Vegetarian Lentil Soup

You will never use another Lentil Soup recipe again once you try a bowl of this Vegetarian Lentil Soup with kale, tomatoes and carrots. It is loaded with tender lentils, rich spiced broth and plenty of hearty veggies! It is the absolute best lentil soup recipe I have ever made.

Ingredient Notes For This Recipe

Brown Lentils

There are many types of lentils, from green French Lentils (also called puy lentils) and Red Lentils, yellow lentils, Black Lentils and brown lentils. They all have different cooking times and textures. For this soup, you want to buy brown lentils. They have the best soft texture for making soup, but they aren’t mushy and won’t fall apart. They are sold in 1-pound bags in the dried bean section of most supermarkets. You will need 1 pound (or two cups) of lentils for this recipe.

Spices

• Whole Cumin and Coriander Seeds: These are toasted in a skillet and then ground up to maximize their flavor and add a little bit of seedy texture to the soup. To save time, you can skip toasting and grinding and substitute purchased ground cumin and coriander instead. Simply add them into the onion mixture with the other spices.
• Smoked Paprika, Oregano, Turmeric, Black Pepper: These spices give it tons of flavor! The smoky taste from the smoked paprika makes this vegan soup one that even meat eaters will love. It’s like a secret ingredient! You can also add in some red pepper flake if you like a bit of heat and a bay leaf for more classic flavor. I skipped both to keep it more simple.
• Salt: Make sure to add the salt after the lentils have simmered for 15 minutes so that it doesn’t make them tough.

Olive Oil

To saute the onion and veggies, you will need a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. Since this soup is otherwise very lean, the oil helps to give it richness.

Sweet Onion, Garlic, Carrot and Parsnips

You will need 2 large sweet onions (yellow onion is fine), 2 cups diced carrots, 1 cup parsnips and 4 cloves of garlic for the vegetables.

I didn’t add celery in today, but if you like you can also chop a couple of celery stalks as well and add them with the veggies. To speed the process of cutting these feel free to use your food processor to cut the veggies into small pieces.

One of the keys to making a vegan lentil soup taste rich and flavorful is starting out with browning the vegetables. The sweetness of the sweet onions, parsnips and carrots is important to balance the other tastes in the soup.

Vegetable Broth

I tried making this Vegan Lentil Soup the first time with water instead of broth and it just wasn’t the same. If you have homemade Veggie Stock, use that! Or buy store-bought: My absolute favorite vegetable broth to buy is Imagine “No-Chicken” broth. The name is a bit funny but I assure you, it is vegan. You can also buy it in low-sodium too! If you like you can sub in chicken broth or chicken stock instead.

Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes

If you can find them, look for a small can of “fire-roasted” diced tomatoes for this recipe. The fire-roasted tomatoes add even more smoky flavor to the soup. Because smoky flavor is almost always a good thing!

Regular diced canned tomatoes can be used, and fresh tomato also works. I recommend removing the tomato seeds and peel first. You will need 1 1/2 cups fresh diced tomatoes. If using fresh, add two tablespoons of tomato paste as well.

Kale

I love adding kale to soups! {Don’t miss my Kale and Potato Soup or my Tuscan Ribollita Recipe to name a few!} Either Lacinato or curly kale works here. (FYI you can sub swiss chard for the kale if you like.) Run your hand along the stem and remove the leaves. Chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Rinse and spin the kale dry.

Lemon and Cilantro

To balance out the sweetness of the vegetables and the rich earthy lentils, a bit of fresh lemon juice really peps up the soup considerably. If you don’t have lemon, red wine vinegar also works well. I also added in a nice big pile of chopped cilantro too. Fresh herbs almost always should be added at the end so make sure to do this after the soup comes off the heat so that the flavors stay fresh.

Step By Step Instructions To Make This Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Step 1: Toast and Grind The Whole Spices

To bring out the flavor of the coriander seeds and cumin seeds, toast them in a small skillet over medium heat. Swirl the skillet often until the seeds are fragrant and starting to pop and lightly smoke, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove them from the heat and transfer them to a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Coarsely grind them. As I said before, you can skip this step and buy ground spices. Just add them in with the other spices.

Step 2: Brown the Veggies then Add Aromatic Spices

• Heat oil in a large pot or heavy bottom large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and parsnips (or turnip) and cook, stirring often until the onion is starting to brown, about 10 to 13 minutes.
• Add in garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the ground cumin and coriander, smoked paprika, oregano, turmeric and pepper and stir to coat the onion mixture with the spices. Cook, stirring for 30 seconds to bloom the spices.

Step 3: Simmer the Lentils To Soften

Add broth and lentils and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the lentils are almost soft, with a cook time of about 15 minutes.

Step 4: Add in Kale, Tomatoes and Salt to Finish Cooking

Stir in diced tomatoes, kale and salt. Increase heat to regain the simmer then reduce it to continue simmering. Cook until the lentils are soft and breaking down and the kale is tender, about 10 minutes more. This is a hearty soup, but if the soup becomes too thick, add up to 2 cups of water to thin it out.

Step 5: Finish With Cilantro and Lemon

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in cilantro and lemon juice. It is a good idea to let the soup cool a little bit before serving!

For serving, ladle cups of the soup into large bowls. Then top the bowls off with plant-based vegan Greek yogurt (this is the one I like) or use regular cow’s milk Greek yogurt for a bit of cool and tangy contrast. Sprinkling on some fresh cilantro peps up the colors too! Parmesan cheese would also work well.

FAQ’s and Expert Tips For This Lentil and Veggie Soup

Additional Easy Recipes To Try

1. This Vegan Chickpea Stew has flavors inspired by Moroccan cuisine.
2. From a favorite cookbook review, this Lentil and Celery Root Salad has an interesting garlic, herb and anchovy dressing.
3. If you like the spices in this lentil soup, then try out these vegetarian Lentils Bowls with coriander.

• 4. My harvest Vegan Vegetable Soup with butternut squash and kale is a fantastic and healthy soup recipe.
• 5. These individual Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie are made with lentils instead of beef, and are topped with mashed butternut squash!
• 6. One of our most popular vegetarian soups is our Classic Minestrone! Try it and find out why it is a favorite!

• 7. We are super proud of how tasty this Corn Chowder is, and it is made with less fat and calories than many recipes out there! The key is using potatoes to thicken it and give it great texture without any roux or gluten.
• 8. If you have never tried black lentils before, try them in this easy Mediterranean Black Lentil Salad! It’s made with cucumbers, feta, parsley and spinach!
• 9. Don’t miss another recent addition to our soup collection here on Healthy Seasonal Recipes: This Creamy Zucchini Soup with Greek Yogurt and Dill is a total winner!

Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!

Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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