This vegan red lentil soup is comforting and filling, but is also packed with layers of spice and flavor. It's the perfect healthy plant based weeknight dinner. It also keeps well if made ahead, so it's also a great option for meal prep. Best of all, it comes together in one pot!
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🥄 Why We Love This Recipe
- Super flavorful: This vegan red lentil soup is packed full of spices like cumin, coriander, and harissa, while sautéed vegetables add a layer of deep flavor. The slight acidity of lemon juice rounds out the complex flavor profile of this soup.
- Easy to make: super flavorful doesn't have to mean complicated. This soup comes together quickly and easily in less than an hour!
- One pot: A sink full of dishes is one of the worst pain points about cooking at home. Luckily, this entire recipe can be made in one pot, and then blended together, minimizing clean up and saving you time.
- Great lunch: We love making a big pot of this soup and storing some in the fridge to eat throughout the week. It's great as a healthy lunch or a flavorful appetizer at dinner.
- Naturally vegan and gluten free.
🍲 Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this vegan red lentil soup:
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Tomatoes: We used 2 15 oz. cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes. We think using fire roasted tomatoes adds a nice bit of extra flavor, but you can also use regular diced tomatoes if preferred.
- Harissa: Harissa is a spicy North African spice blend, typically containing caraway, smoked paprika, dried chiles, cumin, garlic, and more. You should be able to find this in the spice aisle of your grocery store. You can also use harissa paste instead of powder.
- Cayenne: This is totally optional, but we enjoy the extra kick of spice.
- Lentils: We used red lentils in this recipe, which soften nicely and purée into a perfectly smooth soup. We would only recommend substituting with yellow lentils if you can't find red lentils. Green, brown or black lentils won't work as an equal substitute and will completely change the texture.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
(1) In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Then add garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in carrots, celery, red pepper, and salt and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.
(2) Add tomatoes and all spices and stir well.
(3) Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 35-40 minutes, until lentils are completely tender.
(4) Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree (you can also use a regular high speed blender - just be careful!).
🎥 Recipe Video
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
- The easiest way to purée this soup is with an immersion blender. It saves you from creating an extra dirty dish to wash, and you don't have to transfer the soup to another container just to blend. If you don't have an immersion blender, a heat safe, high speed blender will do the job. Just make sure to be careful and let the soup cool a bit, as the steam from hot soup can create pressure in an airtight blender and potentially blow the lid off.
- Serving suggestions: Vegan yogurt, cilantro, and crispy chickpeas are all great toppings for this soup. We've also tried and enjoyed a swirl of tahini, extra harissa, extra herbs like mint, cilantro, and oregano, croutons, and cheese.
- Storage: This vegan red lentil soup is great to make ahead of time. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within a week.
- Freezer storage: you can also freeze this red lentil soup for up to 6 months. When ready to enjoy, transfer to the fridge to defrost overnight, then heat gently on stovetop until warmed through.
Green lentils range in size and color from small and pale to dark and larger. They hold their shape well while cooking. These are good for eating lentils on their own.
Brown lentils are very similar to large green lentils. They're the most common variety and also hold their shape well. Both green and brown lentils cook for 35-40 minutes, with about 2.5 cups of liquid per cup of lentils.
Brighter colored red, yellow and orange lentils, are smaller and faster cooking. They've often been split, which means they're broken down into smaller pieces. For this reason, they'll cook up in 15 to 20 minutes with 1.5 cups of liquid per cup of dry lentils.
Split red lentils are ideal for this vegetable-packed vegan soup. They get very soft when cooked. When pureed, they create a delicous, silky texture. Not to mention the beautiful orange color.
🍽 Related Recipes
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Print📖 Recipe
Vegan Red Lentil Soup
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6-8 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan red lentil soup is comforting and filling, but is also packed with layers of spice and flavor. It's the perfect healthy plant based weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (~1 ½ cups)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup celery, thinly sliced (2-3 stalks)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 2 15. oz cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 2-3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups (dry) red lentils
- 2 tbsp Harissa spice blend
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 ½ tsp coriander
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon cayenne
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in carrots, celery, red pepper, and salt and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 35-40 minutes, until lentils are completely tender.
- Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree (you can also use a regular high speed blender - just be careful!).
- Serve hot with a swirl of vegan yogurt and crispy chickpeas (optional).
Notes
The easiest way to purée this soup is with an immersion blender, but if you don't have an immersion blender, a heat safe, high speed blender will do the job. Just make sure to be careful and let the soup cool a bit, as the steam from hot soup can create pressure in an airtight blender and potentially blow the lid off.
Storage: This is a great meal to make ahead. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within a week.
Freezer storage: you can also freeze this red lentil soup for up to 6 months. When ready to enjoy, transfer to the fridge to defrost overnight, then heat gently on stovetop until warmed through.
Lentils: We would only recommend substituting with yellow lentils if you can't find red lentils. Green, brown or black lentils won't work as an equal substitute and will completely change the texture.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Soups
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 398
- Sugar: 8.8 g
- Sodium: 824.9 mg
- Fat: 6.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 66.7 g
- Fiber: 11.4 g
- Protein: 20.3 g
Keywords: vegan red lentil soup
Victoria K
So I used Trader Joe’s Harissa Paste and big overstep on my part because I love spice and this was SPICE. I wound up using bone broth instead of Veg Stock because it’s what I had in my freezer, along with 28oz can of crushed tomatoes/ again it’s what I had. I did also add about 1.5 C in total of Half & Half to cut the spice as I’m bringing this to coworkers but I think they’ll enjoy it!
Not trying to ruin or change your recipe at all, just sharing modifications I made!
★★★★★
kristi
the soup was fantastic! so easy to put together and it was a big hit!
thank you!
★★★★★
Beth
I can’t wait to try this! I am hooked on your soups after the Minestrone
Lexi
Thank you so much, Beth! Can't wait to hear what you think!!
Angie
I just made this today! It is amazing so heartily and delicious. Thank you for sharing all these wonderful recipes with us
Lexi
Thank you so much, Angie! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
Hannah Cohen
Such an amazing soup!!! Love it. I wish you had more reviews because this soup is amazing especially with the harissa.
★★★★★
Lexi
I appreciate that so much! Thank you, Hannah!