It’s soup day here on WGC and this Curry Lentil Soup is going to go right up there with your other favs… I can guarantee it! No questions asked!
You didn’t think I’d let the first few days of October go by without a soup did you? I think not!! Just disregard the fact that it is literally 80+ degrees in LA today… it’s fall on the calendar and we’re going with it.
Soups are an essential part of the next few months. And we are solid when it comes to soups here on WGC over in the soup section – but one that kept popping up was a lentil soup! Random, I know, but apparently everyone loves it. I’ll be honest, I was hesitant at first because I was somewhat skeptical of lentils as a kid – but mix it with coconut milk and curry and a TON of garlic and ginger and I could eat this every day.
This Curry Lentil Soup is the perfect soup no matter who you’re feeding. It’s naturally vegan, incredibly filling and packed with flavor from the curry and the coconut milk. All in all… it’s perfection.
You can use any color lentils you have on hand! And some goes for curry powder… red, yellow and green all work in this recipe interchangeably! The rest is pretty self explanatory. If you’re anti-cilantro then use some chives or basil on top! Just promise me that you won’t forget to garnish with the lime juice. That fresh pop of flavor really makes this dish sing!
Look for other soups like this Curry Lentil Soup? Try these:
What you’ll need:
Curry Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 8 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 1/2 inch piece of ginger peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3/4 cup lentils
- 1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup cilantro finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 13.5 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the lentils and cook for about 1 minute more, stirring occasionally.
- Add tomatoes, cilantro, 2½ cups water and season with salt and pepper. Set aside a few tablespoons of the coconut milk and add remaining coconut milk to dutch oven.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft but not mushy, 20-25 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- To serve, divide soup among bowls. Drizzle with reserved coconut milk and top with plenty of cilantro. Serve with lots of lime wedges.
Very good fall soup! I added Swiss shard and diced sweet potatoes just to make it stretch and it was dinner. Don’t skip on the coconut topping and some lime juice.
Gurl this sh*t is legit.
So, so good! The flavors worked so well together and it tasted even better as leftovers!
So yummy! Perfect comfort food to make for the family on a chilly post-election day.
One of the best soups I’ve ever made! This is so delicious and it’s GREAT leftover! Will absolutely make again and again!
I’m curious what kind of curry powder you use? Any special kind or just the basic one at the grocery store?
Best lentil soup recipe
Amazing recipe! Jammed packed with wonderful flavor and super filling, Highly recommend
Love this soup, but as written it’’s a little bland for my tastes. I double the curry, add 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer until it thickens a bit. Sometimes takes an extra 10 minutes. I like if a little better stirring the coconut milk in at the end rather than with the water and tomatoes.
Your recipes haven’t disappointed yet! This is another winner! The only crushed tomatoes I had were roasted and I was skeptical when I added them (didn’t initially smell as I expected), but the flavors came together and OhMyGOSH! Yummmmmm!
We love this! Such a great vegetarian comfort food option. Warm & cozy!
Hands down one of my new fave Gaby recipes. The squeeze of lime at the end is super delicious- don’t forget to add it. Legit, this is easily my fave meal I’ve made the last 9 months … and we’ve cooked a lot of Gaby’a recipes during Covid times (and loved them all!). This is easy to follow but HUGE flavor and tastes like something you’d get from a restaurant. But better. We served with Trader Joe’s garlic naan.
This was so good! Family approved! Adding to our favorites! Thank You Gaby!
Love this soup!! It’s my lentil go to.
Made this yesterday for the first time…loved it & will be making in again & again & again!!! Am looking forward to the leftovers for lunch today.
I made a big pot of this soup to give as a birthday gift. Divided it into quart containers so he had some to eat now and some to freeze for later – and saved a quart for myself He loved it. Said it was the best lentil soup ever. I loved the rich creaminess of the coconut milk.
This is on our monthly rotation we love it so much. It’s also a dream when cooking for people with different dietary restrictions and choices! GF, Vegan, etc. and the naan recipe is not to be missed either! Holy moly.
Made this for lunch, it was delicious.
Amazing recipe! How many calories are i. Each serving?
I don’t track calories!! I’m not sure
LOVE THIS RECIPE!! (And everything else from WGC). Easy to make, and great as leftovers.
If I make this an hour early, can I leave it on the stove in the Dutch oven off heat?
100% yes
We made this last week and this soup is SOOOO good! Thank you! 🙂
What kind of lentil are you using? Red, green or yellow
any work! My fav is red
Could I use TJ’s premade lentils for this recipe? Could I add them near the end or would it mess up the whole vibe?
absolutely
This is so easy and so delicious. My 10 year-old daughter loved it and asked me to make it again. Thanks!
Delish! Got so many compliments on this soup
I love so many of your recipes but this one really blew me away because I did not know what to expect! So so good!! Thank you for this and all of your delicious and approachable recipes!
Wow! Delicious, easy, pretty and have leftover! This is the bomb :)))
Wowza. This soup is the best! I followed the recipe exactly and it was divine. I made it early in the day then let it sit and reheated it for dinner. Felt clean and healthy but really filling. Served the soup with garlic naan grilled cheese, which was decidedly less healthy, but the soup exorcised the bad juju, I’m sure. It’s as beautiful as it is delish. Thanks for this inspiration. Total winner.
One of the best soups I have ever made and so easy! The taste was out of this world.
Amazing soup! I added some spinach this time and this soup is so versatile you could add lots of other vegetables! Loved it and will be putting it on my dinner rotation!
This turned out great!! I can’t handle a lot of heat so I think if I make it again I’ll cut back on the red pepper flakes. I also had to use chives and Thai basil because I had no cilantro, so next time, cilantro!! Thanks for the recipe! I like the idea of adding sweet potato.
Holy moly! Mole?! This was awesome.
yum. made several subs based on what i had in the crisper drawer and flavor was still delicious.
Fantastic. My husband considers himself and Indian cooking aficionado. He gobbled this up. Perfect texture.
Wow this was amazing and so easy. The lime finish at the end yummmm.
Love all of Gaby’s recipes, but this is our all-time favorite!
Yum!!! So tasty and so simple!! We’ve added this to our regular rotation. To make it even easier, I usually just add two tablespoons of yellow Thai curry paste instead of chopping all the garlic etc.
Wow! This soup is really easy to make and tastes like it’s complicated (in a good way). I made a triple batch and shared with friends who needed help with meals. Everyone requested the recipe and couldn’t believe how delicious it was. This will be my new favorite recipe to give to anyone who needs a meal delivered. It was even better heated up the second day.
This was FANTASTIC! I made it exactly like the recipe stated and was gobbling it up! And love that it is healthy. Next time, I may add celery and carrots to increase the veggies.
Excellent soup! I only made a few tweaks because I didn’t have certain ingredients. I used a cilantro paste and a ginger paste. Both the pastes can be used as fresh measurements (1T paste = 1T of fresh). The ginger was a guess how much a 2 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger chopped would be tablespoon wise. Can anyone give me an estimate? I also omitted the red pepper flakes (I didn’t have any) and I added more curry. Serving it with the coconut milk drizzle and squeeze of lime is a must! It’s definitely a keeper and will be made routinely.
We make this ALL the time. It’s my one year olds favorite too. Sometimes I add in carrot and celery if have on hand. I usually stir in Greek yoguRt to serve to baby and my husband and I love it with the green yogurt you! Love this recipe! Thank you! Delicious with Trader Joe’s frozen naan.
I didn’t have bell peppers, but I did have butternut squash–holy moly wowowow so good