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 and red lentil dal too!
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 and then add in the dried lentils and toss them with the carrots and onions.
- Add in some 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.
- Serve into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper.
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.
How To Serve
Serve with a simple sprinkle of black pepper over the top and some delicious bread 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 homemade whole wheat bread to serve with it.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy over the next 3-4 days. This soup is also freezer friendly 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
Vegan Lentil Soup
Ingredients
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 are cooked (they should be soft).
- 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 transfer to your blender jug and blend up in stages until it's all smooth.
- Serve into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper.
Video
Notes
- You can use dried red lentils or split red lentils. These cook fairly fast and are also ideally suited to blending.
- I haven't found the need to add in extra salt as it's quite salty from the vegetable stock, but since vegetable stock can vary in sodium content, taste test and of course add some salt if needed.
- This recipe was first published in January 2018.
This is great, if you want it a little bit more thick add some flour (if not gluten free).
Hi Alison! After cooking for my family for over 20 years, I’m at a point where I no longer enjoy cooking, so I’m always looking for easy, yet still tasty and healthy recipes. This soup is so simple (so few ingredients, took me 10 min prep time) and it’s super creamy without the addition of coconut milk. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us : )
Thanks so much for the wonderful review Christine!
Do you have to blend it for it to taste good? I might make this with friends who don’t have a blender.
If you don’t have a blender you can just use a potato masher to mash it a bit directly in the pot, which just helps it to thicken, it’s fine if there are still chunks.
Delicious! I added a bit more cumin and salt for that extra kick.
Your recipes are all so flavorful – they have been my go-to for months now. Thank you!
Thanks so much Nancy!
Super delicious, and to me tastes very similair to authentic lentil soups (I’m not from the middle east tho but have had my rounds of lentil soups). I added a tad bit more cumin tho as I love extra spiceee
So glad you enjoyed it Marie! 🙂
So simple and so tasty – and it’s even better the next day! I add a teaspoon of chili flakes and some garlic cloves for some extra zest.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Pearl!
Easy and delicious I added some garlic powder and it needed no other seasonings
Using my mini Cuisinart chopper and my “magic wand” it could not have been easier
Awesome! So happy to hear that Carol, thanks for sharing.
This is literally the best lentil soup I’ve tried in my life . I live in Middle East and normally I eat lentil soup in restaurants. Nothing compared to this one !!! So creamy and tasty ???? keep up the good work
Awesome Dana! Thank you!
Such an easy recipe but again the taste is really good. THX
Awesome! Thanks Chris. 🙂
Absolutely delicious, I added fresh moringa leaf for increased nutrition content and a squeeze of lemon just before serving.
Ok, So recently I decided to do a plant based diet for 5 days, I am now on day 11 and I am so loving it. I was searching for vegan soups (I have braces) and this one came up. Truthfully, I didn’t even know about red lentils until I saw this recipe 🙂 I went shopping yesterday and got some and decided to try this soup this morning. I love how simple and easy the recipe is. Ok…Hands down, this is THE BEST creamy (no added cream) soup that I have ever tasted…Yum!!!! I am just dying to try some for lunch (its now 8am) but I am so looking forward to it. I also added 2 tiny potatoes to mine while cooking. Thanks for an amazing recipe 🙂
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this for my home schooling cooking class, I loved it! Also I’ve started baking and your cookie and brownie recipes are a favourite 🙂
So happy to hear that! Thanks Tassie!
Love your recipes
Thanks so much Catherine!