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
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
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: (affiliate links) I love my Vitamix blender and Le Creuset 5.5-quart Dutch oven. For more of my favorite cooking tools, shop my kitchen essentials.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Caitlyn
I love this soup! I’ve made it twice with red lentils because that’s what I had on hand and it’s fantastic. I skip the water and just simmer for about 10 mins before blending it and adding the greens. My favorite lentil soup by far!
★★★★★
Margie
Love the recipe! It was delicious and a perfect blend of spices. Freezing day and this soup definitely warmed us up. Thank you!!
★★★★★
BC
This soup was soooo freaking good. I like spice and opted to add more red pepper flakes and also added a spice blend of parsley, scallion and sweet peppers.m with the garlic. Best soup I’ve had in a while.
★★★★★
Cathleen Colehour
Made 1-1/2X recipe and used 2 whole cans of tomatoes. Skipped the lemon juice because I added the tomatoes. I am usually messing with recipes (particularly those of food blogs, many of whom unfortunately can’t cook). This recipe is excellent as is–very flavourful. For those of us who are not vegetarian/vegan types, I also added a couple poached chicken breasts (chopped).
★★★★★
Cindy Allsbrooks
This was one of the best soups I’ve ever made. Made it exactly as recipe called for except I did not have curry powder. I will make it again and again. Thank you.
★★★★★
Margaret
Thanks for a delicious lentil soup recipe. I agree that adding the recommended EVOO adds to the satisfying taste of this recipe. The addition of curry was new to me but it, too, made this recipe a cut above for me. I will be making this delicious soup again and again.
★★★★★
Jean Griffith
The last photos of the soup do not look like the soup was puréd. I prefer a chunkier soup. Can I leave out the blender step and add greens (using spinach) without the blender step?
Kate
Hi Jean, the soup is only partially puréed, which lends it some light creaminess that I really enjoy. You can skip the blending if you’d like.
TanyaRenee Usher
Good Morning!
This soup is absolutely delicious and hearty and fabulous on a Winter day or evening. Perfect!!
★★★★★
Kathy
Did not have but one 14 oz can of tomatoes. Is this going to be a problem? Can I replace possibly w small amount of tomato paste?
Kate
Hi! You will want the tomatoes for this. I don’t think you will get the same result with tomato paste. But if you try it, let me know.
Lívia Badiani
LOVED the recipe! I made a few changes to adapt to the ingredients I had in hand (no tomatos, for instance) and it worked wonders. The trick really is blending the soup, it’s the most essential part of this recipe and it’s worth it. I used tandoori and turmeric instead of cumin and loved it as well! Chicory works great instead of kale too :) Thank you Kate for the lovely recipe!
★★★★★
Joni
This is a great recipe and absolutely my go to for lentil soup for the last 5 years at least! Making it again for super on this chilly night. It is a great way to get extra veggies in my kiddos so I throw in whatever I have on hand. Thank you for a great recipe!!!
★★★★★
Adrienne Jacobi
Amazing!
★★★★★
Nicole Abene
This lentil soup has become one of my favorite things to make. Simple enough and tastes very wholesome and homey. I’ve made this soup with different lentils, but my favorite is red. They open up and so I don’t end up needing to blend the soup. I also like to use crushed tomatoes instead of diced.
★★★★★
Patricia Delgado
It’s freaking good! I added some red and purple potatoes. The flavors were amazing and that lemon juice in there…
★★★★★
Patricia
My first lentil soup and I just happened to have some dried green lentils. This was so easy to put together. Your directions were excellent. I even had all the ingredients in the house..a bonus since I’m limiting my grocery store runs. ! I used greens from our Power Greens salad and it was delicious! Hearty and flavorful.And with homemade bread it was so satisfying. My husband LOVED it!
★★★★★
Pat
We love this soup and have made it at least 3 times. I agree that it freezes well. In fact, it’s even better the second time because there’s no effort in cooking it =). The only changes I make are: I load it up with more greens and sometimes I use black instead of brown or green lentils. It’s good no matter how you make it.
★★★★★
Rox
This really is great. The lemon juice smooths out the curry and it is so flavorful. I also love to spoon it over cooked rice for a perfect protein.
★★★★★
Cheryl
I’m not Vegan or Vegetarian, but recently was diagnosed with a condition that means I need to eat more fibre. I made the soup as per the recipe, but when sautéing the carrots & onion I did add 2 small stalks of celery. The soup was very tasty & filling & I can’t wait to make it for my family when lockdown is over. Thank you Kate.
