Are you looking for a healthy, easy and delicious Red Lentil Soup recipe? This ‘dump and start’ red lentil soup takes minutes in your Instant Pot but can also be cooked on the hob. Slimming friendly 🙂
You will also love my Lentil Bolognese!
January is a month for resolutions and fresh starts and… diets. I have taken a big step and joined Slimming World after seeing the amazing progress a friend has made in a few months.
I needed something to kick my butt into gear and help me adjust to being surrounded by delicious food, all day, every day.
While my diet is very healthy for the most part, I did indulge rather liberally over the holidays. So now is the time to take a step back and concentrate on ALL THE HEATLHY FOOD.
This super-easy red lentil soup is vegan, gluten free, so delicious and totally Slimming World friendly 🙂
Red lentil soup ingredients
- Onions
- Garlic
- Red lentils – these cook very quickly and require no soaking but make sure you rinse them first
- Plum tomatoes in juice (from a tin)
- Garam Masala or mild curry powder
- Turmeric – ground or fresh and grated
- Freshly grated ginger
- Vegetable stock (broth) made using a stock cube or bouillon powder
- Salt and pepper
- Chilli flakes
- Coriander (cilantro) to garnish
Can you use brown lentils?
Yes you can, or use a combination of red and brown. Brown lentils take longer to cook however – around 15 minutes high pressure plus 10 minutes natural release. They take even longer to cook on the stove – around 30 minutes.
Red lentil soup In the Instant Pot
All you have to do is chop some onions, rinse your red lentils and dump them in the pressure cooker together with stock, tomatoes and spices.
It only takes 8 minutes cooking at High Pressure, quick release and a bit of bleding using a food processor or immersion blender (I love my Bamix) and that’s it! Pretty easy, right?
Red lentil soup on the stovetop
You can easily make this soup on the stovetop, simply add all the ingredients in a pot, bring to simmer and cook until lentils are soft.
This soup resembles dal (or dahl) in many ways in that it uses similar ingredients. It is quite thin when you blend it. If you are looking for a more hearty vegan soup then this sweet potato, chickpea and red lentil soup is just the ticket.
Browse all my delicious slimming recipes HERE.
Red lentil soup
Ingredients
- 1 large onion , roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , sliced
- 1 cup (200g) red lentils, rinsed
- 15 oz (400g) tin plum tomatoes
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 2 tsp Garam Masala or mild curry powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 3 1/2 cups (840ml) vegetable stock (broth) made using a stock cube or bouillon powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
To serve
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- Handful fresh coriander (cilantro) to garnish
- Salt and pepper , season to taste
Instructions
Instant pot method
- Add all the ingredients in the Instant Pot. Cover, set vent to sealing and cook for 8 minutes on high pressure.
- Manually release the pressure and blend the soup using an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively transfer to a blender and blitz.
- Taste and season if needed. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a pinch of chilli flakes.
Stovetop method
- Add all the ingredients in a medium pot and bring to the boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer the soup for 15-20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and falling apart.
- Blend the soup using an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively transfer to a blender and blitz.
- Taste and season if needed. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a pinch of chilli flakes.
Notes
Nutritional Info
Vic Adams says
Delicious and so easy to make
Lynda says
Made this today after looking for a quick lentil soup and absolutely loved it. Dadn’t have any tinned tomatoes so I substituted tomato puree which worked a treat. Had some bacon lardons to use up so fried them separately during the 10 min cook time and then added with the seasoning at the end. Didn’t bother to blitz it so it was very hearty and filling fast meal in a bowl for my dinner. Awesome! Thank you, yum
Amy says
One of our favourite soups! We don’t include ginger and sometimes add butterbeans, but whatever we do this is delicious!
Lotte Worthington says
Wonderful!
Liz Crookston says
Made this for lunch today in my instant pot , super easy to make and very very tasty , definitely on my list to make again
Lucy Parissi says
Thanks so much for your comment Liz and so glad you liked it!
Lisa says
This recipe is so yummy!
It’s easy and quick to make, even on the hob.
Second time I’ve made this recipe, I put slightly less salt this time but that just my preference.
Love love love it, thank you
Lucy Parissi says
So glad you like it!
Janine says
I doubled this and made it for dinner tonight. I loved it! Autumn is slowly getting here and it was the first cool-ish day of the season. It just felt like a soup day. Perfect with fresh bread rolls. Very filling.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
I’m a huge fan of curried soups especially in the middle of winter as they have additional warming qualities through all the wonderful spices added to them. Red lentils are also a staple in my kitchen and this is such a great store cupboard soup plus so quick to make too! Love it!
Lucy Parissi says
Yes to all of the above! This is such a great soup to have on stand by for a quick lunch
Julia Frey says
Saved the recipe and will be making it this week. Such a great time saver and I love anything with lentils!
Jane Saunders says
Lentil and tomato soups are one of my family’s favourites. I know those spices will really elevate this soup nicely – I’m making this ASAP
Kellie Anderson says
Such an easy way to eat well and inexpensively at this time of year. Love the flavours, and of course those hearty, healthy lentils. Beautiful!ke
Corina Blum says
This recipe has all the flavours I love in a soup! I think red lentils are a fantastic ingredient and I often use them in soups so now I’m wishing I had an Instant pot too so I could make lentil soup even more quickly!