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. AMAZING!! My first time making lentil soup, it was so easy and is one of the best soups I’ve ever had! I changed a few things-used less olive oil, 1tsp cumin instead of 2, I didn’t have any thyme and I used spinach for the greens. This recipe is a keeper!! Thank you!!
kate, i just have to drop in and say that this is one of the most fantastic soups i’ve ever eaten! despite the incredible heatwave we’re having, i’m making it again tonight! excellent taste, thank you so much.
Awesome soup! I can also see it with white or black beans instead and might try that next time. I doubled the collard greens to sneak in more greens. Thanks so much!
Wonderful soup!!! My boyfriend and I loved it, thank you very much for sharing it :)
Will this work with red lentils?
This was amazing!
Thanks for this recipe :) I just used whatever I had in my cupboard so I used mushroom broth and bell peppers instead of vegetable broth and greens. I also didnt have cumin but used red chilli pepper flakes. I didnt expect to like thyme and lentils this much :)
This soup is amazing! So many flavours and textures. I made double the amount so I could have it throughout the week and I’m so glad I did. I added chickpeas into the recipe and did rosemary instead of thyme
Kate – this soup has got to be my favourite of all time! I had to come comment on it as I discovered it a year ago, and make it so often (and love it every time!!) I’ve shared the recipe often because people always ask me for it! And it is so easy, too! I usually have the ingredients in my pantry already. Kudos, Kate! Thanks for a well-cherished recipe!
Hello! I live in Brisbane (AU) and although we are in a sub-tropical climate, our winters are positively freezing thanks to our houses that are built to breathe and cross-ventilate through the summer. I have this soup sitting on the pot beside me as I type and it smells so good! I never EVER follow recipes, only search them for inspiration in terms of flavour combinations then play with quantities/what I have in the fridge. In this case I have certainly played around quite a bit but I was so intrigued by your use of cumin and lemon (being Syrian myself, I know these flavours marry perfectly). I would have never thought to throw them in a hearty dish. Looking forward to tasting it tonight.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Wow, this came out delicious. I love blending part of the soup and adding it back in. Also adding the lemon. You also got me to branch out and try collard greens. This lentil soup is a winner. I will make it again.
Just the best on a cold winters day. The whole family loves it.
Hi Kate,
Thank you for such a wonderful and delicious recipe! Made this last month and making it again tonight as we have most ingredients in the cupboard and it’s healthy, easy and so flavorful!
I msde this vegan lentil soup today and it was delicious. Thank you so much for sharing.
Couldn’t believe this was vegan while i was eating it. Amazing job. One of the best soups I’ve had in my life!
Just wow. I’m not a vegetarian or vegan by any means. Never thought something like this would be so amazing. This is a permanent addition to my lunch rotation! Thanks for the recipe!
I cook for myself only a lot of the time – is this recipe suitable for freezing?
It’s on the stove cooking,just tasted it – amazing!! Can you freeze the leftovers?
I’ve frozen similar soups and they freeze just fine. I cook for myself, so I saved some of the soup to eat this week and divided the rest into four portions and froze it.
It’s on the stove cooking, just tasted it, amazing! Thanks. One question, can you freeze this soup?
Loved this soup! Definitely a keeper… My daughter (14) and I made this together, it was easy and very filling. Froze the left overs will use when I’m in a hurry and need a tasty filling meal.
This soup is absolutely amazing in every way! Loved every bite of it and will be making it again for sure!
Amazing! I put in 6 cups of chicken broth instead of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water for a bigger pot. I used cayenne pepper. I also used more kale and carrots. I let it simmer a little longer than 30 min just because I was busy doing the dishes. It turned out so good! I thank you so much!
I’ve made this soup 3 times now – it is my favorite soup EVER. I make it on Sunday night, and it’s the only meal I can eat for lunch 5 days in a row and never get sick of it. Thank you for this awesome, easy, and inexpensive recipe!!!! A++++++ <3
Yum. Made this today.So delicious.
Thank you.
Virginia
So good!!! I added potato but other than that followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. My kids also loved it!
I’m not sure what you mean by “curry powder”. There isn’t really a scientific blend that constitutes “curry powder”. I do have all of the individual spices – turmeric, coriander, cumin, kashmiri chili powder, etc. What was the intention/goal behind this ingredient? Heat? Colour?
Is there a reason why there’s no celery in this recipe? Never made lentil soup before, and most of the recipes I’ve seen had a mirepoix of celery, onions and carrots.
