This lentil quinoa soup is a flavorful Moroccan-style soup made with red lentils, quinoa, and vegetables. It's flavored with Moroccan spices which add a warm and comforting flavor to this quinoa soup. It's vegan and gluten.
Who doesn't love a bowl of comforting, flavorful soup loaded with good ingredients? Today, I am sharing the recipe for one such soup from Morocco called lentil quinoa soup.
This lemony lentil soup is made with basic ingredients that are very easily available to most people around the world.
Though it's a hearty and filling soup it also has a very light refreshing touch to it which comes from the easy-to-digest red lentils and fresh lemon juice used in this recipe.
You can also enjoy it as a light meal.
This quinoa soup is vegan and gluten-free.
What goes in lentil quinoa soup?
To make Moroccan-style lentil quinoa soup, you will need the ingredients shown below:
Ingredient notes
- Red lentils: They are split and skinned brown lentils. You can easily find them in Indian or Middle Eastern grocery stores. If you want you can also use green or brown lentils to make lentil quinoa soup but the cooking time will vary depending on the type of lentils that you are using.
- Quinoa: Feel free to use any variety of quinoa.
- Onion: I have used yellow onion, you can use white or red too.
- Baby spinach: You can also use roughly chopped regular spinach, just cook regular spinach for slightly more time than baby spinach. Kale can be used too.
- Tomato: I prefer using as many fresh ingredients as I could in my recipes. So, in this recipe too I have used fresh tomatoes but canned tomatoes can also be used.
- Cilantro: If you don't like cilantro, use fresh parsley.
- Spices: I have used bay leaves, ground cumin, red chili flakes, coriander powder, cinnamon powder, turmeric powder, and black pepper as they are used a lot in Moroccan recipes. You may add or skip spices and seasonings to suit your taste.
How to make (step by step process)?
Step 1: Heat oil in a cooking pot and add chopped onion. Saute until the onion turns translucent.
Step 2: Add chopped carrot and celery. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
Step 3: Add minced garlic and saute for a minute.
Step 4: Add bay leaves, chili flakes, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, and crushed black peppercorns.
Step 5: Saute spices for around 30 seconds.
Step 6: Add chopped tomatoes and salt.
Step 7: Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the tomatoes are nicely cooked.
Step 8: Add rinsed lentils and quinoa to the pot.
Step 9: Saute lentils and quinoa with the vegetables for 1-2 minutes.
Step 10: Add vegetable stock and mix everything.
Steps 11 and 12: Cover the pot and cook for around 25 minutes or until the lentils are nicely cooked.
Step 13: Add baby spinach.
Step 14: Cook until the leaves get wilted then switch off the stove.
Step 15: Add chopped cilantro and lemon juice. Mix.
Step 16: Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Your Moroccan-style lentil quinoa soup is ready to be enjoyed!
How to serve quinoa soup?
Serve lentil quinoa soup hot or warm with some toasted pita bread or any bread of choice.
You can also serve it with a crunchy Middle Eastern salad like Tabbouleh or Fattoush on the side.
Grilled vegetables also make a good side dish for lentil quinoa soup. Moroccan potatoes also taste great with it.
It can also be paired with a sandwich like this potato sandwich, corn spinach sandwich, or, beetroot hummus and avocado sandwich.
Storing, freezing, and re-heating tips
To store, transfer the soup to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
It freezes well too. You can freeze quinoa lentil soup for 3 months.
To reheat, transfer to a cooking pot and put on the stovetop until nicely heated. Alternatively, you can microwave it for a few minutes, stirring after every 1 minute until evenly heated. If required, reseason.
Recipe tips and tricks
- This Moroccan soup can also be made with brown or green lentils. The cooking time will change depending on the type of lentils that you are using.
- Rinse the lentils and quinoa before adding them to the soup.
- Instead of baby spinach, regular spinach can also be used. Roughly chop them and cook for a little longer period. You can also use other leafy greens of your choice.
- More vegetables like broccoli, green beans, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or zucchini can also be added to this lentil soup.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, quinoa is naturally gluten-free.
Yes, you can use couscous. Just remember that couscous is not gluten-free. So, if you want to make a gluten-free soup don't replace quinoa with couscous.
More easy quinoa recipes
Want to make quinoa a regular part of your diet? Don't miss to check out the following easy quinoa recipes on my blog:
More vegan soup recipes
If a bowl of delicious soup gives you comfort then don't miss to check the following easy vegan soup recipes:
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Recipe
Lentil quinoa soup
Equipment
- Large cooking pot
Ingredients
- ¾ cup red lentils
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 medium-sized carrot finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery finely chopped
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes finely chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- Juice of ½ a medium-sized lemon adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Crushed black peppercorns to taste
- Salt to taste
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add chopped onion and cook until it turns translucent.
- Add chopped carrots and celery. Saute for around 2-3 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and saute for a minute.
- Next, add bay leaves, chili flakes, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, and crushed black peppercorns. Saute for around 30 seconds.
- Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook for around 3-4 minutes or until the tomatoes are nicely cooked.
- Add rinsed lentils and quinoa to the pot and saute for a minute.
- Add vegetable stock and cover the pot. Cook for around 25 minutes.
- Once the lentils are cooked, add baby spinach and cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes or until the spinach leaves get wilted.
- Switch off the stove. Add lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Mix everything. Serve hot.
Video
Notes
- Rinse the lentils and quinoa before using them in the recipe.
- Brown or green lentils can also be used in this recipe but they will take more time to get cooked.
- Instead of baby spinach, regular spinach can also be used. If using regular spinach, roughly chop them and cook for a little longer period.
- You can also add vegetables like broccoli, green beans, peas, potatoes, etc to this lentil soup.
- More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above. Please follow them to make this recipe.
Wonderful! I used my Instant Pot: sauteed the aromatics and such, then added 5 cups broth instead of 6, cooked on high pressure for 10 minutes with natural pressure release, then added the remaining ingredients to the soup. Aside from decreasing the amount of red pepper flakes, I made no changes. Really good flavor. This will be a regular - it's possibly the best red lentil soup I've ever made, and I've tried a number of other recipes. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Jane.