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.
Oh my goodness — this soup is incredible! We’ve been trying to step up our meals and this is my favorite recipe so far. I’ve never had lentils, but wanted to make soup on a bitterly cold day and this is so delicious! I had spinach on hand so I had to substitute, but promise I’ll try it with Kale the next time. (Kale, blecchh)
I’m happy you think so, Martha! Thank you for your review.
Never thought of adding curry, but it is good. Only changes I made were to cut back on salt and substitute young chard from the garden.
I did have an issue of it being a little too thick, for whatever reason, so I thinned the soup with more vegetable broth. The immersion blender is the quickest and easiest way to make it more creamy. I think adding some celery and even potato would work for variety. Question: can I substitute something else for lemon juice? Would sherry vinegar work? Or apple cider vinegar?…..Comment: Need to try your cookbook soup recipes like Hearty Lentil Minestrone.
Hi! So delicious. How cups in a seving?
Hi! I’m happy you loved it. Roughly 1.5-2 cups is a serving.
It is amazing that your sight dosent allow for less then positive feed back in the sight its sf
I tried this a few weeks ago and loved it. I’m making it again tomorrow before my husband and I get our second shot. This will be delicious when I don’t want to cook!
I absolutely love your recipe for lentil soup. I will never use any other recipe. I’ve now made it three times in a month, and everyone loves it. I used my immersion blender for creaming, and I used 2 T. fresh lemon juice. Best soup on a cold day. Thank you so much!
Cookie & Kate you have the best recipes!
This lentil soup is no exception. So much flavor & so satisfying.
Plus very easy to make. :)
Before I found this recipe i had made lentil soup for years.
After having your version i won’t be going back to my substandard version.
PS i followed the recipe to the letter.
Thanks again
Thank you, Sherri!
I do not cook, I repeat I do not cook but I made this tonight and it was soooo delicious!!! Super easy and I had most ingredients except for the curry. Highly recommend!
I love that, Yami! Thank you for your review.
This lentil soup is amazing, absolutely delicious! My husband loves it too! This is definitely a new favorite recipe, thank you!
Fabulous. We loved this. I had to cook the lentils much longer but wow! This is a keeper!
This is the most delicious soup! My whole family has been enjoying it, thank you! What is the portion size in the nutritional information provided? Thank you!
Thank you for your review, Kim!
I made this soup because it sounded healthy but I did not expect how Delicious it is!! The only thing I changed was a more lemon because I Love lemon. This will become a staple in my repertoire. Thank You So Much!!!!!!!
You’re welcome, Susan!
Absolutely satisfying! Especially in a rainy season. My family loves it! Made it with some pita breads. Im so making this again tonight.
I love lentil soups of all kinds and this is one of the best. I made a few changes – I didn’t have any carrots on hand so I added chopped cooked sweet potato at the end. I was out of curry and didn’t have any greens so omitted those. Still delicious and will try it again without making those changes!
i made this and it tastes delicious! when i ate it i added some pasta too. next time i would probably blend more than two cups of the soup because the texture was a little closer to chili than soup but i just added more vegetable stock when i ate it.
This recipe is delicious! The lemon at the end is really what brings it all together and adds that extra flavor dimension that elevates the entire dish. The only adjustment I made was the spices; I probably did around 2 tablespoons of cumin and 1 1/2 tablespoons of curry powder. I also had a couple of my own additions: I added chickpeas and found that dill sprinkled on top of my helping was delicious with the lemon and tied everything together. All in all, excellent recipe!
I love this soup and make it regularly. I recently made it but there was no regular broth at the store so I bought Campbell’s no salt vegetable broth and it ruined my soup, cause it had sugar it it?!? What can I do to fix it if anything?
58% sodium? That’s extremely high. Is that only because of the added salt?
Hi Sharon, you can always reduce the salt by ensuring you have low sodium or no salt added ingredients.
This tasty soup was super quick and easy. (I skipped the puree step.) I will definitely make this again. Loved it!
Can i make the soup without a blender? I do not have one. i suppose it will just be thicker. Thank you
Hi! You can and others have enjoyed it. I highly recommend it, but you can still enjoy it without. It helps the overall flavor and texture.
This is the best lentil soup I’ve ever had! I did add a couple stalks of celery, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly as written.
I made this soup again my brother-in-law said he could eat it every day for all 3 meals . Thanks again Karman
This is 2nd time I tried your lentil soup. OMGoodness it gets better each time. I doubled recipe added a cup of green lentils and a cup of the orange. Sham Wow Kate! I have to agree your recipe wins the prize! Thank you for sharing your recipes, Bye the way today is Feb 15/21. I just picked a huge bowl of 3 different kale from our garden in the snow. I ate my comfort soup by candle light looking out window at all this snow. I rate you a 5. Deanna
Now to use up my kale!
Making this for a second time tonight. Yep, totally the best lentil soup recipe ever. Don’t kid yourself and freeze it, you’ll scarf the whole pot in two days.
We make this at least once every month and freeze it, sometimes, to take on sailboat trips around Puget Sound. I heartily concur that your recipe is the best lentil soup ever! Thank you for sharing!
Once a month! I love that. Thank you for sharing, Jane.
This recipe came out perfectly. I’m eating my first bowl right now! I didn’t have any curry powder on hand so I did chili powder instead. I personally didn’t need to add any additional seasoning or lemon juice, it was perfect. I plan to portion out and freeze the rest. I’m 8 months pregnant so this is a perfect lunch! Thank you!
