This Lemony Lentil Soup recipe is full of bright and zesty flavors, it’s naturally gluten-free and vegan, and it’s easy to make in the Instant Pot, Crock-Pot or on the stovetop.
Who’s ready for a light and refreshing bowl of lemony lentil soup? ♡
A record number of you all have been making (and loving!) this lentil soup lately. So for any of you who have yet to give it a try, I thought I would bump this recipe back to the top of the blog for everyone to enjoy.
Quite simply, this is my all-time favorite lentil soup recipe. It was inspired by our favorite Middle Eastern café back in our old neighborhood in Kansas City, whose famous lentil soup I ordered one million times over the years and missed something fierce after we moved away. So a few years ago, I set to work trying to recreate it. And while nothing will compare in our memory to the original, I have to say that I’m really pleased with how my version turned out!
This cozy red lentil soup is simmered with simple mix of veggies, spices and lots of lemon juice to brighten things up. But the restaurant version of the soup also featured two signature ingredients — corn and a pinch of saffron — which add the perfect hint of sweetness that make this soup perfectly-balanced and just lovely. ♡ Barclay and I turn to this soup often because it’s easy to make and full of feel-good ingredients. But most of all, we just love it because it’s crazy-good and will forever remind us of home.
Let’s make some lemony lentil soup together!
Lemony Lentil Soup Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Lemony Lentil Soup Ingredients:
To make this lemony lentil soup recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Veggies: A simple mix of white onion, carrots and garlic.
- Veggie stock: Or you could are welcome to use chicken stock if you prefer.
- Red lentils: Which I love for this soup because they break down quickly and purée easily.
- Corn: Just your basic frozen or canned whole-kernel corn.
- Spices: A cozy mix of ground cumin, curry powder, cayenne and saffron (which is optional, but really delicious if you happen to have some on hand).
- Fresh lemon: Whose zest and juice we will add to the soup. I also recommend serving the soup with extra lemon wedges, if people would like to make their bowls even more lemony.
- Salt and black pepper: For seasoning, as always.
How To Make Lentil Soup:
I have included detailed instructions in the full recipe below for how to make this lentil soup in either an Instant Pot, Crock-Pot or on the stovetop. But here is a quick overview:
- Sauté the veggies. I recommend taking an extra few minutes to sauté the onion, carrots and garlic before adding them to the rest of the soup to bring out their best flavors. (This step may require an extra sauté pan, if using a Crock-Pot, or using the sauté feature in the Instant Pot.) But if you are in a hurry, you can just add these ingredients in with Step 2 below.
- Simmer. Stir in the vegetable stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder, cayenne and saffron (if using) until combined. Cover and cook (or pressure cook or slow cook) until the lentils are tender.
- Blend (optional). Using either a hand blender or traditional blender, puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Season. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. Then season the soup with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with an extra lemon slice, and enjoy!
Possible Variations:
Feel free to experiment and customize this soup however you might like! For example, you could…
- Serve the soup chunky. Just skip the puréeing step and enjoy the soup as-is!
- Make it spicier. Add extra cayenne if you would like to give the soup a bit more heat.
- Add fresh herbs. Fresh mint and/or cilantro would also be delicious served with this soup.
- Add yogurt. Feel free to also serve the soup garnished with plain yogurt for a creamy twist.
- Add greens. You could also stir some fresh baby spinach or chopped kale into the soup just before serving if you’d like to add some greens.
More Lentil Soup Recipes:
Looking for more easy lentil soup recipes to try? Here are a few of my faves:
- Turkish Lentil Soup
- Italian Lentil Soup
- Tomato Lentil Curry
- Vegetarian Lentil Chili
- Mexican-Inspired Chicken Lentil Soup
Lemony Lentil Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
- 1 1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 2/3 cup whole-kernel corn
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- (optional) pinch each of saffron and cayenne
- zest and juice of 1 small lemon
- fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions:
- Sauté the veggies. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
- Simmer. Stir in the vegetable stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder (plus saffron and cayenne, if using) until combined. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer. Then cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are completely tender.
