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.
So tasty and easy to make! Thanks so much!
Wow! This soup is fantastic. I am mainly an carnivore but I can’t get enough of this soup. My girlfriend was well impressed and loves it too as does my adult daughter. It is fun to make. While the onions an carrots are cooking I measure the next set of ingredients into a small bowl. When I drop that in the aroma is intoxicating. Thanks for the great recipe!
This is amazing it’s the first soup I’ve ever made and I love it!! I hadNo lemons so I used apple cider vinegar and it was great! Thank you so much
This is my favourite recipe which I go back over and over again, simply because it’s great pretty much all year round. It’s super easy and very quick to make. You also get a good portion of your daily veg intake :) not to mention that my toddler just loves it!
I made this soup yesterday for my boyfriend who really doesn’t eat lentils. We both loved it. Nice flavor. I used frozen spinach instead.
Thanks for posting. I was reading the comments to see if frozen spinach would work.
Made with fresh diced tomatoes as I didn’t have a can. Amazing
The best and most flavourful lentil soup I’ve ever made! Thanks!
Really good. I had to use one can diced tomatoes with green chilis, because thats what I had, so I left out the red pepper flakes. It worked well in it. Very hearty and filling. Thanks!
Delicious! To think this was a pantry clean out. Really good.
Great soup, quick and easy to make and very tasty. It was a hit with the family.
This really is the BEST lentil soup!
Delicious!
I left the oil out and, because I am in the UK I don’t know what red pepper is so I used cayenne pepper but it’s gorgeous.
I’m happy you loved it, Rosemary! Thank you for your review.
It’s capsicum!
Indeed, the best lentil soup full stop. Thank you thank you absolutely amazing.
This was so so amazing and really didn’t take much time either ! For sure will make again and share with everyone
Wonderful to hear, Megan! Thank you for your review.
The lentil soup recipe has a scary amount of sodium in it.
The nice thing about making your own soup… you can salt it as you please :) I thought it was perfect!!
Can I use red lentils instead ?
Hi Dave! Sure, you will need to adjust your cooking time and liquid. Red lentils aren’t quite as sturdy and get mushy quickly. Follow my perfect lentils post for guidance.
Ty so much for the reply! I will check out the post. Have a great one!
So delicious and satisfying!
I made the lentil soup yesterday and have to agree that it’s “the best”. I’m glad that found the recipe and your blog.
I love when we can agree, Marie! :) Thank you for sharing!
Made this soup for dinner today. It was seriously the best lentil soup I’ve made to date. It was easy and delicious. It will be in our regular rotation! Thank you!
I made this recipe once and really liked it! Making again tonight and considering a coconut milk addition. Thoughts? Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi! That sounds interesting and could be nice. I recommend possibly adding it to a bowl and going from there on how you like the taste.
I did put a bit in! It was somewhere between 1/2 cup – 2/3 cup… I could probably add more. Very nice addition, I thought!
I have made this recipe countless times and to countless friends and everyone always asks for the recipe. Easy, attainable, delicious, real good food. Everyone can and should make this!!!
I’m chopping carrots and onions for this soup. I make it at least 1x a month and am doubling this time to share with friends! So glad to have your recipes, especially now when cooking at home is so important!
I had never made lentil soup before this. It was so easy and I had every single ingredient on hand! I doubled the carrots, used green onions that were on the verge of wilting, added celery, used 3 soft tomatoes plus a can of stewed tomatoes, and 2 cups of lentils instead of 1. That caused the need for more liquid plus more as the soup simmered. My partner said it’s the best soup, as well as one of the best meals, I’ve ever made! I agree!
Fantastic, thanks. Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa.
I absolutely love this soup! I am the only one in my household to eat vegetarian, I had plenty! I was able to freeze some for later. This will be my go to lentil soup!
This soup is amazing and so easy to make!! I’m the only vegetarian in my household, but the rest of my family loves it just as much as I do. It definitely lives up to it’s name as the best lentil soup.
Thank you, Gabriella!
This soup was absolutely amazing and delicious!!!! My daughter prepared this and what a treat to eat. With the meat shortage this really has me not even missing meat. Thank you for sharin
Just made your lentil soup. It was to die for, thank you for sharing it will be a favourite in our house.
Pauline.
That’s great to hear, Pauline!
Was a bit disappointed with it honestly ☹️
Amazing! I’ve made this a handful of times. It’s on rotation in my home! The flavors come together beautifully. And’s it’s incredibly hearty and filling.
I would need to leave out cumin . curry and thyme … would it still be okay . any suggestions for other seasoning ? Thanks , Mary
Hi Mary! The recipe will work without them, but won’t taste as interesting. Do you have ground turmeric, by chance? It’s a key ingredient in curry powder, so you could try 1/2 to 1 teaspoon. If you have ground coriander, perhaps 1/2 teaspoon of that would be nice in place of the cumin. Hope you enjoy the soup!
I made this tonight and it’s the first time I’ve had lentils, but have been eyeing this recipe for sometime. Oh my gosh! It smelled so good in my kitchen and the fresh ingredients with the fresh lemon juice made this so delicious! Yum! I will be making this regularly on rotation for my son and myself. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I have made this soup three times now and I absolutely love it! Thank you! Prior to this recipe my lentils never came out very tasty or the consistency was off. I stopped making them and bought canned lentil soup. This is so easy to make and you can play around with it. I have added red potato, zucchini, and other veggies. It tastes great with fire roasted tomatoes. I agree with everyone that the blending of some of the lentils and adding the lemon juice in creates a very flavorful soup. I will never buy canned lentil soup again. This recipe is awesome.