My infant son has a number of food sensitivities, so I need to avoid dairy, soy, and egg while I’m breastfeeding. It is hard to find good recipes free of all three, so I’m especially grateful for this delicious soup. I use 2-3 fresh tomatoes in place of the canned, and it works just as well. Thank you!
I made this with a friend last week to comfort us in cold (but sunny) South Africa, and it was delicious! Thank you, Kate
Really looking forward to trying this recipe….do you think it’d work as a CrockPot recipe as well? Love using the CrockPot for soups!!
Hi Kate, it’s winter here in Australia right now. I was trawling Pinterest looking for vegetarian soup recipes, and came across this recipe and your blog. Can’t wait to make this tonight — I can tell just from reading the ingredients it’s going to be delicious! I look forward to lots more vegetarian recipes to add to my repertoire :-)
Oh my gosh this is soooo good! Has a real smoky, deep flavour to it and a delicious after taste too. Great work Kate! Thanks.
I have tried lots of different lentil soup recipes, but I have to say this was the BEST!!! Even better that its made with kitchen staples and the end result and flavor was amazing. I used my own blend of curry powder and vegetable stock paste for the vegetable stock. I didn’t have fresh greens so just added sweet potato and some spring onions towards the end. I packed some for a friend but I have a feeling I might end up eating this as well. Awsesome recipe…..thank you very much.
I’ve just made your lentil soup in my soup maker. It tastes good – maybe a tad thick, so I’ll use less lentils next time. I’ve no idea what ‘collard greens’ are, but I’ll add some parsley when serve it. Thanks for the ideas!
This is now has to be one of my favourite recipes! I added a smidge of smoked paprika just to fuel my own personal addiction. So hearty and nourishing, my boyfriend and I couldn’t believe how damn good it was. I can’t wait to make it again as well as try more of your recipes!
You mention curry powder….. there are many many different curry powders. Can you be more specific about this ingredient?
Hey Matt, just a general yellow curry powder will work well. There’s not a lot of curry powder in this recipe, so the blend won’t have a big impact on the final result. I think I used McCormick’s brand.
This soup is soooo tasty! The combination of spices really makes this soup great. Don’t skimp on the spice!
Made this soup today, it was actually the first lentil soup I have ever made as I cannot stand lentils but this recipe was absolutely delicious, even my sister who dislikes lentils loved it, thanks so much for the recipe!
Well, I’m glad you both enjoyed this soup! Thanks for letting me know!
I’m 70 and a pretty good amateur chef, but I’ve never had a worse disaster than this soup. My wife is pretty much a vegetarian and neither of could even eat it. The lemon addition is insane, totally wrong. The volume of the recipe made it difficult to even get down the toilet. Sorry for such a bad review, but the worst lentil soup recipe in the world!
This was so good that I ate it every day for lunch or dinner until it was all gone! Am going to make new pot tomorrow. Can’t seem to get enough! This is the 1st. time I have posted a comment on a recipe- EVER!!! Thank you!
I NEVER take the time to write comments, but I have to tell you…this truly is THE BEST SOUP!!! My son recently turned vegan and sent me this recipe to try and it is a keeper!! I followed the recipe exactly as you posted and it was perfect! Thank you! :)
Thank you so much, LeAnne!
I made this tasty soup for dinner tonight and really enjoyed it. I also put in some ginger at the same time as the garlic, and added a little paprika and dried chilli at the same time as the tomato which worked well. Thanks for posting it.
LOVED this. Husband loved it too–and asked me to bookmark this one because he’ll be wanting to cook it up himself soon.
(variation: I did only 1 tsp cumin, and 2 tsp curry powder. I also used an immersion blender right in the pot for step 4, I recommend that tool for people who make a lot of soups and smoothies–so handy, and much faster to clean up!
Oh my…so delicious…….I added some grated Swiss cheese on top. Lots and lots and lots of flavor, so nice to have a meatless dish that even my husband had seconds.
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You know what my husband said? “This person (meaning the creator of the recipe) knows how to cook!”
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Love this soup but can you tell me how many calories per 100g portion?
This is such a great lentil soup recipe. I made it this week and used kale for the greens. I loved the addition of the lemon juice at the end. That really made the flavors pop and therefore no need to add any additional salt or pepper. I will be making this again. :)
I just made this today. The recipe was very easy and it’s really good!
This lentil soup is my husbands favourite. A pot lasts us a few days and a hearty bowl, with a slice of toasted whole wheat bread on the side, it makes a perfect week night meal.