- Blend (optional). Using either a hand blender or traditional blender, puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency. (If using a traditional blender, please see notes below.)
- Season. Stir in the lemon zest and juice until combined. Taste and season the soup with a generous pinch or two of fine sea salt and black pepper, as needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with an extra fresh lemon slice if desired.
Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Instructions:
- Sauté the veggies (optional). Press the "Sauté" button on your Instant Pot. Add oil and let it heat until shimmering. Add onion and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Press "Cancel".
- Cook. Stir in the vegetable stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder (plus saffron and cayenne, if using) until combined. Cover the pot and set vent to “Sealing”. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes, followed by a quick release.
- Blend. Using either a hand blender or traditional blender, puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency. (If using a traditional blender, please see notes below.)
- Season. Stir in the lemon zest and juice until combined. Taste and season the soup with a generous pinch or two of fine sea salt and black pepper, as needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with an extra fresh lemon slice if desired.
Crock-Pot (Slow Cooker) Instructions:
- Slow cook. Add onion, carrots, garlic, vegetable stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder (plus saffron and cayenne, if using) to the bowl of a large slow cooker, and stir to combine. (No olive oil needed.) Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours, or on low for 5-6 hours, until the lentils are completely tender.
- Blend. Using either a hand blender or traditional blender, puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency. (If using a traditional blender, please see notes below.)
- Season. Stir in the lemon zest and juice until combined. Taste and season the soup with a generous pinch or two of fine sea salt and black pepper, as needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with an extra fresh lemon slice if desired.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Our family loved this soup so much!
Delicious! Loves the freshness of the lemon flavor. My husband hates typical lentil soup but he said this recipe made him into a lentil soup believer! Will definitely make again and again.
This soup is amazing. I didn’t pure or mash it. it was good the way it was.
My first time on your website. I loosely followed your directions because of ingredient issues but what great soup! That was such a winner I can’t wait to see what other recipes you have.
This was an amazing recipe! I made this almost exactly to the original, except I didn’t have cayenne pepper. I used a dash of chili powder and paprika instead. We used a Jamaican style curry powder we had on hand. We cooked up some vegan Italian sausage, cut it up into small chunks, and sprinkled it in right before serving. Made some homemade garlic knots and a salad and it was a delicious meal. What we loved was the balance of flavors- nothing overpowered anything. First you tasted a light lemon taste, then the light curry flavor, then the lentils at the end. I was afraid that the cumin would be the biggest flavor, but it wasn’t. The bits of sausage we added made for some nice texture. My husband said this was a keeper! In this strange time waiting out the coronavirus at home, being able to make a comforting and delicious meal that was also easy on the pocket book was just what we needed.
Fantastic feedback from my family of 3 males, one who is in the military and eats a huge (!) amount of food. I doubled the recipe and used chicken stock and smooth pureed the soup. Instead of placing the corn in the mix, I sauteed the kernels in olive oil and everyone added the amount that they wanted on top, like croutons. There was only a small amount left. Thanks very much:)
I am glad everyone enjoys it so much. It was not a selling point at our home and we like lentil soups and especially mulligatawny. We weren’t about to eat it. I possibly did something very wrong. I think the lemon zest may have sent plus over the edge, we usually use lemon grass or fresh squeezed lemons. Other than that, I am not sure why it wasn’t a hit. Darn it anyway. Kudos to you that so many people love it! (Serious)
I don’t have red but I have green and yellow could I substitute either or both for the red lentils? Never made lentil soup but I really think this sounds DELICIOUS
What can I use instead of curry powder to season this? Really don’t care for curry.
Cinnamon and cardamom
Looks great. I will make it. Technique similar to a Tuscan white bean & kale soup I just made that turned out great.
I’m thinking that this is a dish that might benefit from some Lobster or crabmeat mounded on top and maybe served room temp, slightly chilled in the Summer, or hot.
I live in New England & these seafood options are more readily available here.
I’ve downloaded -and cooked, several of your contributions , so much thanks for that. Keep up the good work
Rik Wun