The Only Lentil Soup Recipe You’ll Ever Need!
I consider myself something of a soup aficionado. I gravitate towards cozy, hearty soups, stews and chilis like Hearty Minestrone Soup or Mom’s Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup.
Up until a couple of years ago, though, lentil soup wasn’t really on my radar. It always seemed underwhelming – terribly bland and boring, know what I mean?
I stand before you today, a changed woman, happily admitting that BOY, was I wrong because this Damn Good Vegan Lentil Soup recipe ticks all the boxes…
- It’s plant-based but also filling using green or brown lentils.
- Boldly spiced without necessarily being curried.
- And fresh with loads of veggies but also rich in flavor.
A special addition of lemon juice makes this soup mega cozy and bright. It’s the kind of meal that’ll warm you up from the inside out and even Chris, a non-soup lover and self-proclaimed meat enthusiast, loves this lentil soup. (Prefer to add meat? Give my Chicken Lentil Soup a try!)
Not to mention it’s a one-pot wonder that simmers up in about 35 minutes, plus it’s slow cooker and Instant Pot-friendly too. Honestly, it’s kind of magical. We can’t wait for you to give it a try!✨
Don’t want to keep things vegan? ⇢ My Chicken Lentil Soup has lots of the same cozy goodness!
All the Recipes You Need for Soup Season!
14 warm and cozy recipes for soup lovers (plus bonus soup sides!)
Key Ingredients
What are the best lentils for lentil soup? ⇢ The best lentils to use in this recipe are brown lentils or green lentils, which both hold their shape nicely once cooked. Brown lentils are mild in flavor, while green lentils are a little nutty. Pick what you love!
I don’t suggest using yellow or red lentils in this lentil soup recipe. Since they cook faster than brown and green lentils, they disintegrate and lose their texture in the final soup. It’s not especially pleasant and will lead to a mushy lentil soup (speaking from experience!).
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Buy Now → How to Make Lentil Soup
One of the things to love about this recipe is the fact that it’s incredibly easy to make.
Aside from some chopping and stirring, the stove does most of the work. What’s not to love about a one-pot wonder!?
To Soak or Not to Soak the Lentils?
This recipe does not require soaking the lentils beforehand – it’s one less step and because the recipe is fairly inactive once all the components come together we just let the stovetop do the work and allow the lentils to cook perfectly in the soup mixture.
Start by softening the mirepoix to draw out the flavor of these base veggies. Add in garlic and a number of spices and cook for another couple of minutes. Why? ⇢ Cooking a few extra minutes allows the aromatic flavors to bloom which yields a mega flavor base for this lentil soup.
Add in the rest of the soup ingredients – lentils, butternut squash, crushed tomatoes, stock, etc. – and stir to combine. Easy as that.
Bring the soup up to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and pop a lid on the pot, only partially covering it to allow some steam to escape. Simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Tip! ⇢ Lentils should be cooked and tender but still maintain their shape, reducing the heat allows them to cook gently without becoming mushy.
Transfer to a stand blender or use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup. Why? ⇢ This is totally optional step, but it creates a creamy texture (sans dairy) that’s really good.
Toss in a couple handfuls of hearty kale (or another green you love) and squeeze in some fresh lemon juice. Why? ⇢ These additions add the ultimate bright flavor and freshness!
Alternate Cooking Methods
While a stovetop simmer is our method of choice, you can easily adapt this lentil soup for a few different cooking methods. Check the Recipe Notes, below, for step-by-step guidance on making this soup in the crockpot, slow cooker, or Instant Pot.
Step-by-Step Video
Serving Suggestions
I like to think this soup is pretty perfect as-is, but a few extra carbs never hurt anyone, especially when it comes to soup!
I suggest serving this soup alongside some crusty toasted bread or with your favorite crackers to add some extra texture. If keeping your soup vegan and lactose-free is not of concern to you, a little bit of grated parmesan sprinkled over top is really nice and I love topping with some fresh thyme leaves or fresh parsley for a pretty presentation.
How to Make Magic Toasted Breadcrumbs:
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a small skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add in 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped), stirring immediately to help the garlic sizzle in the oil. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add 1 cup panko breadcrumbs to the skillet, tossing to coat in the garlic oil. Season with ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring and tossing often, until the breadcrumbs are toasty and golden brown, 4-5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and finish, as desired, with lemon zest or finely chopped fresh herbs.
Spoon ’em over your soup and dive on in…
Storage and Freezing
This vegan lentil soup is incredibly make ahead-friendly and freezer-friendly…it’s the kind of thing that tastes even better the day after it’s made. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 3 months. Check the Recipe Notes, below, for more guidance!
I can’t wait for you to try this Damn Good Vegan Lentil Soup recipe. We are obsessed with it here at the PWWB House, and I know you will be too.
