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This 20 minute vegan curry lentil soup is loaded with your favorite pantry staples including classic curry spices, garbanzo beans, coconut milk and split red lentils. It has all the feels of comfort food so your family will never guess it's completely loaded with healthy, wholesome ingredients!
You'll Love This
- It's delicious AND good for you! This vegan curry lentil soup gives you the best of both worlds in terms of being the ultimate comfort food and also being loaded with healthy, whole ingredients like garbanzo beans, red lentils, and coconut milk!
- It can be thrown together quickly with pantry staples you likely already have on hand! We are talking 20 minutes from start to finish and just a handful of canned pantry items along with some classic curry inspired spices. It doesn't get much easier than that!
- It's the perfect "make-ahead" meal since the flavors just get better with time! It reheats beautifully (as most soups do) making it a meal prep lover's dream! You can throw together a big batch of this on Sunday night and dinner is done for the week!
Instructions
Saute onions along with a pinch of salt and pepper for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
Deglaze the pan with a splash of broth, scraping all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.
Add chickpeas and lentils.
Add coconut milk.
Stir in the rest of the vegetable broth.
Turn up heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer over medium to medium low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender.
Stir in fresh squeezed lime juice, garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!
Lentils
- Lentils are part of the legume family. A legume is a plant with an edible seed (think beans or peas).
- Lentils come dried or canned. They come in a few different varieties including red/yellow, green, brown and black.
- Lentils are an excellent source of protein and fiber which makes them a filling (and very healthy) addition to any meal. This informative article has some more great info about lentils if you want to dig a little deeper!
Is it Vegan?
- Yes! This curried lentil soup is made without any animal products. The creaminess comes from the coconut milk and the cooking liquid we use in this recipe is vegetable broth.
- While I don't follow a vegan diet, I do try to incorporate as many vegetables into my meals as possible so you'll find a lot of vegan and vegetarian recipes here on Midwest Foodie.
Simple Soups
- Vegan Curry Ramen Noodles
- Vegan Tomato Soup
- Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Vegan Lentil Chili
- Tuscan Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
- Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken Chili
This post was originally published in January of 2019. It was updated in March of 2020 to include step-by-step instructions, process shots and helpful hints for making the best vegan curry lentil soup!
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Vegan Curry Lentil Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
This vegan curry lentil soup is loaded with your favorite pantry staples - classic curry spices, garbanzo beans, and split red lentils. It has all the feels of comfort food so your family will never guess it's completely loaded with healthy, wholesome ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup split red lentils
- 1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1 (13.5 oz.) can full fat coconut milk
- 32 oz. vegetable broth
- juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- fresh chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Deglaze the pan with a splash of broth, scraping all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Add chickpeas, lentils, coconut milk and remianing broth. Stir to combine.
- Turn up heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer over medium to medium low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are cooked through.
- Stir in fresh squeezed lime juice, garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Indian
Keywords: lentil soup, curry soup, vegan lentil soup, vegan curry soup
Elka
Amazing! So easy, so delicious! I used low-sodium broth and found canned chick peas with only 10 mg sodium...came out great! Thanks!
Kylie Lato
I am so glad you enjoyed this curry soup, Elka! Thanks so much for leaving a review - I really appreciate it 🙂
Janette
Very delicious. I added 2 teaspoons of tumeric and some kefir leaves which turned out great, however the original recipe is also delicious.
★★★★★
Kylie
Great additions, Janette - sounds delicious! Thanks so much for leaving a review. I really appreciate it 🙂
Lisa
I read the recipe, I knew I’d like it, so I went ahead and made a double batch. I’ll freeze it in single-serving sizes. It’s so delicious!
★★★★★
Kylie
BRILLIANT! I love freezing soups for later - thing I need to invest in those Souper cubes at some point... I'm so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Lisa. Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Amanda
Have you or anyone else added any vegetables? I saw someone comment on adding asparagus. Any other vegetables that have been added that would be good with the flavor? I was thinking maybe cauliflower and spinach or kale...? Thoughts?
Kylie
I think any of those vegetables would be great in this lentil soup! You may have to add a bit more broth just to account for the veggies, but I think that's a great idea! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you add any 🙂
Amanda
I definitely need to make just recipe without all of the extra vegetables, but I needed to use these up lol!
So what I did was, took a head of cauliflower, whole container of baby kale, and 3 tomatoes on the vine, chopped it all up, and mixed it all in a big bowl with the same seasonings and a tsp of turmeric. Roasted it in the oven while I chopped onions and followed the recipe. Then once everything was in my Dutch oven, I added the vegetables from the oven (definitely need a bigger Dutch oven). I wanted to add spinach too, but not enough room, oh well!
It was soooo GOOD!!!
Thank you for the great recipe!!
★★★★★
Kylie
I am so glad to hear that this recipe worked out with the extra veggie additions!! Thanks for leaving a review - I really appreciate it 🙂
Jill
Could I use white beans instead of garbanzo beans?
Kylie
Great question, Jill! Yes - feel free to use white beans instead of garbanzo beans. The flavors will still be the same! Can't wait to hear what you think if you make this curry soup 🙂
Monroe
Okay this recipe is BOMB!! I make "indianish" dishes and lentil dishes all the time and I honestly think this is my favorite. Super flavorful and creamy and the lime adds extra brightness. My family loved it as well and I even got an "I could eat this every day!" comment from a family member so I would say this dish was a success on the home front. Highly recommend, thank you for sharing this recipe! 🙂
★★★★★