Curry Lentil Soup
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 Will 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.
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.
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Vegan Curry Lentil Soup
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!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 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!
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 362
- Sugar: 2.5 g
- Sodium: 575.1 mg
- Fat: 19.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 13.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.4 g
- Fiber: 7.9 g
- Protein: 13.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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!
Excellent recipe – It was done in 25 minutes and the flavors are fantastic. I’ve had a bag of red lentils that has been staring at me from in the cupboard and so this was my first try at cooking them… I’m super pleased! This dish is a keeper.
This is so tasty!
Are the calories calculated for 4, 5 or 6 serving sizes?
Great question – 6 servings!
AMAZING! I have made this recipe again and again – it is so flavorful, hearty, and delish. I even subbed white beans for chickpeas once and it turned out just as tasty. Thank you for this easy, quick recipe!
Can I use low-fat coconut milk?
You can if you’d like, but the texture will be a bit thinner!
Just made this to have for lunches all week, but made sure to “sample” some now. So delicious and flavorful! Can’t wait for lunch this week!
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! 🙂
Could I use white beans instead of garbanzo beans?
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 🙂
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!!
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 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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!
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 🙂
Very delicious. I added 2 teaspoons of tumeric and some kefir leaves which turned out great, however the original recipe is also delicious.
Great additions, Janette – sounds delicious! Thanks so much for leaving a review. I really appreciate it 🙂
Amazing! So easy, so delicious! I used low-sodium broth and found canned chick peas with only 10 mg sodium…came out great! Thanks!
I am so glad you enjoyed this curry soup, Elka! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Super delicious. Totally didn’t expect it.. Would cook it longer than 10minutes though!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Manisha! I recommend bringing the soup to a simmer and then cooking until the lentils are cooked through which doesn’t take long with split red lentils. If you use other lentils, it may take longer!
Can I use canned lentils?
I don’t see why not! I’ve not worked with canned lentils much but I would think they’d work just fine in this recipe. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you give it a try!
Great recipe and well-balanced flavors. I wouldn’t change a thing about it! Thank you for sharing!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Kay! This is one of our family’s favorites too! 🙂 Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
I love coconut curry soups and this is just what I was looking for. I adjusted some of the spices for my own personal preference and I think it tastes better than the soup at my local vegan restaurant. Thanks for the recipe! I’ve made it several times already and it’s a family favorite.
I am so glad that you’ve enjoyed this recipe, Emily! I am glad that you were able to customize it to suit your taste. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