This is the best lentil soup recipe I’ve ever made. This is my go-to soup whenever I need delicious healthy comfort food.
I make this lentil soup recipe all year round. It’s so good! I love the combination of spices and lemon in this simple soup. It’s so comforting and honestly makes me feel so good!
I don’t blend my soup like other lentil soup recipes, and I love the brothy texture of whole lentils and veggies. If you prefer blended soups, feel free to blend this one. It will be super creamy. For more about lentils, see my guide to cooking lentils. Or, for another hearty soup, try our easy split pea soup!
Key Ingredients
- Lentils: I use brown or French lentils (a type of green lentil) for this soup. They cook up soft and tender, and they’re packed with fiber, B vitamins, iron, and protein, while being low in fat. We love lentils so much, we wrote an entire article about how to cook lentils.
- Garlic, onion, and carrots: These aromatics add delicious flavor, texture, and color to our soup.
- Ground cumin, coriander, and turmeric: These spices bring warmth, earthiness, and a vibrant golden hue. If you don’t have them on hand, some readers have substituted curry powder, which creates a different but delicious flavor profile.
- Broth: For a vegetarian/vegan soup, use vegetable broth. Otherwise, chicken broth works beautifully.
- Greens: A handful of kale or spinach adds more nutrients, flavor, and color to the soup.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon juice lifts all the flavors in the soup. I also like adding a few lemon slices to each bowl when serving.
- Fresh herbs: While optional, fresh dill or parsley adds flavor to the soup.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Lentil Soup
Tip 1: Toast your spices. Like many of the soup recipes on Inspired Taste, this lentil soup recipe is incredibly simple. In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook onions and carrots until they soften and smell sweet. Next, toss in garlic, cumin, coriander, and turmeric and cook them briefly for about 30 seconds. This short cooking time allows the flavors to bloom and intensify.
Tip 2: Rinse your lentils. Before adding them to the pot, always rinse the lentils under running water. Then, give them a quick check to remove any stray beans, rocks, or grains that may have snuck in during packaging.
Tip 3: Simmer partially covered. Once the lentils are rinsed, add them to the pot along with the broth. Then, bring everything to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the lentils are soft. This usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
Tip 4: Finish with greens. Taste the soup a few minutes before serving and adjust the seasoning as needed. Then, stir in some greens and let them wilt slightly.
Tip 5: Serve with lemon slices and herbs. We love to serve the soup with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a handful of herbs. Add a few lemon slices to each bowl for a little lemony flavor. This is totally optional, but it’s pretty and adds even more lemony flavor.
What to Serve with Lentil Soup
Lentil soup is already a hearty and flavorful meal, but you can add a side to round out the meal. I love serving this soup next to a slice of crusty bread, flatbread, or homemade focaccia. Garlic bread would be delicious, too.
Serve this soup next to a light salad with your favorite dressing. I love this carrot ginger dressing or this green goddess dressing. This lemony arugula salad would be really good, too.
More Soup Recipes
- Tortellini Soup
- Vegetable Soup
- White Bean Soup
- Browse all of our soup recipes
Lemon Turmeric Lentil Soup
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This is our favorite lentil soup recipe. I make it whenever we need some healthy comfort food. It’s savory, satisfying, and utterly delicious. I like fresh lemon in this soup and serve it with slices of lemon. You don’t eat the lemon slices. They are there for more flavor and show lemon has been added to the soup.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 cups (340g) brown or green lentils, picked and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion (1 medium onion)
1 ½ cups chopped carrot (2 large carrots)
2 teaspoons minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 heaping cups shredded kale or spinach
1 to 2 lemons
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs like parsley or dill, optional
Fine sea salt, to taste
Directions
1Heat the oil in a large pot (like a Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the onions, carrot, and ¼ teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and starting to smell sweet, about 5 to 7 minutes.
2Stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander, black pepper, and turmeric, and cook for 30 seconds.
3Stir in the lentils and broth. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Taste, then adjust with salt (we add between ½ and 1 teaspoon depending on how well-seasoned the broth is).
4Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the lentils are tender, 35 to 40 minutes.
5Uncover the pot, stir in the kale or spinach, and cook, uncovered, another 5 minutes.
6Take the soup off the heat and stir in the juice of half a lemon and the fresh herbs. Taste the soup and season with additional salt and/or lemon juice. (I like quite a bit of lemon.)
7Serve, or if you prefer the soup blended, use an immersion blender to blend until you achieve your desired consistency. For even more lemon flavor, serve with a few lemon slices.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Lentil soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. (I actually think it gets better over time.) You might find that the lentils absorb some of the extra liquid as it sits in the fridge. To bring it back to a soup-like consistency, simply add a splash of water or broth before reheating.
- Freezing tips: You can also freeze the soup. It should keep for several months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat before serving.
- For some extra flavor, cook bulk sausage or ham with the onions and carrots.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Sodium will vary depending on the broth used.
Delicious! DELICOUS! DELICOUS! That’s it! I wouldn’t change a thing
Amazing! We are thrilled you love the recipe 🙂
I make this soup frequently throughout the year!I don’t change a thing! My patients love it when I bring a quart with me! Thank you. I love your site!
Delicious! Added precooked chicken breast at the end of the cook. Really great with toasted bread.
Love the additions! 🙂
Delicious and easy recipe! I followed as written except I used red lentils because that’s what I had on hand. I topped with a squeeze of 1/2 lemon because my husband is not the biggest lemon fan but used the entire lemon zest along with chopped carrot tops and parsley. We both loved your recipe and I will add it to the rotation! Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes!
You are so welcome! 🙂
This soup was easy to make and tasted great!
