This hearty, Indian-spiced lentil soup is nourishing, delicious, and full of healthy vegetables. I bet you can’t just have one bowl.
This is my favorite soup to make when wanting to cozy up. It comes together super easily with easy to find ingredients. Additionally, this Indian-spiced lentil soup PACKED with flavor from all of the spices, and full of nutrition from every single ingredient. My broccoli soup is also amazing, and a bit lighter as well.
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Ingredients
These are the baseline ingredients for this soup. I also include some optional additions in the subsequent section if you want even more vegetables!
- Spices, and a lot of them!
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Diced or crushed tomatoes
- Broth or stock
- Filtered water
- Lentils
- Sweet potato
- Spinach
- Lemon
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for the Indian-spiced lentil soup
This is a one-pot soup that is very easy to make with tons of flavor.
Combine all spices into a 6-quart pot on medium heat then mix thoroughly into the olive oil.
Add the diced onion into the spice and oil mixture and cook until translucent.
Add the grated garlic and fresh ginger
Pour in the broth/stock and water
Wash the lentils, meanwhile pick out any little rocks or leaves mixed in
As the soup comes to a boil, impurities will rise. Skim off the foam, then lower heat and cover
Turn off the heat then add the spinach. Fold in the leaves. They will wilt within a few minutes.
Next, add the diced or crushed tomatoes
Then, add in the diced sweet potatoes
Add the washed lentils to the soup then bring to a boil
After the soup simmers for about 25 minutes, blend the soup to desired consistency (about 10-15 pulses)
Add a squeeze of lemon to brighten the soup up.
Hint: You can leave the soup cooked, off the heat, and covered for a few hours before serving. It will remain hot and flavors will continue to build.
Substitutions
This Indian-spiced lentil soup is *chefs kiss* as is (if I do say so myself), but here are some substitutions you can make without losing its true essence:
- Sweet potato – instead of sweet potato, you can use butternut squash. I would NOT recommend using a russet potato or Japanese sweet potato – they will not give the soup the same flavor or body.
- Diced tomato – feel free to use crushed tomato instead, the soup will come out wonderfully. I have tried this will canned whole peeled tomatoes as well. The flavor came through but it took extra work breaking the tomatoes down.
- Spinach – You can add baby kale or chopped kale. Since kale takes longer to break down, keep the heat on for an extra 5-10 minutes or until the kale has reached your desired consistency.
What other vegetables can I add to this Indian-spiced lentil soup?
This soup is wonderful on its own; however, you are more than welcome to add even more vegetables. Some ideas are below:
- Carrots – add two peeled and diced carrots at the same time as adding onions (step 2). They won’t change the flavor much but you will get even more nutrients!
- Cauliflower – add a half or a full head of cauliflower, chopped, into the soup along with the sweet potatoes and lentils (step 3).
- Zucchini – This is my favorite variation. I add sliced zucchini into the soup after blending, before adding the spinach (between steps 6 and 7). You will need to keep the soup on low for another 15 minutes after blending to cook the squash before removing from heat.
Let me know if you add one of these vegetables or a different one!
Equipment
I use a 6-quart dutch oven for this recipe. Feel free to use another pot of a similar size.
Options for blending the sIndian-spiced lentil soup:
- Immersion blender – I find this the easiest as you can simply blend the soup within the pot it’s cooked in. If you have one, use it.
- Blender – You can pour some of the Indian-spiced lentil soup in a blender to roughly blend, then pour back into the pot. Depending on the size of the blender and your preferred consistency, you may need to do this a few rounds.
- Food processor – Pour some of the soup in a food processor and pulse, then pour back into the bowl.
Storage of the Indian-spiced lentil soup
Store the soup for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.You can also freeze the soup to be eaten within a few months.
Lastly, if you do make this Indian-spiced lentil soup recipe (then first of all, thank you!!), be sure to rate this recipe and leave a comment and rating below! It would mean the world to me if you tagged me on Instagram or TikTok so I can see your creations.
📖 Recipe
Indian-Spiced Lentil Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Spices
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne optional
Soup Ingredients
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 ½ cups dry, uncooked lentils picked over and rinsed
- 4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 2 cups filtered water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and diced (about 5 cups)
- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
- 4 oz fresh spinach rinsed (about 3 handfuls)
- ½ lemon juiced (optional)
Instructions
- Sift through the dry lentils to pick out anything that is not a lentil (often times little rocks or leaves are found with dry lentils and we don’t want those). Once picked over, give the lentils a good rinse and set aside.
- Add about ¼ cup olive oil to a 6-quart dutch oven or pot on medium heat. Once the oil has heated, add the garam masala, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, coriander, ginger powder, and cayenne if using. Stir the spice into the oil. Allow to bloom in the olive oil for about 15-30 seconds, then add the diced onion and the remainder of the olive oil. Mix together, then sautee for 3 minutes. Then, add the grated ginger and minced onion. Stir, and sautee for about 8 minutes more.
- Add the stock or broth, water, diced or crushed tomatoes, and salt, then stir together. Add the lentil and diced sweet potatoes. Bring the pot to a boil.
- Foam may appear at the top of the pot as the soup boils. Skim off the foam/scum with a small fine mesh skimming tool or a regular spoon.
- Lower the heat to simmer, then cover the lid and allow the soup to simmer for 25 minutes. Then, take off the heat.
- Using an immersion blender, pulse-blend the soup for about 10 seconds, or until your desired consistency is reached. Alternately, you can scoop some soup out into a blender or a food processor if you don’t have an immersion blender.
- Lastly, add the spinach. It will appear to be a lot, maybe even too much, but they will wilt down. Fold in the spinach leaves and then cover the pot for about 5-10 minutes for the spinach to cook in the soup through the residual heat. Do not turn the heat up again.
- Lastly, I like to add a squeeze the juice of ½ lemon into the pot before serving. It adds a little bit of acid towards the end without a lemony flavor. This step is optional.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
OMG my family loved this recipe. So much flavor. Will make again!
Love making this soup for my fiancee! It’s a slow simmer and always a hit. Plus, it’s healthy! Thanks for the guidance and recipe Snacking Emily.
makes me smile!