Red Lentil Soup Recipe with Vegetables

This red lentil soup recipe with vegetables is a healthy, hearty, satisfying meal in a bowl. Perfect for a weeknight meal served with crusty bread.

The soup is thick, rich and flavorful – and super nutritious. Don’t miss it – it’s the best lentil soup, consistently rated in our top 5! 

Lentils are a good source of soluble fiber, protein, folate, and other minerals and vitamins. The carrots, onions, celery and potato add even more nutrition.

You can adjust the flavor and spices to your taste with coriander, more cumin or even hot sauce or chili flakes. We love the lemon in the soup which gives it gives it a bright zing.

We typically serve this red lentil vegetable soup as a full meal with fresh crusty bread. And maybe a side salad. But of course you can serve smaller cups of the soup as a starter. Be careful though – it’s filling. The soup is also nice with grilled cheese on the grill. a piece of homemade naan or our panzanella salad recipe with grilled chicken. 

One more thing, this healthy meal freezes well, making it a great make-ahead soup. So make a large pot of soup and enjoy it for weeks. 

Shortcuts

• Throw all the vegetables in the processor for a rough chop (pulse a few times) instead of dicing them all by hand.
• Use garlic in the jar or frozen garlic cubes instead of mincing garlic cloves.

Tailor To Your Taste

Substitutes

• Substitute cilantro for the parsley. Here’s a quick 101 on Herbs: The Bare Essentials.
• Use a cup of diced tomatoes (no juice) instead of tomato paste
• Try sweet potatoes instead of carrots.
• Use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth
• You can use green lentils instead of red lentils, but the cooking time will be longer (about 45 minutes) and they won’t disintegrate and soften the way red lentils do. 

Other variations

• Add 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Alter the seasonings to your taste e.g add a bay leaf, coriander or chili flakes for some heat.
• Add more broth to make it a thinner soup
• Add a splash of coconut milk
• Puree all or part of the soup with an immersion or stick blender for a creamy lentil soup.
• Omit the lemon

Make Ahead

• The red lentil soup recipe with vegetables can be frozen for a couple of months. We like to freeze it in smaller lunch-size portions.

Other hearty soup recipes you might like

All of these can either be served as starters or as meals in a bowl.

• Beef barley soup recipe
• ground beef vegetable soup recipe
• Wedding soup recipe with zest
• Sausage and bean soup
• Vegetable barley soup
• Root vegetable soup with barley
• Instant pot French onion soup
• vegetarian split pea soup

How to make this red lentil vegetable soup