This post was originally published in September 2017. It has been updated as of May 2020 with improvements to the text and recipe, and a video added.
There are a handful of recipes that I’ve shared over the years that I make about once a week – red lentil falafel, potato lentil salad, raw chocolate, sourdough rye bread – my standards. Seriously, there’s a rye bread rising on the counter right now and I made the lentil falafel for dinner tonight.
This red lentil soup is another recipe I make all the time, and it’s so great for 1. when I haven’t gotten groceries for three days, 2. when my budget is low, or 3. when I’m starving and need a quick and easy dinner that isn’t pasta. It can be finished in about half an hour, including prep time, which is just chopping carrots, onions, and garlic.
It’s an all around great simple recipe and makes good use of batch cooked ingredients and pantry staples like canned tomatoes and frozen spinach. It’s so budget friendly, especially in spring or autumn when carrots are in season and so inexpensive and delicious.
Substitutions
Like all of my go-to recipes, this vegan red lentil soup can be easily adapted to suit your tastes. I like to include lots of spices – cumin, turmeric, ginger – but I’ve also made it with just a little cumin and standard salt and pepper.
You can switch out the carrots for sweet potato if you’d like. I use carrots because they’re much more available here in the Netherlands and about 1/6th of the price of sweet potatoes, but in Canada I did it about half and half.
Other greens work well instead of spinach (like chard or kale), and I’ve even added a couple of potatoes to the mix before. The brown rice can be replaced with quinoa, millet, or other grains, or simply left out and the soup served on its own.
Though the recipe card calls for vegetable stock, this is mostly because I get readers sending me messages annoyed if I list water instead of stock. I use water most of the time and just season properly (since most store bought veg stock is primarily salt, and a touch of fat).
Tips and Notes
This makes a big pot of soup, far too much for my little two person family, but it freezes fantastically and I love having a few jars in the freezer. It’s a total life saver for busy or tired (read: burned out) days and since I usually have brown rice or sourdough bread around, it’s a meal.
If we’re having it for dinner and I don’t have either of those, I usually make these coconut oil biscuits. I don’t mind having the soup on its own but let’s be real, carbs make everything better.
Like all soups, there are a couple of tricks to keep in mind. This is a very flavourful one, with plenty of spices, tomatoes, and vegetables adding a lot – but if you taste the soup at the end of cooking and it tastes bland or flat, you need salt or acid. If it tastes salty enough, add a squeeze of lemon. Most of the time vegan soups are lacking salt, though. Season your food!
More Great Soups
Kale, White Bean, and Lemon Soup
Roasted Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant Soup
Creamy Cauliflower Potato Soup
Chickpea Noodle Soup
Spring Green Minestrone
Or, check out this collection of cozy cold weather soup recipes!
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Carrot, Red Lentil, & Spinach Soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ red onion chopped
- 5-6 medium carrots about 3 cups, cut into 1cm (3/4 in.) slices
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cm piece fresh ginger minced
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- 400 grams canned diced tomatoes
- 1.5 litres vegetable stock
- 150 grams red lentils
- 150 grams frozen spinach**
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Brown rice to serve
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the onion and sauté for a couple of minutes or until soft and fragrant. Stir in the carrots, and cook for another minute or two.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and spices, stirring to coat the vegetables. Now add the salt and tomatoes, stir, and pour the vegetable stock in.
- Increase the heat to high, cover the pot, and bring the soup to a rolling boil. Add the lentils and reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20-25 minutes, covered, or until the carrots are tender.
- Stir in the spinach and turn off the heat, letting the hot soup thaw the spinach with the lid on. Add the lemon juice, taste, and season with salt if necessary.
- Serve over brown rice and store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer.
Jenny Swartzbaugh says
I had leftover lentils from dinner last night and searched for a recipe that I could use them in. I found this and just made it for lunch and am eating it now! It is delicious, even though I didn’t have vegetable broth. I’m going to put this on my regular rotation!
Sam says
Would a can of chickpeas be a good addition to this?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Sure!
Nina says
Such a wonderful recipe! Thank you. I could easily eat half the pot in one day. I had some leftover pumpkin, threw that in too and it worked really well with thee rest of the ingredients.
Alexandra Daum says
I often make it with split red lentils, it works well!
Anonymous says
Would I be able to use "split" red lentils or should I use "whole" green lentils instead?
Alexandra Daum says
Hahaha totally! I always think if I need a loaf of bread to get through a soup, then the soup isn't worth eating! You're so welcome <3
Nicky Hawthorne says
made this. loved it. all the spices make it so hella tasty. sometimes soup can be bland, boring and really just a vehicle to eat as much bread as possible without becoming a lard-o. this soup stands on it's own. the boyfriend isn't a carrot fan so i swapped sweet pot. worked great. i went heavy handed on all the spices. could not be happier with this. THANK YOU
Ellie says
I linked to this recipe from My Fitness Pal. It very precisely lists the nutrition information, with the calories as 254 per serving, but neglects to say what the serving size is! Maybe 1 1/2 cups? Anyway, this is delicious. I made it with about 1 lb. chopped fresh chard added to the last 5 minutes of cooking instead of spinach. I'm trying to use it up before the garden freezes!
Alexandra Daum says
I don't calculate calories, sorry! You could put it into a calculator if it's important for you to be really exact. It's a lower calorie soup, that's why I serve it over the brown rice.
Karina Furman says
How many calories is a bowl of such a soup? Do you happen to know? Thanks.
Alexandra Daum says
Happy to hear it, Nidhi! It's a great soup to add to your rotation. Thank you 🙂
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you so much, Dana <3
Alexandra Daum says
Hahaha almost, eh?! I'm never quite ready for cold weather either!
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you so much, and I hope you love it 🙂
Alexandra Daum says
Thanks, Karen, let me know if you make it!
Karen Ahmed says
Wow those pics are stunning and this soup looks so great for the cold months – bookmarking!
UrbnSpice - A Taste of Heart & Home says
I love making soups and your nutrient rich recipe has me inspired on this brisk morning to pull out my soup pot. Your tip regarding adding the frozen spinach at the end is brilliant. I cannot wait to try your soup – thank you for sharing.
Gabrielle @ eyecandypopper says
Yes! I make similar soups too in the winter. They're so simple to make, fast too for those busy weeknights, and packed with nutritious yumminess. Yours looks absolutely wonderful, it *almost* makes me excited about freezing temperatures. haha And I agree, I do like a big slice of crusty bread in my soup! 🙂
Dana Sandonato says
This is such a gorgeous bowl of goodness. You can tell how wholesome this is just by *looking* at it! It can be tough to photograph broth-y soups beautifully, I find. But these photos are stunning. I'll definitely be making this over the cooler months 🙂
Nidhi Patel says
Ah! Perfect autumn hearty soup option, I am going to add this as a variety to my go-to autumn list. thank you for sharing. Love the photography 🙂