Hi Kate,
By far this is the best Lentil soup I have every made! I did add some celery and their leaves to the mix. And some lemon zest along with the juice. Thanks again for the recipe.
John
Thank you, John! I’m happy you love it.
This soup expanded my son’s eating into loving lentils. It has become my family’s favorite lentil soup. This recipe is really delicious!
Just 1 cup of lentils? I usually use a whole bag (1 pound). Will the lentils not cook evenly?
LOVE LOVE LOVE this lentil soup and so does everyone I serve it to!
That’s great! Thank you for your review, Shirli.
We love this one! Especially the fact that it calls for ingredients we normally have in the cupboard :) between three of us we couldn’t stop eating it and were literally licking the pot !
I usually don’t leave comments on recipes (well online in general) cause I’m shy.
I’m very very picky with my veg and I’ve been trying to eat more fresh fruit, veg, and meat etc instead of processed foods.
I started out trying to recreate a tomatillo/cilantro/lime lentil recipe from a long time ago and it was good, but I wanted to experiment. I’ve tried several different lentil recipes I’ve found including a pretty tasty Greek/Lebanese recipe that reminded me of stuffed grape leaves.
This was my first time cooking with curry powder. Maybe I was just missing out on something amazing this whole time, maybe it’s just a reflection of the hard work you put into this recipe (I’m thinking the latter :p ), but this is the best soup I’ve ever had. I used chopped fresh spinach instead of kale or greens but I told you I’m picky about my veg! Lol.
Plus it makes plenty and I usually do a double batch and freeze them flat in freezer bags for easy to store stackable squares that I can just heat and serve. You really outdid yourself with this one!
Thank you for sharing, Ryan!
I made this tonight and it was SO GOOD! I didn’t add the kale because it was a last minute meal and that was the only thing I didn’t have on hand, but I love that it used up so much of what I already had!
Thank you! I’m happy you loved it, Lindsey.
Wow I love meat but this blew me away. Can’t wait to do it again, I didn’t even miss the meat.
The soup was delicious. The only problem was I used twice as many lentils( one pound) so it came out more like a lentil stew than a soup. But it was delicious this way too!
This was awesome, yummy goodness! I used the veggies I had on hand adding yellow peppers, celery and butternut squash. My husband who doesn’t like squash thought he was eating potatoes! We both loved the recipe and look forward to making it again!
Do u have to soak lentils overnight?
No need to soak!
Have made this many times over the last couple years. If I attend a party and need to bring something THIS IS IT! I love that it’s allergy free. Even my kids eat this. I am more likely to have these ingredients on hand than stuff for chicken noodle soup. Only thing I change is using pinto beans instead of lentils, it just happened to be the only bean I had first time I made it and I liked it that way. Making this is fun and a piece of art <3
I Love that! Thank you for sharing, April.
Very tasty! I added a rib of celery and ~1/3 of a sweet red pepper to the vegie stir, and reduced the curry to 1/4 tsp as I’m not a big fan. Spinach works well for the green, some winter squash is a nice add. Didn’t need the water but others may like it less thick. Very adaptable.
Really delicious! I took the advice of another comment and added a can of white beans, mashing half of them. It thickened the soup nicely. Lemon juice was essential! I also threw in some leftover cooked farro. Served with a dollop of sour cream.
Absolutely delicious! I added a scoop of cottage cheese and some sriracha sauce when I served it! It made a delicious meal! I’m going to use this as my go-to lentil soup recipe!
This is without a doubt the best lentil soup recipe. I made it just as written, however, I did double it. It was a huge hit, looking forward to leftovers tonight!
This was brought a few new firsts into my world:
* first time trying lentil soup (why not start with “The Best”?!)…and lentils
* first time making a vegetable soup (I used to think they were gross – C+K has changed me!)
* first time adding kale to a soup (I only eat it as chips!)
I followed the recipe as written and have a new FAVORITE soup. I have been raving about it to everyone — The Best Lentil Soup is appropriately named and I’m planning to make or eat it weekly for the rest of winter!
Wonderful winter soup – my husband said it had a touch of India about it! Thank you Kate
You’re welcome, Adrienne!
Super easy to follow recipe and thought it tasted pretty good! I omitted the curry powder since I didn’t have any on hand and only added 1 tsp of cumin based off of other reviews. My husband isn’t fond of cumin and next time I’ll omit it. Overall, enjoyed this soup! Thank you!
Made this today . Omg best soup I’ve ever made . So delicious. My husband loves this as well . Will definitely be making this again. Thanks !
Oh my goodness, this recipe is worth every little effort to make! It’s simply divine!
Great soup. Yes, one of the best ever! Thanks.
Question:
If making this soup ahead of time . . . is it best to wait to add the greens & lemon juice for right before serving . . . after warming it up?
Thinking of making the base 3-4 days ahead of time and heating up for a crock pot lunch this Friday.
Thanks!
I think this is great made as is and then warmed up. I hope that helps!
This was delicious! I added some cabbage, sweet potatoes, and celery that needed to be used. I served it with crusty fresh baked bread and it was a hit with everyone in the house!
I LOVE this recipe. My 3.5 year old loves it too! I added frozen spinach when I didn’t have the kale and it turned out really well too. This is definitely a go-to soup for the winter! Thank you!