Don’t settle for bland Lentil Soup! Make it right and you’ll have everyone begging for seconds….and thirds… This lentil recipe is one of the best nourishing, simple dishes you can make with dried lentils that’s 100% delicious. Use green lentils, red lentils, brown lentils or a lentil soup mix.
All it takes is a hint of spice flavourings, bay leaves and finishing it off with a touch of lemon to elevate this soup. It’s an easy recipe that delivers terrific results, a 5 star reader favourite with hundreds of feedback from readers!
Want to add some protein? Try this Beef & Lentil Soup!
Lentil Soup
Lentil soup is quite possibly the least sexy sounding soup on the planet.
At least, in my world. Regular readers know that I’m all about big flavours. Spicy, herby, curries – kapow, kapow, kapow!
But you know what? A well made Lentil Soup recipe is can’t-stop-eating-it good. You’ll go back for seconds and thirds, then you’ll be taking big tubs of it to work for lunch and happily have it for dinner again.
And – I’m going to say it (*head swell*) – plenty of readers have said this is the best lentil soup they’ve ever had!
A well made Lentil Soup recipe is can’t-stop-eating-it good.
Is lentil soup good for you?
If you’re wondering if lentil soup is good for you, the answer is yes! Lentils are nutritious, rich in minerals, protein, low in fat, high in fibre (digestive health). They are a terrific vegetarian source of protein with 25% of the calories in lentils attributable to protein.
Lentils are a carbohydrate, but it’s slow burning which means it keeps you fuller for longer. Studies also suggest that lentils are good for heart health.
The added benefit is that they are low in calories with 116 calories in 1 cup of cooked lentils (which is roughly the amount per serving of this lentil soup).
What does lentil soup taste like?
It tastes savoury and has a flavour boost from a hint of spices. There’s an undertone of natural sweetness from the soffrito flavour base of onion, carrot and celery. My favourite part is the texture! It’s thick and comforting, and just made for dunking in hot crusty bread!
What goes in Lentil Soup
Here’s what goes in my lentil soup. Nothing fancy, just everyday ingredients.
So what makes this Lentil Soup so good?
A touch of spices.
Cooking the onion, carrot and celery slowly so they sweeten and make a beautiful flavour base.
Lemon – The “secret” ingredient. Yes really. Little tip I picked up from Ina Garten. Just a bit of zest and squeeze of fresh lemon makes all the difference which takes it from really good to great!
Do you cook lentils before adding to soup?
Nope! Dried lentils cook in 35 minutes in the soup, and there’s no need to soak them either!
What type of lentils are best for lentil soup?
Dried lentils are best for lentil soup. You can use most types of lentils for this recipe – brown, green, red or yellow, though it will affect the colour of the soup. I’ve used green lentils, pictured below.
The only type of lentil I do not recommend is Puy Lentils (little black French lentils) because they hold their shape and don’t soften like other lentils.
Can you used canned cooked lentils?
Yes you sure can, and directions are provided in the recipe notes. But it’s better made with dried lentils because of the texture in the soup, there’s only 10 minutes difference in cook time and it’s more economical!
How to make Lentil Soup from scratch
Sauté your onion, garlic, carrots and celery over over low heat for almost 10 minutes. Take your time here – the lower the heat, the longer you take, the more these will transform to create an incredible flavour base for the soup!
Add everything else other than the lemon;
Simmer 35 minutes until lentils are soft; and
Finish with a dusting of zest and spritz of lemon.
A hint of lemon earthiness from the zest and touch of freshness from the juice just jazzes up the soup and takes it to that next level!
You’ll find that the lentils mostly breakdown and naturally thicken the soup. But what I like to do to get a really luscious creamy texture is to give the soup a quick whizz with a blender stick (or transfer a couple of cups to the blender) to puree SOME but not all the lentils.
That way you get the benefit of both worlds – creamy soup with soft bits of lentils. YES!
How to store lentil soup
Lentil Soup will easily keep for 5 days in the fridge, making it ideal for cooking on the weekend and serving throughout the week. And it also freezes 100% perfectly for 3 months – even longer!
Every time I make this, I always wonder why I don’t make it more often. It’s healthy, filling, super economical, freezes perfectly, versatile and it’s seriously good.
Serving this with some sort of warm crusty bread for dunking is not optional. It’s an essential part of the Lentil Soup experience.
But it is optional whether you slather said bread with butter, or grill it with cheese! Here are a few options – including making your own ultra easy homemade bread with NO YEAST:
– Nagi xx
Watch How To Make It
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Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped (white, brown, yellow)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large carrot , chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 2 celery ribs , chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 2 cups / 400g dried lentils , green or brown, rinsed (Note 1)
- 400g / 14 oz crushed tomato
- 1.5 litres / 1.5 quarts (6 cups) vegetable or chicken stock / broth, low sodium
- 1/2 tsp each cumin and coriander powder
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika powder
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 lemon (zest + juice)
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper, each
To Serve
- Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
- Warm bread, to serve
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add celery and carrot. Cook for 7 – 10 minutes or until softened and the onion is sweet. Don’t rush this step, it is key to the flavour base of the soup.
- Add all remaining ingredients except the lemon and salt. Stir.
- Increase heat and bring to simmer. Scoop scum on the surface off and discard (do this again during cooking if required). Place lid on and turn heat down to medium low. Simmer for 35 – 40 minutes or until lentils are soft.
- Remove bay leaves.
- Thicken Soup: Using a stick blender, do 2 or 3 quick whizzes to thicken the soup (see video below). Or transfer 2 cups to a blender, let it cool slightly, then hold lid with tea towel and blend then transfer back into pot.