If you do give it a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @playswellwithbutter on Instagram. We LOVE seeing your PWWB creations! Happy cooking! ♡
Print Damn Good Vegan Lentil Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 6-8 1x
- Category: Main Dishes, soup, Stew & Chili Recipes
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Damn Good Vegan Lentil Soup is the best lentil soup recipe you’ll ever make! A hearty lentil soup made with an abundance of veggies, a flavorful blend of spices, and plenty of lemon juice for light, bright flavor.
As far as lentils go, be sure to use brown or green lentils, which both hold their shape nicely and won’t disintegrate into mush as the soup simmers.
It’s easy to make (requiring hardly any active cooking time), perfect for meal prep, and so warming and filling. The perfect cozy plant-based meal for winter. I have a feeling you’re going to love this cozy soup just as much as we do! Happy cooking! ♡
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 1–2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 4–5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
- 1 heaping tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ¼ cup brown or green lentils (see Recipe Notes, below)
- ½ medium butternut squash, diced into ½-inch cubes (approx. 4 cups or 20 ounces)
- two 14-ounce cans crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
- 8 cups vegetable broth or stock
- 2 cups packed shredded kale (or 5 oz baby kale)
- 2 lemons, juiced
- for serving, as desired: an extra swoosh of olive oil, a generous spoonful of toasted breadcrumbs, and toasty buttered bread, etc.
Instructions
- Cook the aromatics: Add the olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven (at least 5-qt capacity) over medium heat. Once hot, add in the carrot, celery, and onion. Season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened slightly, 5-6 minutes.
- Bloom the spices: Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, turmeric, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Build the lentil soup: Add the bay leaves, lentils, butternut squash, fire-roasted tomatoes, and seasoning with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir to combine. Add the vegetable broth/stock. Give one last stir, increasing heat to medium-high. Bring the soup to a boil.
- Simmer: Reduce heat to low to maintain a gentle and steady simmer. Partially cover the pot (place the lid on the put such that it’s just partially covered, allowing some steam to escape as the soup cooks) and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender but maintain their shape.
- Finishing touches: Once the lentils are tender, finish the soup. It’s optional, but if you love a creamier lentil soup, transfer ⅓ of the soup to a blender and carefully blend smooth. (Alternately, you could use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup right in the pot.) Stir the blended soup back into the pot. Add the shredded kale and lemon juice to the soup, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat. Cover to steam for 4-5 minutes, until the kale is softened. Taste and season with additional salt or ground black pepper as desired.
- Serve immediately! I like topping a bowl of lentil soup with an extra swoosh of olive oil, some finely chopped fresh herbs, and toasted breadcrumbs. Enjoy!
Notes
- Lentils:
- Best lentils to use: I suggest using brown lentils or green lentils in this lentil soup since they both hold their shape and texture nicely once cooked. For similar reasons, I do not suggest using red or yellow lentils – they cook faster than brown and green lentils, so they’ll disintegrate and lose their texture by the time the soup finishes simmering.
- Lentils prep: Unlike many other dried legumes, there’s no need to soak lentils prior to cooking them. To prep, simply sift through your lentils to pick out any small rocks or pebbles (which sometimes sneak their way into the mix) and rinse well to remove any dirt or debris from the surface.
- Storage: To store, transfer cooled lentil soup to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Leftover lentil soup will keep for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through.
- Freezing: This lentil soup is very freezer-friendly! To freeze, transfer cooled lentil soup to an airtight freezer container. (These are my absolute favorite!) Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through.
- Alternate cooking methods:
- Slow Cooker or Crockpot Lentil Soup: Prep the mirepoix according to Steps 1-2, above. Transfer the spiced mirepoix mixture to the slow cooker, along with the remaining ingredients as directed in Step 3. Slow cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours, stirring occasionally. Finish the lentil soup as directed in Step 5, which you can do right in your slow cooker. If your slow cooker has a searing/browning feature, you can use it to cook the entire lentil soup recipe (Steps 1-5) in the slow cooker.
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup: Use the Instant Pot’s “Sauté” setting to cook the recipe according to Steps 1-2, above. Build the soup in the Instant Pot according to Step 3, then cover and seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow the pressure cooker to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes before carefully flicking the valve to its “venting” position to vent out any residual pressure in the pot. If the soup seems a little too liquidy, feel free to turn on the Sauté setting again, letting the sauce simmer down a little before finishing as directed in Steps 5.
- 20-Minute Meal Prep: Most of the active prep time involved with this recipe is chopping up the veggies. With just a little prep, you can cut down on all active prep the night you want to throw it together. Pick and choose from the list below, or do it all and all you have to do at dinnertime is get cooking – easy!
- Mirepoix: Peel and dice 3 medium carrots and 1 large yellow onion. Dice 1-2 ribs of celery. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. (10 minutes active time)
- Butternut squash: Peel, deseed and dice 1 medium butternut squash into 1/2-inch cubes and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You will use half of the butternut squash (~4 cups) in this lentil soup; use the other half in another recipe you love (this Vegan Red Curry and these Vegetarian Skillet Enchiladas are PWWB community faves). (10 minutes active time)
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Made this again last night. Every bit as good as the last time. Used potatoes rather butternut squash due to vision problems: wife can’t see herself eating squash.
