Vegetable lentil soup is a hearty vegan lentil soup loaded with a lot of vegetables, making it a great option for a healthy lunch or dinner too. Depending on the availability, you can use different seasonal vegetables to make this one-pot soup, it always tastes amazing.
When trying to include a lot of seasonal vegetables in my meals, I love making a vegetable stir-fry dish or a hearty vegetable soup like today's vegetable lentil soup.
It's easy to make, tastes delicious, and filling enough to make a meal.
What's needed to make vegetable lentil soup?
To make this lentil veggie soup, you will need the ingredients shown below:
Ingredient notes
- Onion: I have used yellow onion, you can also use red or white.
- Vegetables: Use seasonal vegetables that are easily available to you. Vegetables taste the best in their season and also give more health benefits if eaten during that time.
- Tomato: I prefer using fresh ingredients in my recipes so have added fresh tomatoes but canned tomatoes can be used too.
- Lentils: I have used dried green lentils. You can also use brown or red lentils. Yellow mung beans can also be used in this recipe. Just alter the cooking time depending on the lentils that you are using.
- Seasonings: I have used dried basil, oregano, crushed black pepper, and salt to flavor this soup. Feel free to add other herbs of your choice like thyme or rosemary.
How to make (step by step instructions)?
Step 1: Heat oil in a cooking pot.
Step 2: Add chopped onion.
Step 3: Add chopped celery. Cook until the onion turns translucent.
Step 4: Add minced garlic and saute for a few seconds.
Step 5: Add bay leaf, crushed black pepper, dried basil, and oregano. Saute for a few seconds.
Step 6: Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Step 7: Add rinsed lentils and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Step 8: Add vegetable stock and mix everything.
Step 9: Cook covered for around 15 minutes.
Step 10: Add chopped carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, French beans, and green peas.
Step 11: Cook for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked.
Step 12: Add lemon juice and chopped cilantro or parsley.
Your comforting lentil soup with vegetables is ready to be enjoyed!
How to serve?
Lentil vegetable soup tastes the best if served piping hot.
Serve it with toasted bread, garlic bread, bread sticks, dinner rolls, or a refreshing salad like Fattoush on the side.
How to store?
The leftover lentil vegetable soup can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for 2-3 days.
You can also freeze this soup in batch-size freezer-safe containers for 4-5 months.
How to reheat frozen lentil soup with vegetables?
To reheat the frozen vegetable lentil soup, place it in the fridge to thaw overnight. Transfer the thawed soup to a cooking pot and reheat on a medium flame until nicely heated. You may add more seasonings for a fresher taste.
If you don't have that much time, defrost in a microwave. Reheat the defrosted soup either on the stovetop or microwave for a few minutes, stirring after every 2 minutes until the soup is piping hot.
Recipe tips and tricks
- Feel free to use vegetables of your choice in this recipe.
- Greens like spinach or kale can also be added to it.
- Don't overcook the vegetables otherwise they will turn mushy and get dissolved in the soup. Vegetables should have a bite to them.
- Don't cut vegetables into very small pieces otherwise, they will easily turn mushy.
- For a creamier version of this soup, you may cook the lentils separately, blend and then add sauteed vegetables to it.
- For a hotter version, add chili flakes or finely chopped hot chili peppers.
- Remove the bay leaf before serving the soup.
- When in hurry, you may add frozen mixed vegetables to this soup.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can also use brown or red lentils to make this soup. Just change the cooking time depending on the lentils you are using.
No, they both are different. They look similar and taste quite similar too but, their texture is slightly different. Also, green lentils take more time to get cooked. You can use either of them in this recipe.
Yes, lentil soup can be made with canned lentils too. Just rinse them before using in the recipe.
More lentil recipes
Looking for more easy and tasty ways to cook lentils at home? Don't miss checking the following lentil recipes on my blog:
- Winter lentil salad
- Mediterranean lentil salad
- Armenian lentil salad
- Lebanese red lentil soup
- Brown lentil curry
Other hearty vegan soup recipes
If you want to try other hearty soup recipes that can be enjoyed as a meal too then the following recipes are worth checking:
If you try any of my recipes, please rate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it on the recipe card and also leave your feedback in the comments section below. You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and subscribe to my youtube channel.
Recipe
Vegetable lentil soup
Equipment
- 1 Large cooking pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup green lentils
- 1 medium sized yelllow onion finely chopped
- 4-5 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 large tomato finely chopped
- 1 stalk of celery roughly chopped
- 1 medium sized carrot roughly chopped
- 1 cup broccoli florets cut into bite size pieces
- 1 cup cauliflower florets cut into bite size pieces
- ½ cup green peas fresh or frozen
- ½ cup French beans fresh or frozen
- 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice adjust to taste
- A handful of fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- 7 cups vegetable stock or as required to get the desired consistency of the soup
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- Crushed black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Heat oil in cooking pot.
- Add chopped onion and celery. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until the onion turns translucent.
- Add minced garlic and saute for a few seconds.
- Add dried basil, oregano, black pepper, and bay leaf. Saute for another few seconds.
- Next, add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook tomatoes for 2-3 minutes.
- When the tomatoes are cooked, add rinsed lentils and saute them for around 1-2 minutes.
- Add vegetable stock. Mix everything and cover the pot. Cook for around 15 minutes.
- Add chopped carrot, green beans, peas, broccoli, and cauliflower florets. Mix and cook for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked but still crunchy.
- Add lemon juice and roughly chopped cilantro. Serve hot.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to use vegetables of your choice in this recipe.
- Instead of green lentils, brown or red lentils can also be used. The cooking time will change depending on the lentils that you are using.
- Don't make very small pieces of the vegetables otherwise, they will turn mushy very easily.
- To add some heat to the soup, use chili flakes or roughly chopped chili peppers.
- Remove the bay leaf before serving the soup.
- You may add spices and seasonings of your choice to flavor this soup.
- More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.
Leave a Reply