From London, England
★★★★★
KAREN BOYER
I have made this soup many times. Today is the first time I realized how packed it is with nutrition compared to most other labels I read.
★★★★★
Eileen Harrell
The best lentel soup is no lie. I didn’t do the greens at the end and used chicken stock. So tasty.
★★★★★
Amanda B
This soup was delicious! I may have added too many red pepper flakes. Next time I will use only a pinch! Served it with fresh bread. My husband loved it! I will be making this again.
★★★★★
Evelin
This soup has become a staple in my German-American kitchen….. love all the spices. So delicious!
★★★★★
Marcia
Excellent soup! I followed recipe exactly. i used 2 14.5 oz of diced tomatoes, one was no salt added and was perfect. I used baby spinach i had on hand.
Love your other recipes ive tried, made your Baked Ziti w Roasted vegetables fur company last night and we all had seconds, thank you for your tecipes!
★★★★★
Martin
Easy to prepare .result mouth watering .left over devoured a few days later and it was exquisite.
Yummy yummy soup plus all the healthy ingredients
★★★★★
Gina
Fantastic recipe! I live in India and mother in law taught me to soak lentils overnight before cooking. Going to give this a try with mixed dal. Huge fan of all your recipes!
Louise
Delicious soup! It’s the perfect amount of lentils, hearty but not heavy.
★★★★★
Sheryl Shuchat
Excellent, spicy and delicious!
Kristie
Best soup I have ever made – husband concurs :). Added a little more than suggested red pepper flakes. Used kale for the greens. So flavorful and delicious on this cold winter day!
★★★★★
Karman
Best soup I’m going to put on my soup rotation. I’ll even cook it in the summer. LOVE It
★★★★★
Kate
I love that this one is a year round soup for you! I appreciate your review.
Julie
This was my first time making my own lentil soup and I have to admit I am extremely surprised!! I picked this recipe when deciding on soups because it seems so nutritious, but never would have thought it would be THIS good!! Definitely will have to make again
★★★★★
Leslie LAMANNA
Srsly amazecakes! Used frozen toms from the garden-no salt in them. Didn’t add lemon, it was so good so why bother? Also, we are in our 60’s so I didn’t add any oil. It’s perfect! Husband is on bowl #2, or 3? He keeps saying please don’t forget to make this again!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it!
Emma
Both of the times I’ve made this I’ve accidentally used Chili powder instead of curry and it still turned out so yummy!!!! I love the texture when I also blend the kale. Super bomb recipe! Love this soup
★★★★★
Peter Hambly-Smith
Maybe just maybe he most delicious soup I have ever tasted. Busting with flavour!
I took a couple of short cuts- why add 2 cups of water when you add the stock? Just add 3 cups more of stock.
And use a hand blender and blend in one go.
Looks like lentles with everything from now on!
Don’t miss this recipe its a really good one.
★★★★★
Peter Hambly-Smith
Maybe just maybe the most delicious soup I have ever tasted. Busting with flavour!
I took a couple of short cuts- why add 2 cups of water when you add the stock? Just add 3 cups more of stock.
And use a hand blender and blend in one go.
Looks like lentles with everything from now on!
Don’t miss this recipe its a really good one.
★★★★★
Em
Can you freeze it?
Kate
Hi Em! I believe others have reported this has froze well.
SM
Possibly my favourite soup recipe i’ve ever made! I make it loads :)
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, SM! Thank you for your review.
Beth
We love this soup (and the vegetable soup)! As a recent vegetarian, your recipes have become a staple in our house (even for the non-vegetarian husband). For this soup, do you recommend soaking the lentils first and if so for how long? I’ve tried and sometimes it works, but sometimes lentils get too soft. also when you blend, do you only spoon out lentils and veggies, or some broth as well?
Kate
Hi Beth! No need to soak. The recipe includes the cooking of the lentils.
Anneliese
Easy to make and ideal for a cold winter day. Absolutely lovely. Thank you !
★★★★★
Cindy
We loved the soup and the only thing I did differently was use spinach instead of kale and tried too cut does on the salt. Will make it again.
★★★★★
Amy
This was delicious and super easy! Leftovers were great for packing lunches. My husband loved it too. Making this again this evening! I’m wondering if you’ve tried this in an Instapot and if so, how long you think it’d take to cook? I’m late getting on the Instapot train and am still figuring out how to work it.
★★★★★