Yes it is the best lentil soup! Love, love, love it! Made it last week, winner! Huge hit! Making it again now to enjoy tmrw on Mother’s Day so I don’t have to cook!
Will definitely be a regular winter warmer
mine was awful!
I don’t usually make soup in a dutch oven on the stove, but I trusted you because you hyped the recipe up so much.
It stuck to the bottom of course
It smells dreadful and I just am throwing it out now, and continuing to make soup in my slow cooker. Thanks for nothing
Babyyyyyyyy this lentil soup is everything and more! Thank you so much for sharing it is absolutely delicious
I am not sure if this is the best lentil soup I’ve encountered in my 65 years, but it is definitely in contention for the title. I made a double recipe, twice as many lentils, with some qualms about what I would or would not double in adjusting the remaining ingredients. The amount of tomatoes seemed excessive for lentil soup, but I put them in. I did not have thyme so I subbed in some rosemary, and it was good. A real find.
Well then just as you substituted the ingredients we will have to substitute your review, if you didn’t follow the recipe with the correct ingredients then you should not feel entitled to review & comment… I think anyway.
Just made it tonight and was amazed! Even the hubby who classes soups as an entree only and dinner is not a meal without meat, went back for second helpings. That is a ringing endorsement :)
Amazing! I love this recipe. I don’t do well with a lot of oil so I only used 1 tsp of olive oil, and I also only had 1 large can of whole tomatoes and spinach so I cut those up, and it came out so delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
If I made this in an instant pot how long should I cook the lentils for?
Hi Jessica, I haven’t made this in an instant pot. I know others have tried it, so I would suggest seeing what others may have tried. Wish I could be of more help!
I make this in an instant pot and pressure for 15 minutes and let let pressure naturally release. Comes out great!
have you tried using red lentils for this recipe? have those at home at the moment and wondering if it will turnout similarly if using instead of brown or green lentils!
Hi Candice, I haven’t. But, I do believe others have. I would suggest decreasing your water and the cook time will decrease as well for the lentils. Check out my perfect lentils post for more guidance. However, they will likely get mushy as they set and you reheat. They are a lot more delicate.
I love it!! Nice and hearty. I’m enjoying it with some crackers and a movie:)
This is seriously the best soup ever!!! I use frozen chopped spinach instead of kale because I always have it on hand. It is equally good if you omit the greens. I make it at least once a week!
Its certainly the best lentil soup I have ever tasted…actually it just is the best soup ever. So easy to make but the combination of flavours is divine, I love, love it.
Seems like a wonderful recipe, and I intend to try it. However, cooking lentils in a sauce that contains tomatoes/tomato sauce can actually make the lentils tough. When I make lentil soup I add the tomatoes only after the lentils are fully cooked, and then cook the finished soup just until it’s once again hot after adding the tomatoes.
OMG, this Lentil Soup is amazing. I have never made lentil soup before and wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t have a large can of diced tomatoes, so I used one pouch of fire roasted, diced tomatoes and a small can of regular diced tomatoes. I really love the fire roasted tomatoes how they kick a recipe up a notch. So good, try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Cooked lentils for 45 min and they are still rock hard. Have put the whole thing into a slow cooker and I feel 4-5 hrs should do it. Maybe a mistake? I have never had a recipe before where lentils cook in 45min.
Hi Karen, I’m sorry to hear that! What type of lentil did you use? If you used the recommend and cooked accordingly, they shouldn’t be rock hard. My assumption is ether you are using a very dense lentil or they are too old?
You are correct. I mixed in chick pea lentils. Slow cooked for 4 hrs. Gave the whole lot a blitz with the stick blender and it is perfect. Yum. Won’t be making that mistake again!
I have made this lentil soup recipe many times, and love it. Last time I made it, I added one diced russet potato, one diced jalapeño, and one diced rib of celery. Really good and healthy!
I’m happy you loved it, Pam.
I’ve made this soup a few times now and it just keeps getting better.
Just tried this for my vegetarian daughter – love!!!!
Love it! Thanks for your review, Annie.
First of all, I LOVE your recipes. Whenever I’m looking for something specific and your version pops up, that’s the one I make. I don’t even look at the other ones. I just made a version of this with what I had on hand since I’m not going to the store. Chicken stock instead of vegetable, green bell pepper and celery instead of carrots, and canned spinach instead of the greens. I don’t know what it would taste like if I followed the recipe exactly, but this is so good I kind of only ever want to make it like this. Also, I made it in my electric pressure cooker. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!!
I’ve made this a handful of times in the stove but would love to know how long you put it in the pressure cooker for x
I don’t actually recall how long it was in for. My pressure cooker has a lentils setting so I just used that. They were a tad bit under on that setting, though. A google search regarding lentils in an electric pressure cooker might be more helpful than I can be.
Our family loved the soup … tons of flavor, will definitely make it again!
Amazing flavor!My family loved this soup.
Your writeup sounds like a crazy person wrote it. Ease up on the SEO copy!
Excellent recipe, easy to make and thanks for sharing. I added a few more spices to the recipe and used red lentils; 1 teaspoon of Tumeric, 1teaspoon of chilli powder and 1 teaspoon of hot paprika. Tasty, thick and spicy.