I made this recipe for my boyfriend, his aunt, and his cousin. All were sick. I only changed it by using fresh turmeric instead of dried. They all loved it and said it helped them feel better
I had some leftover cooked lentils and was looking for a soup recipe to add them to. Most recipes seemed to call for cooking the lentils right in the soup. This recipe did as well, but I felt it could work for me. It worked very well. The soup is nice and brothy, which is what I prefer. It also has a nice little spice from the turmeric, and adding a squeeze of lemon at the end adds good flavor.
We just made this soup this evening. And it hit the spot dead on! So delicious and light! Definitely filling from the lentils. Super healthy! And not processed, which we appreciate. Thank you for this “Will definitely make again” recipe.
Incredible. Love it 🙂
Used red lentils and added celery to the recipe. Everything else stayed the same….and what a wonderful outcome!
Hi Carter, We are thrilled the soup turned out well for you!
Can’t remember if I left a review the first time I made this Just made it again and it is stll absolutely delicious!! No changes followed recipe exactly
Wonderful! 🙂
I made this Lentil soup for the first time. I had everything on hand and picked the lacinato kale and parsley from the garden. This recipe is delicious with the perfect amount of spices. I only used the juice from one lemon but would add more next time. Thank you for sharing the recipe and will make it again.
Fantastic, flavorful soup! Added the juice of 2 lemons (I too like lemon) and the zest of one. YUM!
Wow. Just love it.
This is an easy and delicious soup. The bit of lemon added at the end really elevates the flavor.
Great soup. Had all ingredients on had. Will be making it many times in the future.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed your soup 🙂
I don’t see you using red lentils, which were a staple in my childhood in the UK, why is that? My favourite was ham and lentil soup, especially if the butcher let you have the ham bone which was mostly deluded of ham, for free!
We love red lentils. You can use them here, just keep in mind that they may break down a bit more in the soup when compared to brown or green lentils.
Love this recipe- so delicious and full of umami flavour without the meat! I’m needing to lower my cholesterol so all the fibre and low fat and full on flavour puts this on repeat for me!!
Delicious lentil soup!! I added more lemon to really get the citrus kick. But I will definitely be making this a regular in my soup rotation. Love it!
I have a problem with this recipe- I can’t stop eating it! This is the best lentil soup I’ve made and the only one I’ll make from now on.
Can you use red lentils in this recipie?
Yes, absolutely. Red lentils cook a bit more quickly and break down a bit more in the soup, but they are lovely!
We love this soup. So easy and healthy. Meatless and it wasn’t missed. I made it as written adding messaged, chopped kale when I heat up in smaller batches. It’s delicious and each time I customize it a bit. I had everything on hand and didn’t even have to make a store run. I’ll add some penne today and I’ll finish with my favorite Basamic vin drizzle. There’s hundreds of ways to customize for variety. Thank you for all your great recipes.
i made this soup for the first time today and it is incredible!!! The little hint of salt at the end changes the flavour so much.
This soup is delicious and easy to make! I did not have fresh spinach but used a can of it and it was perfect. I also have lemon powder – added just 1 tsp of that – instead of fresh lemons.
This soup was easy to make and very tasty. I did not not have kale or spinach, so used more parsley.
I used arugula instead of kale and added the lemon’s zest and it was fantastic!
Excellent! I used a butternut squash I had instead of sweet potato. A friend brought over a couple of Meyer lemons to use and I put a big spoonful of Greek yogurt on top with sourdough croutons for serving. It was just what we needed on a cold winter day. Healthful and flavorful!
I made this today and was blown away by the flavor! This recipe is easy to make, uses common inexpensive ingredients, and comes together quickly. This will go into the winter soup rotation!
Hands down the best soup I’ve made yet! Everyone was so impressed! I made this 2 weeks ago and only added a little bit of sausage. I’m making it again already! Sticking with the sausage but a different variety is all. This one is a forever and ever kind of thing LOL delicious! Thank you so very much! I’ll have to check out some more of your stuff! LOL you make me look good!
I made this for dinner. Added pasta. Delicious and filling!
I loved this soup, I only had red lentils but they did the job and I also added some parsnips as I had them. Adding something like kale right near the end is an excellent idea – I used that cabbage with the crinkly leaves – I think it’s called savoy cabbage. We served it with some homemade bread rolls. Also if anybody in the family really has to have meat all the time, it is simple enough to add some sort of meat but truly, it is not missed.
My family loooves this soup! Sometimes I add potatoes, but it is perfection just the way it is!!
We LOVE this soup! It’s such an unusual combination of flavors – and remarkably “flavor-ful”. Thank you! (Next time I’ll need to double the recipe because it goes down so easily:)
Soo delicious and easy to make! I have made using my Instant Pot as well.
Renee – will you please share how you adapted this to your Instant Pot? Thanks!
I made my soup in an instant pot, following the instructions but used the pressure cooking setting for 15 mins & natural release for about 15 mins. I was using kale from the garden which can be a bit tough so I added it with everything else not at the end. It was delicious and the lemon really added something. I will definitely do it again. Nice and healthy after all the Christmas food!
So yummy! 😋 definitely a repeat in our house
If I want to use pre cooked lentils how should I adjust the amount of broth and seasonings? Thank you
Hi Melissa, I’d still let the veggies simmer in the broth for 20 minutes or so (or until tender). Then you can add your cooked lentils and let them simmer another 5 to 10 minutes so they release some of their flavor.
What if the lentils aren’t pre-cooked, but they are pre-soaked? Cook according to recipe?
Yep, you should be fine. The lentils may turn our more soft or become tender a little more quickly, but the soup will still be lovely.