Simple Red Lentil Soup
This simple red lentil soup recipe cooks in just 25 minutes with aromatic vegetables, smoked paprika, and bright lemon zest. It’s a healthy, protein-packed vegan dinner the whole family will love.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Yield
- 6
Ingredients 14
- 3 large carrots
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 celery ribs
- 6 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 quarts vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 pound split red lentils*
- 1 ½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Greek yogurt or sour cream (or cashew cream for vegan), for serving
- Cilantro, for serving
Method 5
- 01
Peel the carrots. Finely dice the carrot, onion, and celery. Mince the garlic .
- 02
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery, and sauté until the carrots are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- 03
Stir in the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, water, red lentils, smoked paprika, lemon zest, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
- 04
Bring to a low simmer, then cover halfway and gently simmer until the lentils are just soft but before they start to break apart, about 7 to 10 minutes. Watch closely and taste to assess doneness. The finished soup should be brothy with the lentils just soft; cooking past this point yields a very thick stew which is just as delicious but less soup-like. (If you’d like, you can add handfuls of greens in the last few minutes, like chopped spinach or kale).
- 05
Taste and add additional salt to taste, and a few grinds black pepper. The soup lasts up to 1 week refrigerated (you can also freeze for up to 3 months). Leftovers can become very thick, so you can add a little water or broth when reheating.
Provenance
- recipe-clones/acouplecooks-data
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