Hearty and healthy lentil soup that is loaded with veggies and perfect for lunch or dinner. Cooks in one pot. Delicious comfort food the whole family will enjoy.
This vegan lentil soup recipe is so delicious and is the perfect hearty soup for cold weather. This is a great easy recipe that uses simple ingredients you can find at your local grocery store. The best part is that it cooks up in one pot and uses fresh vegetables that makes this one of my go to recipes for soup season.
Serve this soup with some soft and fluffy vegan dinner rolls, pumpkin clover rolls, or gluten free biscuits!
Free from: Wheat, gluten, dairy, casein, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, mollusks, corn, sesame, mustard, lupin, sulfites, and more
Classic lentil soup is one of those that you make when the days are cold and you need something hearty and satisfying. Plus, it’s full of veggies that you can get fresh in the winter no matter where you live.
Why You’ll Love this Lentil Soup
- Hearty and healthy meal
- Lots of veggies and bold spices
- Simple and inexpensive ingredients
- Made in one pot
Ingredients
Lentil soup is a pantry friendly recipe with nothing fancy. Just simple ingredients mixed together in the proper proportions for a delicious soup. Here is a quick rundown of what you’ll need.
- Lentils: You can use brown or green lentils for this soup. Honestly, you could even use red lentils if that is all you have on hand! Just note that red lentils will change the color of the soup.
- Veggies: Onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and spinach (or baby spinach) all come together to make this a really hidden veggie packed bowl of soup! I like to use diced tomatoes but crushed also works.
- Spices: This soup uses a blend of cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, with salt and black pepper to make it delicious.
- Lemon juice: The secret ingredient that isn’t so secret. Adding lemon juice to the lentil soup makes it brighter and really brings out the flavors of the spices. Use fresh lemon juice when you can!
- Vegetable stock: You can use your favorite stock to make this soup, or even just water. I've even used chicken broth on days that weren't vegetarian and it tastes great.
Allergy Variations
If you are allergic to celery, no worries! Simply leave the celery out of this soup. You could add a quarter of a chopped fennel bulb if you are able to safely eat fennel. Adding a peeled and diced parsnip would also be a good substitute in this soup. However, the celery isn’t what makes the soup so don’t worry if you have to eliminate it.
Instructions
For the full instructions, complete with recipe measurements, please see the recipe card below!
Start by heating olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Let this cook for about 5 minutes until the onions become more translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
Rinse the lentils to make sure that there are no twigs, rocks, or leaves in them. Yes, I’ve found all of those things in my lentils! Which is why I always remind you to rinse them well.
After the onions have cooked down, it’s time to add everything else to the pot, minus the lemon juice and spinach! Add in the tomatoes, lentils, spices, and veggie broth.
Cook this on the stove for about 45 minutes until the lentils have fully cooked and the soup has thickened.
Finally, stir in the chopped spinach and the fresh lemon juice. Give it a good stir and remove it from the heat. The residual heat of the soup will cook the spinach without overcooking it.
Tip! Want to change up the greens? You can totally swap kale for the spinach in this recipe. Just add the kale after 35 minutes of cooking since kale needs a longer time to cook then spinach.
Equipment
For making soup, you need a large pot! This recipe makes a ton of servings, so the bigger the pot the better! I love using a ceramic pot for this soup but a large metal one also works well.
For storing soup, here are some great freezer safe containers and here are some awesome fridge containers.
FAQ
I recommend using brown lentils for this soup, though you can use just about any lentil that you have in your pantry. It just will affect the final look and color of the soup if you use red lentils or yellow lentils.
Nope! Just give them a really good rinse before putting them into the soup. Sometimes there are bits of twigs or leaves in the lentils. One time I even found a tiny rock! So just give them a good look over before adding them to the soup.
Yes you can! Pop all the ingredients in the slow cooker and heat on low for 6-8 hours.
If your slow cooker has a sautéed setting, cook the onions, carrots, and celery as written to develop the flavors before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Yep! Start on the saute setting to get the onions, celery, and carrots cooking. Then add the remaining ingredients to the pot and give it a good stir. Cook on high pressure for about 12 minutes and then manually release the steam. Enjoy!
How to Store Lentil Soup
Fridge: Store this soup in a large container for up to 5 days. It makes for a great meal prep for dinners or lunches.
Freezer: You can totally freeze soup! Fill up a freezer friendly container with the fully cooked and cooled soup. Store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, allow the soup to thaw in the fridge overnight and then heat in a pot on the stove over low-medium heat until warm.
More Comfort Foods to Try
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Recipe
Equipment
- Large pot
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- knife
- cutting board
- Veggie peeler
- Mesh strainer
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ onion diced
- 1-2 garlic cloves diced
- 1 cup carrots diced (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1 cup celery diced (about 2-3 celery stalks)
- 14 oz diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 cup lentils brown or green
- 3 cups stock
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon paprika sweet not smoked
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
- 2 cups spinach rough chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat. Heat the olive oil in a large pot on the stove over medium heat.
- Cook. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the onions are becoming translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Rinse. Make sure you rinse the lentils well!
- Add. Add the lentils, tomatoes, spices, stock, and salt and pepper.
- Cook. Cook the soup for about 45 minutes or until the lentils are cooked and the soup has cooked down.
- Add the chopped spinach and fresh lemon juice. Remove it from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes to allow the spinach to cook. Enjoy!
Notes
- How to Store Lentil Soup
- Fridge: Store this soup in a large container for up to 5 days. It makes for a great meal prep for dinners or lunches.
- Freezer: You can totally freeze soup! Fill up a freezer friendly container with the fully cooked and cooled soup. Store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, allow the soup to thaw in the fridge overnight and then heat in a pot on the stove over low-medium heat until warm.
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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