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.
Just made this lentil soup and it really is the most delicious soup. I was not going to blend a portion of it, but decided to in the end it really made the soup perfect. My new favourite recipe!
I made this soup exactly as directed, except for using half the tomatoes and using 1 1/4 cups of lentils. Very, very good. Will definitely make again. I used McCormik curry powder. Curry is a blend of other spices, so you need to get a good curry powder.
Five star recipe.
I made this soup per the recipe, except doubling the collard greens. I wondered if I had the right curry powder, the yellow McCormick stuff, because it didn’t seem to fit but another post reassured me (it works!)
Well this soup is wonderfully hearty, pretty easy and economical for a nubie like me, and most amazing was the fresh lemon (juice and zest) flavor – outstanding. I can’t get enough.
Thank you for the great recipe!!
I’m happy it turned out, Paul! Thanks for your comment.
Thank you for letting me know
I can tell that this soup might be delicious, but the lentils are still tough after 2 hours. I’m beginning to think they are NOT going to get soft at all. It would be good to know going into the recipe why lentils don’t cook soft, since the soup is a complete failure if they stay tough.
If you’re lentils aren’t fresh they will take longer to soften. Try buying a fresh bag next time (check the date) and I think you may find that they cook quicker. I had this problem once when I used a bag of very expired lentils. Try it again, this recipe is really the BEST. My sister made it for me last week and I’m making it again today (90 degrees yesterday in CO and 32 today). It is a bummer when you go to all the work to make a recipe and it doesn’t work out. Don’t give up!
Hi there. I made this recipe tonight for my family. My husband loved it and my 4 year old asked for seconds. It was to full of flavor with not a lot of prep or cleanup. I will be making this again.
That’s great, Lauren! Thank you for sharing.
This was really good! You honestly can’t mess this recipe up. Super straightforward. Although I think that you could totally do 3 cups of kale, easily. 1 cup is really a sparse amount once its all cooked. But I do like kale a lot, so it depends. Also the fresh pepper is a must!
I didnt have all the ingredients and it was still a delicious soup. Will be making it again. Thanks so much.
Absolutely loved this soup. It was easy to adapt the recipe for my Thermomix which made it super easy, I blitzed the whole lot before adding some frozen kale so it was a smoother soup than the original recipe pictures, I think it will be a Winter favourite in our house.
Wonderful! My tomato sauce is a little bit over but the soup still tastes good.
I’m glad you liked it, Scarlett!
Is vegetable broth something you make with a stock cube or something you can buy in the supermarket?
Hi! I buy mine at the grocery store. I haven’t perfected a homemade version just yet.
This soup if full of veggies and lentils. I added quinoa for added protein. It has great flavor. I have saved as my favorite!
It was the BEST Lentil soup recipe. Delicious.
Delicious! I like adding some potato to the recipe to make it a little bit creamier although it is still great without it!
It was good really good but I chose Collard Greens and I pulled most pf them out with tongs. I don’t like pulling stems of Kale so going forward will use spinach.
Gross gross gross. Easy to many tmatatoes. Didn’t not work with the curry. May liked a little if not call Lentile and proceed for you talk about it as the best. Friends and families giving you the rhums up doesn’t count. Whish I could give it a zero star rating. Wasted time, wasted money!
Calm the f*** down.
Hi Kate! Do recommend dry or canned lentils for this recipe?
Hi Ashely! This is designed for dried.
This was amazing!!! I added a bunch of veggies like zucchini and kale at the end and it was flawless! Thank you!!!
Super delicious! Has restored my faith in lentils :-) we will definitely be cooking this again! I found it worked well with frozen spinach in lieu of fresh kale. Thanks for the recipe!
Came out better than expected! First time making anything like this and it is yummy. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made it and It was absolutely delicious!! I didn’t have curry powder so I used turmeric/chili/coriander mix.
Wow!! I have been making lentil soup for years…but this beats all recipes hands down. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome, Yinka!
This soup is amazing.
I have made it several times and shared with others.
It is easy to prepare and uses ingredients from your fridge and pantry.
Don’t tinker with the spices. They are the perfect combination enhancing the deliciousness of this recipe.
Beautiful soup. Spices worked really well,tasty and healthy! Got some in the freezer for later!
I. Love. This. Soup.
Making a pot to share with a co-worker recovering from surgery. This time, adding cabbage, sweet potato, bell pdpper, celery and bay leaf. Might even throw in a handful of pasta. We’ll see.
Delicious soup! Definitely adding this to my list of regulars.
Hello, can I use red lentils?
Hi Dee! It could work, although liquid and cooking time would vary as red lentils significantly less time.
