderful book (which I have in hard back as well)! We are trying to increase the plants in our diet and your recipes have helped us a lot! Thank you! –Amy
You’re welcome, Amy!
My girlfriends and I make this soup almost weekly for our families. Definitely monthly. It is a staple in our households, and even our kids are big fans. It’s easy enough to throw together on a week night, but every single time I make this soup I feel like a master chef. The flavors and ingredients all compliment each other and do truly sing. Thank you Kate, this recipe is incredible.
Great to hear, Megan! Thanks so much for sharing.
WOW!! Made the lentil soup and it really is “the best lentil soup”. I love it and have now made it for a second time! Well done you!!!
I’m happy you agree it’s the best, Annie! Thanks for letting me know you loved it.
I’m curious if anyone has tried making this without the oil. We are on a whole foods, plant based diet (no oil, it is a processed plant food) and ‘m wondering if it changes the taste in any significant way.
The oil really adds to the flavor, Jenna.
This looks amazing! There are so many curry powders out there. Which one did you use?
I like Frontier Coop spices! But, others would work too.
I made this tonight. I never cook with curry so I was hesitant that I’d like it. Loved it! Followed directions exactly except used a small full container of baby kale. Excellent!
I’m glad you tried it, even though you were hesitant! Thank you for your review, Rita.
Amazing! Made it for my family and my dad never likes my cooking but said this is the best vegan thing I’ve made yet. Rave reviews from everyone I made try some, even those who aren’t afraid to say how they really think. Highly recommended.
Hooray! That’s great. Thanks for your review, TaDa.