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.
Ideal name for the recipe since it genuinely is the best lentil soup I ever tried! Dead serious. I was getting tired of my traditional recipes for lentil soup and typed a search into the browser for the best lentil soup and my search steered me to you. I think the secret is your instruction to remove and blend a good portion of it and add it once again. Blending it, both released a ton of flavors instantly and also gave it that velvety/creamy texture. Amazing!
This was awesome! I’m glad I doubled the recipe. Served it with a nice crusty bread. Yummy
Dear Kate, I think your blog is one of my most favorite things on the internet. We love your perfectly named Best Lentil Soup. It is one of the few recipes my husband chooses to cook on his nights and it is so delicious every time. We are slowly transitioning to a plant based diet and your recipes have made the process so much tastier than I thought it could be. I am so grateful for you!
It was a wonderful combination of flavors – probably the best lentil soup I have ever had, and so easy to make. Thank you for sharing!
This is the best lentil soup by far. The cumin and curry take this soup to a whole new lentil soup level. Thank you for sharing
Lental soup came out great I had a ripe avocado that I couldn’t use so I added it to the two cups of blended soup and it made it so creamy
Kate, every recipe that I have tried from you website has been nothing short of fabulous!!! Another 5+ star recipe! I must say that I typically use minimal oil and decided to try an “almost” 1/4 cup. As you mentioned, it does add depth to this soup! Keep the vegetarian recipes coming!
Thank you, Donna! I’m so excited you love this one and other recipes. I appreciate your review!
Kate,
I’m on my third batch of this soup since August. It really is the BEST lentil soup. I’ve served it to several friends and frozen many individual servings and enjoyed them over time. I serve it alone, with gluten free corn bread, and with my own fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches (grilled onions, tomato slice, GF bread)!
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Thanks
Mary B
I added some freshly grated ginger and some red radishes and had marjoram instead of thyme and it turned out very nice. Wonderfully creamy and warming. :)
This was my first time making this. It was gorgeous. When it was gone, everyone was looking for more. Will be making a double batch tomorrow.
Thank You.
Excellent recipe. I followed the instructions to the letter and it was just the best lentil soup I’ve ever had in my life. I ate some for breakfast and another big bowl for lunch. Thanks, for such a great recipe.
You’re welcome, Lettie! I appreciate your review.
This lentil soup is so delicious! This is my third time making it and I’m patiently awaiting for it to be done cooking. My house smells AMAZING!
So tasty!! I didn’t have curry on hand and it was still very flavorful. It did take about 20 minutes longer to cook the lentils for some reason.
I’m sorry to hear it took longer, but glad you loved it!
Made this for dinner today and it’s so far the best lentil soup i have made and had (including restaurants) . My husband who is not so into whole grains said : you must do this often, it’s the best ☺️
thank you for the recipe
IT IS THE BEST!
Hubby says, “But I don’t like lentils.” I say, “But Kate says it’s the best.”
Hubby tries it and is a convert! He LOVED it, and more importantly, so did I. We will return to this recipe all winter long. So healthy and delicious. Thanks, Kate (and Cookie).
I love that! Thank you for letting me know, Nancy.
This soup is excellent. I like to use it as a way to use up random vegetables in the fridge – tonight I’m making it with the called for vegetables, along with a couple stalks of celery, half of a yellow bell pepper, and some zucchini. When I add additional vegetables, I cover completely to simmer to prevent it from becoming too thick. Great recipe, thank you!
This soup is amazing! I’ve been serving it over white rice to make it a meal for myself. I feel like I have been looking for this recipe for quite a while now. Thank you for posting it.
I forgot to put in the greens and the lemon at the end, but it didn’t matter. This soup was so flavorful and my husband loved it!! I’ll definitely make it again w/ all the ingredients!
My go to lentil soup! So tasty and a great way to use up those CSA greens! I often serve with a corn muffin or a slice of buttered sourdough toast on the side!
I love this soup and make it all the time! My family and BF love it too.
I finally just looked at the rest of your site and wow, I am very impressed! Not sure which recipe I will try next! Maybe a salad or dessert…or the minestrone soup looks really good!
I don’t know how to convey how DELICIOUS this recipe is. We made it in our cast iron Dutch oven, and when making a soup a few days later, I could still smell this one, and wished I was making it again. This will be a staple from now on!
Brings back memories of Mother’s cooking. Thank you for reminding us how to cook healthy during this time.
This was the second time I made this and we loved it. It’s very flavorful. I skimped on curry powder as it normally over powers other flavors, but next time I will add the recommended quantity. I used to make a cream based lentil soup before, but I like this one better.
Wonderful! Thank you for letting me know, Anjum!