- Add a touch of water if you want to adjust soup consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate over the zest of the lemon then add a squeeze of lemon juice just before serving. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve with warm crusty bread slathered liberally with butter!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Recipe originally published March 2017, spruced up with new pics, new video and fresh new writing. Absolutely no change to recipe – it’s been a firm reader favourite from day 1, so I wouldn’t dare touch it!
More totally delicious lentil recipes:
Sexy Lentil Salad – try it, then you’ll get the name….
Dal – Indian lentil curry. The highest and best use of lentils, full stop!
Coconut Lentil Curry – outrageously addictive, and easy (I make this for a curry fix when I don’t have time for dal)
Mejadra (Middle Eastern Spiced Lentil Rice) – so good you can eat it plain, seriously!
Browse all Beans and Lentil recipes
Life of Dozer
He contributes less than nothing to this household, he actually contributes negative. Dropping fur everywhere, shaking vigorously so it flies everywhere along with an inordinate amount of sand, constantly sprawling out in my path so I’m forced to step over him (remember, I’m vertically challenged = giant steps).
Giant 💩 all over the backyard. Barks furiously at tree branches swaying in the breeze but I swear, he would happily show a robber where my jewellery box is in exchange for a pat.
Useless!!! (And yet we love them so much, don’t we? 🙂)
PS Another example of his uselessness – he spends 22 hours a day doing this. The other 2 hours are spent a) eating b) hoping to eat c) playing.
What effect will omitting the tomato have on this recipe? Just flavour & colour, or does the acid contribute something? I cannot have tomato.
I’m calling this week Nights with Nagi! Butter chicken on Sunday and this lentil soup tonight. I used left over homemade pork stock, accidentally picked up Italian crushed tomatoes and used a lime in lieu of a lemon.
I had a bowl of this with a crispy roti…. It was another oh my stars moment.
Love the soup. Had a pork bone from a pork shoulder. Tossed it in while the lentils cooked. I increased the spice level to 1 tsp of cumin and coriander just because I love spice. Will definitely make this again.
Hi Nagi 🙂 does the nutrition for this recipe include the side of bread? Just added it to My Fitness Pal and the calorie count was a lot lower than what you have recorded. Very tasty soup by the way!
Was very good. Nice flavor even without coriander.
This was delicious and so easy to make! Used dry brown lentils and only had a can of stewed tomatoes with garlic on hand; turned out great!
I’ve tried several lentil recipes and something was always missing or off in the taste. This recipe hits the spot! Maybe it’s the paprika (I was surprised to see that as an ingredient)? Definitely recommend and it’s now my go-to lentil soup recipe.
Thank you Nagi for this and all the other delicious recipes on your website!
I have never even tried lentils, let alone cooked with them. This soup was easy to cook and so so delicious. I’ll be making this again soon!!
Absolutely delicious, made it without celery and lemon as I didn’t have any on hand but it still turned out delicious
This is the best lentil soup I have ever made. Followed it closely; added a jalapeño pepper and a tsp.of miso paste. Great umami
Beautiful flavours. I added diced up Xmas ham that was in the freezer. Highly recommend this recipe.
Made this pretty close to exactly what the recipe stated…maybe double carrots because I love them. Also added diced ham because I had it. It was excellent, I didn’t puree at the end, we loved the consistency.
My husband loved this lentil soup and so did I. Will make again and again.
I tried the lentil soup it’s the bomb! Delicious, thank you
Your recipe makes me a confident cook. Cook this again this evening for tomorrow lunch with friends. This time only lentil, mix veg (what veg that I have in the fridge) and pork apple sausages. Hubby as tester thumb up.
Make it yesterday with mix pulses instead of just lentil and with fine beans and sweetcorn (that’s what I have in the fridge) instead of celery and carrot. Hubby loves it. We have it with brioche bread and pork apple sausages, As it was delicious, planning to cook it again tomorrow to share with friends. Thanks Nagi.
In the body of your posting it says 116 calories for 1 cup (1 serving), but it shows 311 in your nutritional info at the bottom of the recipe. Can you clarify which is correct, or why there is a difference? Looks super yummy, can’t wait to make it, just want to make sure I have my macros calculated correctly for it, so I can hit my goals for the days I eat it.
The post says “The added benefit is that they are low in calories with 116 calories in 1 cup of cooked lentils…”. This is referring to plain cooked lentils as the entire paragraph the quote is from is describing the nutritional benefits of lentils before she introduces the recipe.
I’ve made this a few times already. I always follow a TinEats recipe if I need one. My cook’s tip would be to keep your empty tomato can on hand to put the foam you scrape off the soup while it’s simmering. I also used diced tomatoes instead of crushed & it doesn’t make much difference so don’t panic if you have diced on hand.
Love this recipe, which I make with yellow split peas (adds about 10 mins to cooking time and I puree probably 80 percent of it). I call it my “sunshine work soup” – I make a batch on the weekend and decant it into containers for work lunches. “Sunshine” for the beautiful, happy colour. Then I just choose a different side – bread roll, wedge of cheese, salami etc to mix it up. Saves so much thinking!
This was SO good! I didn’t even think I liked lentils! First of all, Walmart gave me red lentils instead of the brown I ordered, so I just used those and it was delicious. Also I had a busy night and just wanted to set it and forget it so I dumped everything in the instant pot and set it for 7 minutes. It did stay on keep warm for almost 2 hours since I made it ahead, so I’m not sure if it cooked more during that time or if the 7 minutes would have been enough. But it was delicious even though I skipped the sautéing she said not to skip, haha
I made this soup, but did add some mushrooms and a turnip. Also, it needed quite a bit more water to loosen it up towards the end. It turned out great! The addition of the lemon juice and zest really brightened up the flavors. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!