This vegan lentil soup is a blended Middle Eastern style lentil soup, made with red lentils and blended for a super creamy and delicious soup!
This vegan lentil soup is simply amazing! It has a wonderfully rich flavor and is so creamy you’ll swear it must actually have cream in it, but nope, nothing like that. It’s really just sooo good.
This is the style of lentil soup that we came across again and again while living in the Middle East. I have since discovered that not all lentil soup is made this way and it’s very often made as a chunky, not blended, soup.
But this is really my favorite. It’s so creamy and satisfying and it’s also incredibly easy with just 6-ingredients.
It serves four as an appetizer, or two as a main course and it’s 14 grams of protein per bowl if you’re serving it as an appetizer, or 28 grams of protein per bowl if you’re serving it as a main course.
So it packs a protein punch in a most delicious and satisfying way.
And if you love lentils then definitely check out our vegan lentil curry, lentil bolognese, red lentil dal, lentil ragu and vegan dal makhani.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make This Soup:
Ingredient Notes
- Red lentils – it’s important to use dried red lentils or split red lentils in this soup. This is because red lentils cook relatively quickly and also get quite mushy when cooked so are ideal for blending.
- Carrots – should be sliced quite thinly so that they don’t take too long to cook.
- Vegetable stock – or broth. The vegetable stock we use is quite salty, so if you’re using a low sodium stock or broth then you’ll likely need to add extra salt to the recipe.
How To Make Vegan Lentil Soup
Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is just a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add chopped onion to a pot with some olive oil and dried cumin and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Add chopped carrot and toss up with the onions.
- Add the red lentils and toss them with the carrots and onions.
- Add vegetable stock and mix everything together.
- Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover the pot and simmer until the lentils are soft and cooked.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender then transfer the soup to your blender jug and blend it up in stages, returning to the pot once blended.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Your soup is ready to serve!
Serving Suggestions
Serve into bowls and top with fresh chopped parsley and a sprinkle of ground black pepper with some lemon wedges on the side and you have a really good high protein meal or a fabulous appetizer.
If you want to be a real cooking superstar, well, you could make your own whole wheat bread to serve with it or some delicious vegan focaccia (as pictured).
Recipe Tips
If your soup is bland, add more salt. The vegetable stock we use is pretty salty so we never need to add extra salt. But if you taste test and find it in any way bland then you simply need to add more salt. And of course add some pepper too, to taste.
Make it oil-free. If you would prefer it to be oil-free, then you can simply sauté the onions with a little water or vegetable stock instead of the oil. This soup is just as delicious oil-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy over the next 3-4 days.
This soup is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months so you can definitely make up some to freeze and have later if you like.
More Vegan Soup Recipes
- Vegan Carrot Soup
- Vegan Potato Soup
- Vegan Tomato Soup
- Vegan Sweet Potato Soup
- Vegan Pumpkin Soup
- Vegan Butternut Squash Soup
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lentil Soup
Instructions
- Peel and chop the onion and add to a pot with the olive oil and cumin and sauté until slightly softened.
- Add the carrots and toss together. Then add the lentils and toss together with the other vegetables. Finally, add in the vegetable stock and mix everything together.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce heat, cover the pot and simmer until the lentils and carrots are soft and cooked.
- Take the pot off the heat and blend directly in the pot using an immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender, then allow to cool before transferring to your blender jug and blending up in stages until it's all smooth.
- Serve into bowls and top with fresh chopped parsley and ground black pepper, with lemon wedges on the side.
Video
Notes
- Red lentils. You can use dried red lentils or split red lentils. These cook fairly fast and are also ideally suited to blending.
- If your soup is bland, add more salt. The vegetable stock we use is pretty salty so we never need to add extra salt. But if you taste test and find it in any way bland then you simply need to add more salt. And of course add some pepper too, to taste.
- Make it oil-free. If you would prefer it to be oil-free, then you can simply sauté the onions with a little water or vegetable stock instead of the oil. This soup is just as delicious oil-free.
- Storing: Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy over the next 3-4 days.
- Freezing: This soup is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months so you can definitely make up some to freeze and have later if you like.
- This recipe was first published in January 2018.
Have just made this for the first time. From the comments, I expected that it would be good but it’s more than. It’s superb! And so simple. I used sweet potatoes. Thank you so much, from Johannesburg
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Kathy! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
I like the addition of cumin in the soup
Thank you! We also love the flavors cumin brings in this soup. Thanks for your great review!
i make this soup at least once a week. Super easy, no fancy ingredients and full flavour feast for your taste buds. Delicious!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Vita! Thanks so much for your great review!
Thank you for this very versatile recipe for stick-to-your-ribs goodness! I’m on a low sodium diet, so I used vegetable stock with no salt added, but I did add turmeric, paprika, 3 garlic cloves, and freshly squeezed lemon juice and lots of ground pepper at the end. The beauty of this recipe is that it can be the base of endless flavour variations – only limited by one’s imagination. Thank you, also, for making my transition to a vegan diet so much easier! xo
That sound lovely Karen. Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
Delicious! ❤️
Thank you!
I recently started cooking (I never cook and I don’t particularly like it) and always face the same situation: my food is not very tasty, I eat it because I anyway cooked it, but is not that satisfaction and feeling when I have it when for example I eat my mom’s food or when I eat out. Today I did this soup and I have to say that it was THE BEST LENTIL CREAM SOUP I HAVE EVER EATEN! I was sooo happy that finally I can happily eat something that I cooked. Thank you for sharing this with us, looking forwards to trying new recipes from your page.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe Lavinia!
Hello, what do you think is best to use in place of the white potatoes? At this point in my healing, I cannot have white potatoes, only sweet potatoes, which is a bit odd, but whatever is it this program is working for me and I feel much healthier! Please let me know what your thoughts are on the substitution. Thank you.
Hi Liz! You could substitute the potatoes with sweet potatoes and see what it tastes like. That shouldn’t be a problem.
Absolutely delicious 😋 would definitely recommend!!
Thanks so much Anne!
This is such a wonderful recipe that me and my family use pretty much weekly (we live in the Scottish highlands so it’s pretty much winter 5 months of the year). Thank you so much for this, all the best for 2023
So happy you love the soup! Thanks for the awesome review and all the best for 2023 to you too! 🙂
Hi Alison, this came out great. I love simple delicious recipes. Thanks so much. Lew
So glad you enjoyed it Lew! Thanks for the awesome review!
Super easy and delicious. I did add 2 cloves of minced garlic. As recommended, more salt to really bring out the flavors. Don’t skip the fresh lemon and fresh parsley at the end. Piece of crusty bread, and you’re set!
Hi Alison. I’m trying to develop my vegan cooking skills and have always wanted to make tasty lentil soup. I made this last night and it was delicious. The recipe is really easy to follow and the turmeric gives the soup an added interest. You are my cooking guru as I increase my vegan cooking repertoire xx
Thanks so much Seonaid! So glad you liked the soup!
Love this soup. It paired perfectly with a cold, windy, snowy day. I did add more spices to give it a little kick. Cayenne, chilli pepper, paprika, & garlic The fresh lemon is a great addition. I used cilantro in place of parsley because that’s what I had on hand.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for the great review!