I have some lentils hanging out in my pantry. I love that I have EVERYTHING In my pantry already! Simple is best. (I am ashamed… I may have to use frozen kale :()
i made it it was delicious! have the stuff to make it tomorrow!
Super easy and delicious!
This recipe is very good indeed! I added half a zucchini and subbed the water for more chicken broth. Makes for a very flavourable, easy dinner! I’ll be making this one again for sure.
Kate- I LOVE your website. Every time I search a delicious vegetarian/vegan recipe you are always the one I use and with great results. I grew up on lentil soup but lately my soup hasn’t had the good flavor. Your recipe is delicious!
Also the other soups you mention so appeal to me and make me go
Yum. Thank you for this great site. You have become a familiar friend.
P. S. I also love my Vitamix and Le Creuset pot!
Loved it! I was scared to add the curry but if it tasted this good without it, I sure it would be delicious with it too. Will try next time or put a little in my bowl this week. Anyone low on ingredients, I didn’t have carrot and I forgot to add the greens. Awesome!
Would red lentils work in this recipe?
Hi Lena, I haven’t tried it, but they may work. Since they are more delicate and take less time and water to cook, you would need to adjust these two elements. I’m not sure by how much without testing it.
I found this recipe via google because I was out of coriander and looking for lentil soup without it, and the result was much better than the recipe I was using before! Some extras I tried were to use both Kale leafs and stems, and both carrots and carrot tops (since I believe in using most of the plant whenever possible.) I made sure to chop the tough Kale stems and carrot tops extremely fine, and that worked well. So thanks very much for this fine recipe, and as a new(ish) cook I will be looking at more of your recipes.
Thanks! This recipe saved me when I was too lazy to go grocery shopping this evening.Other than substituting fresh diced tomatoes for canned, I followed this recipe pretty faithfully and it was fantastic. I can see myself making this a few times this fall. This could so easily accommodate a lot of late summer/early fall veggies.
I made the recipe. It was delicious. Will make again!
I tweaked to my liking: used broth to sauté veggies. Added additional garlic. Puréed an additional cup than.
Great to hear, Peggy! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Can you substitute red lentils for green lentils in the same amount?
Hi Anna! Red lentils require less cooking time and less liquid. I know others have tried it, but I haven’t personally. I would suggest using my perfect lentils as a guide.
I followed this recipe as instructed and it was the absolutely most delicious soup I’ve ever made!!!
Love to hear that, lynn! Thank you for sharing.
Looks like a great recipe. I have to try this for sure this winter
Oh wow – I didn’t know if I could believe it to be “The Best”. When I looked at the ingredients, I thought it had that potential. I made it with the greens in my garden (celery leaves, cauliflower leaves and some spinach). It simply is the best lentil soup I have ever had. Thank you so so much
This is delicious!!
Substitutions I made and it still turned out fantastic!!
Didn’t have curry powder – used a little more cumin than called for, and added turmeric & paprika
Didn’t have canned tomatoes – used fresh tomatoes with a little tomato sauce
Didn’t have veggie broth – chicken broth
Added squash & zucchini
Mmmmm, super and fab, added a bit too much water, so popped in some red lentils at the end… (and fresh chard from the garden) thanks
DELICIOUS
Thank you, Judi!
Hi,
I love lentil soup. Tomorrow I am going to cook yours one. I have got one question about carry. I got red carry paste. Can I use it? If yes how many spoons?
Mateusz
Hi! I haven’t tried this with curry paste so I’m not sure about the overall taste and how much. You could try it and start with the recommended amount and adjust by taste.
First time lentil soup maker. This recipe is perfect! Easy to follow and not many ingredients. We used frozen kale and it was great. We are making it again tonight.
I loved the soup. I forgot to add the water but I used whole canned tomatoes, lightly drained and there was enough liquid so the water wasn’t needed.
I also omitted the lemon juice cuz I forgot.
Hubby loved it too!
Always use red wine vinegar in place of lemon and add a lot more kale because I like it. Best soup ever! Anyone who eats it wants the recipe.
This was indeed an extremely good soup, delicious and rich in flavours, easy to make. Thank you for the recipe!
This soup is my go-to soup for when I’m feeling under the weather or want to eat something that feels “healing”. I usually substitute spinach for the kale. Today I didn’t have any canned tomatoes so chopped up some roma tomatoes and it worked like a charm. I LOVE the additional of the curry powder and think the lemon at the end is essential to brighten it up and take it over the top! Thanks Kate for all the wonderful recipes!
This soup is perfect when you aren’t feeling well! I’m glad you love it and hop you are feeling better, Aly.