I noticed something when rereading the post: it mentions cooking tomato paste “Add in garlic, tomato paste and …”, but the recipe card doesn’t say anything about it. Probably would be a good addition, though.
Thanks again for the recipe.
Regards,
Joe
Thanks for the catch, Joe! We’ll get that fixed this week!
Outstanding. I made some substitutions that obviated the “vegan” label (chicken stock & breast) but stuck to the spirit, and we both loved it.
Regards,
Joe
Forgot to rate…
So glad you enjoyed it, Joe! 🙂 And thanks for coming back to rate the recipe!
So good and simple to make! I added hot Italian sausage, super hearty and comforting. Perfect meal on a cold winter’s night. Thank you!
Sausage sounds like a delicious addition, Joan! So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, it really is perfect for cold winter nights!
This is deee-licious!!! I will admit that I used chicken bone broth for added protein, and of course it is no longer vegan, but the flavors are just so yummy!!! If you are skeptical of the lemon, don’t be; it truly makes the whole thing sing!
Using bone broth sounds delicious, Jenny! And totally agree about the lemon, it’s a game-changer! 🙂
This is the best soup recipe ever. I make it all the time! One of my favorite things to make.
It’s one of our favorites too, Karen! So happy to hear you love it as much as we do 🙂
This is my first time making any recipe from your website, although I’ve been following you a bit. It was delicious!! Just in time for Lent!! So happy to try many more recipes!
So glad to have you in the PWWB community, Cass! Can’t wait to hear what you try next!
So easy and delicious. Meal prepped the soup for my work lunches this week. Had to sneak a “tester” bowl in… for quality control. 😉
We definitely recommend strong quality control techniques – we use them in our kitchen, too! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed!
This soup was hearty, healthy and a hit in my household on a cold fall evening.
We love to hear that, Keri! It’s one of our faves, too! 🙂
Love this recipe! Recommend adding one lemon at a time. The first time I made this recipe, the juice of 2 lemons was very overpowering… could have been the size of my lemons. Made it this week with only 1 lemon and it was absolutely perfect! Highly recommend
Hi Mekenna, so glad to hear you enjoyed the Lentil Soup as much as we do! We definitely recommend adjusting the amount of lemon juice according to taste. Starting with one lemon is a great idea! 🙂
Wonderful Flavor, warm and hearty. I made my own broth and tomatoes. Used fresh herbs. Was truly damn good. 💕
Hi Denise, so happy to hear you loved the soup – homemade broth & fresh tomatoes would make it even better! 🙂
I am making this today and when I tried to print out your recipe it shows up in very small print. Would you be able to send me the recipe?
Hi Sherry, happy to help you out! I’ll send over a PDF by email shortly 🙂
Hi Jess,
Love your recipes! I am trying to print out your vegan-lentil soup recipe. The print is very small, even when I click large and there are advertisements over the recipe. Would you please send me the recipe or a link?
Thanks!
scrumptious…delightful
Thanks, Kathy!! So happy you liked it!
Bold and flavorful vegan soup. I’m a vegan bit even the meat lovers in our household love it. Healthy! Use all organic ingredients. Muir Glen makes a great fire roasted crushed tomato 28 oz can. I used smoked paprika and it was great. Thanks for such a high protein healthy soup recipe. It’s on regular rotation !!
We’re so glad to hear that this soup was a hit, Robin! Love those fire roasted tomatoes too & thank you so muc for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
Way too much commentary! It takes 0 minutes to scroll through to get to the actual recipe and directions.
Hi Scott! Our blog posts are completely free content and everything we include has a purpose for readers that may need additional context or support. We always aim to help readers feel confident when making a recipe. You are always welcome to select the “Jump to Recipe” &/or “Print Recipe” buttons if you’d like to skip over the blog post itself & view a printable version of the recipe alone. Hope that helps!
I tried this recipe tonight at the end of a tiring weekend and it was so good! Just what we needed to nourish ourselves! I served it with buttered bread, but I think it might go really well with rice or pasta as well.
Yessss, Jennifer! Love to hear it, this soup is definitely the perfect feel-good fave to close out a long weekend. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, it means so much!
Hearty and so good!
Thank you, Anna!! We’re so glad you loved it!
I love soup. And this one is fantastic!!! I was worried about the amount of lemon juice so i added a bit at a time… ended up using all of it! Delicious. Going into my soup rotation.
Thanks so much, Sarah! We’re so glad you loved it as much as we do! 🙂
I related to Jess’s description of lentil soup being bland diet food and was curious to give this a try. This recipe has changed my mind about lentil soup! It is so flavorful and feels so comforting and nourishing! I’ll definitely make it again.
Yayy!! No bland or boring lentil soup here!! So glad you enjoyed, Kathryn! 🙂