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.
This is delicious, thank you so much for sharing. Have just made it for lunch, less than 45 minutes from start to a clean bowl 🙂
I added some grated ginger and as I’m veggie topped it with sour cream and a sprinkle of chilli flakes for a little extra heat. Definitely going into my homemade soup rotation, so much better than shop bought.
Looking forward to trying out some of your other recipes too 🙂
Wonderful! So happy to hear it was good! Thanks for the great review. 🙂
This came out SO amazing. I also added red bell pepper, and turmeric and a little bit of habanero spice because I love everything spicy! Cant believe how creamy this came out, without having to use coconut cream!
So glad you enjoyed it Audrina, and thanks for sharing your additions! And yes, it’s simply amazing how creamy this soup is. 🙂
Made this soup with chicken (sorry) broth as I didn’t have veggie broth on hand. And added a little fish sauce (sorry) to it for extra umami. Apologies for the non-vegan additions 🙁 but the basis for this soup was phenomenal and I’m sure would be just as tasty without my substitutes. My family loved it and I will be making this again. Thank you!
Hi! No need to apologize at all, all eaters are welcome here! So glad it was good, and that your family enjoyed it! Thanks so much for posting. 🙂
Really nice and easy base recipe. I cooked mine in an instant pot (saute function, then 15 minute on Soup). I added garlic and paprika but not sure it needed it….once I squeezed a lemon wedge over the serving, everything was perfect. Seriously, the lemon makes it next level. Thanks for this recipe!
Awesome, thanks for sharing and the lemon tip! 🙂
Added 1/2 cup of coconut milk, two cloves of garlic, and sea salted to taste. Fantastic!
Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing Ron. 🙂
How much is a serving of the lentil soup?
I didn’t measure it but it’s a nice size pot of soup that can serve 4.
Made this recipe substituting the cumin for 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp smoked paprika as not a huge cumin fan. So so good. So creamy and silky from such little ingredients.
Yay! So glad it was good and thanks for sharing your adjustments! 🙂
Hubby made this soup whilst I was suffering from a bad cold bless him. It’s perfect! Thick, comforting, very well balanced flavours and so quick and easy. This will be a regular in our vegan household now. Thanks so much for the great recipes ?
That’s awesome, this is the perfect comforting soup when you have a cold! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for posting. 🙂
I’ve only been vegan for 4 months straight from being a meat eater. Finding tasty meals is alot easier now and your soup was delicious. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Wonderful to hear that, thanks William! Hope you’ll find lots more recipes here that you love! 🙂
Hi. This looks delicious but any idea what can use instead of cumin? Would just a little cayenne or red pepper flakes work?
Sure! Or a little curry powder, or coriander powder or chili powder all would work as substitutes. 🙂
Did you use brown lentils or red lentils? Thanks!
Red lentils. 🙂
This recipe looks easy enough for school kids to follow. I am going to try this with my Grade 10 Consumer Studies class next week.
Great! Hope it goes well! 🙂
Just made this soup for lunch & it was DELICIOUS! So easy & simple but full of comforting flavor (I added a dash of sea salt). Perfect for my rainy afternoon!
Awesome Ann! So glad it was delicious! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I subsituted 1 sweet potato for 2 medium carrots because I didn’t have carrots at the time & it works! Delicious! You’re right, no need for extra salt.
Thank you for the recipe.
That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing your adjustments Nancy! 🙂
Well, here’s a protein rich substitute for those who worry about their protein intake – and delicious too!
It’s a long time looking for the recipe of lentil soup. I like to know which is the better lentil to use.
We used dried red lentils. 🙂