So good! My cousin is having a baby this week, so I made a batch and froze it for her to grab as an easy lunch. Made some for me too… cause delicious, and soup season!
To this I have added a can of coconut milk and created a creamy and dreamy mix of flavours. Works very well for the vegan in my family who won’t use cow cream.
Soooo good. Best lentil soup I’ve ever made. I served it with a dollop of sour cream and my kids loved it.
Can I make this in an instapot? For digestive reasons, I have read that that is the best way to cook lentils
Hi Veronica, I don’t have instant pot directions for it. But, I believe others have if tried it if you would like to checkout the comments.
Delicious ! A family staple. Second time I did it I Didn’t have any lentils on hand and substituted for red kidney beans and it was still delicious!
This was so flavorful and easy to pull together. Everyone in our house loved it, including my 5 year old. I didn’t add red pepper due to the 5 year old and it was still yummy. Don’t skip the fresh lemon juice.
I made your recipe and my husband loves…. it he is of German background and says it reminds him of his late mother’s cooking!! Definitely a winner. So tasty thankyou for sharing!!
Wonderful, Elise! I appreciate your review.
My soup was fabulous. Thank you for a low fat, tasty and good for you soup. Love it.
Delicious soup. I never post comments & it’s so good I had to this time. I used red lentils and chicken stock (obviously we’re not vegan). I had baby spinach in the fridge so used that. It was fabulous. Only change I’d make would be to double greens.
I’m so glad you did, MM! I appreciate you taking time to review.
I made this tonight and it was fantastic! The only substitution made was chicken broth for veggie broth because that’s what I had. Will make this again.
This is a great recipe! I’m making it two days in a row. Very tasty and fulfilling.,
Made this soup tonight and it was delicious and easy! Will definitely make again :)
Best lentil soup ever!
Hi! I’m not a huge lentil fan but make something with them once or twice a year…. I decided today was the day and I found your recipe. I really like it – though I did make some changes. I added a full extra tablespoon each of garlic, cumin, and curry to the recipe – and included some zucchini, mushrooms, and a tad bit of broccoli as I wanted to use them up. I cooked it for 13 minutes in my Instant Pot and then let it slow release for 20. It’s really yummy – and to prove it – I got out a recipe card and copied it for future use. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much for sharing your version, Karen! Sounds great.
How do you define a serving.
Hi RJ, the soup yields 4 large bowls or 6 more modest bowls (quite a lot of soup, really). If you’re asking in regard to the nutrition information, one serving is one-fourth of the recipe (guessing that would be about 2 1/2 cups).
This is the first time I’ve made lentil soup
My grandson always says”Oma,your house always smells so good”
I’m certain he’d definitely say that today as the smell and flavour is remarkable
Thank you
Love it! Thank you, Rosa. Happy holidays to you and your family!
This soup is amazing! My husband loved it and he is a meat and potatoes guy. I followed the recipe exactly, but I had organic red lentils on hand so used those.
This is a keeper! Forwarded the recipe to my daughter and some friends;)
Just made and eaten this delicious soup, my husband and like it very much!
We will be making, and freezing it often
Thank you Kathryne
This has become a favorite after making it only once!! Making it again today and again appreciating all the spices and process. Don’t have a blender but just hand beat a portion-turned out great!
Thanks!
Absolutely amazing!
I love the mix of spices, but with all the ingredients combined, this soup is easy to make and is absolutely delicious! My family loves it!
Wonderful, Anna!
This recipe is terrific! I did add celery just because I love it. Otherwise followed exactly. I’m looking forward to leftovers!
Thank you, Anne! I’m happy you think so.
Easy, nutritious, and so magically delicious
Holy moly, fantastic flavours! As a Scot lentil soup is an absolute staple, and THIS recipe is hands down the best I’ve tasted! (sorry Mum )
Thank you
This is the first time when I write feedback to a recipe. I’m eating this soup right now and I cooked it 4 days ago. This soup is fantastic, it is low-carb and I adore every bit of it.
I cooked it in the pressure cooker and had 1.5 of lentils indicated in the recipe, and I added frozen spinach to it after the soup was cooked. This is SO SO SO SO SO TASTY. I am impressed deeply, especially taking into account that I don’t like curry at all. I am so glad I cooked it, bless you the recipe creater!
This recipe is literally perfect! It is so easy and healthy and tastes fabulous! Made it again today and this is probably my 4th or 5th time. We love this soup and it makes enough to have leftovers for a couple days! Woo hoo! Thank u!!
I have a go to lentil soup recipe that I’ve made for years, so I was a bit nervous to give this a try. However I can vouch that the recipe lives up to its name … this is the best lentil soup!! This is our new favorite to be made for years to come.