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Red Lentil Soup

February 16, 2016 By Rachel 6 Comments

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Red Lentil Soup – Dream of warm and distant lands as you take in the exotic aromas of this sweet and savory, lightly curried winter soup.

Red Lentil Soup

Today I’m featuring one of my go-to recipes that regularly finds its way into my dinner rotation throughout the colder months. With a young family, you wouldn’t think that lentils would be involved in one of our favorite recipes, but everyone loves this lightly curried and sweet soup with a pop of cilantro. Any meal the elicits no complaints at the dinner table, and is healthy, is worth making over and over again in my book. This soup never gets old, either. It adds a bit of warmth and spice to any chilly day.

Red Lentil Soup Ingredients on the Chopping Blocks

In addition to tasting amazing, this recipe is ridiculously easy to make.

Red Lentils

The secret to this soup is the spices. If you, or those you cook for, aren’t into spicy food don’t be scared off. The combination of cumin, paprika, turmeric, garlic, and ginger creates a sweet and savory profile. Whether or not you add hot peppers is totally up to your own discretion. What I normally do is make the soup without the hot peppers and when it’s done I reserve some for my son, then add a ton of heat to the pot for my husband and I. Yum!

Spice Mix for Red Lentil Soup

To bring the soup together, cook up some onions until they’re soft. Next, add your dry spices to the pot and cook for one minute, or until they become aromatic and fill your home with a delicious smell of distant lands. Then add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. After this, add in the tomatoes, broth, and lentils.

Onions with Spices

At this point there’s not that much else to do other than let the pot simmer for a good hour. This a fabulous time to relax and hang out with your favorite people (or pets). After the soup is done cooking, simply garnish with cilantro and drizzle with honey. If you follow a vegan diet. substitute the honey with agave nectar. It’s really that easy!

Garnishing Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
1 hour 5 mins
Total time
1 hour 15 mins
 
Dream of warm and distant lands as you take in the exotic aromas of this sweet and savory, lightly curried winter soup.
Author: Rachel Hanawalt
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 medium sweet onion, diced
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp dry)
  • 1 Tbsp fresh or frozen ginger, minced (1 tsp dry)
  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 4 C low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 C red lentils
  • 1 Tbsp fresh or frozen cilantro, plus more for garnish
  • 1 cube of Dorot frozen chili peppers or ⅛ tsp dry cayenne (optional)
  • 8 tsp honey for drizzling (use agave nectar for vegan)
  • salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Cook the diced sweet onion with 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
  2. Add the ground cumin, paprika, and ground turmeric to the pot and cook for one minute, until the spices become aromatic.
  3. Add the minced garlic and ginger to the pot, cooking 30 more seconds. I sometimes use Dorot frozen herbs to make this step go faster. Dorot makes garlic, ginger, cilantro, and chili cubes. All of which can be used in this recipe.
  4. Add the diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, and red lentils to the pot. Stir to combine. Turn the heat up to high, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for about one hour. When the soup is done cooking, the lentils will be soft and the soup will be thick.
  5. When the soup is done cooking, stir in 1 Tbsp of cilantro, hot peppers (optional), and salt to taste. Garnish with additional cilantro and drizzle with honey. Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate to be reheated later.
3.5.3208

Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup Nutrition Facts

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Filed Under: Dairy-Free, Fall, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Honey, Recipes, Soups, Spring, Tomatoes, Vegetarian, Whole Grains, Winter Tagged With: Cilantro, Curry, Easy, Healthy, Honey, Moroccan, red lentils, soup, tomato, Vegan Options, Vegetarian

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Comments

  1. David @ Cooking Chat says

    February 17, 2016 at 7:06 am

    love a good lentil soup! the honey drizzled on top is an interesting addition.

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      March 1, 2016 at 11:15 am

      The honey really makes this soup. It pairs so well with the spice!

      Reply
  2. Kylee @ Kylee Cooks says

    February 17, 2016 at 10:50 am

    I LOVE lentil soup. Yours is so pretty!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      March 1, 2016 at 11:14 am

      Thanks Kylee. I love it too!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Winter Must Have Soups - Treat Yourself Sweeter says:
    July 11, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    […] Red Lentil Soup from Simple Seasonal […]

    Reply
  2. How to Make Homemade Soup ~ with links to over 70 recipes | SchneiderPeeps says:
    January 10, 2018 at 4:56 am

    […] Chowder Mushroom Barely Soup Quinoa Chili Butternut Sweet Potato Soup Roasted Acorn Squash Soup Red Lentil Soup Healing Carrot Tumeric Soup Creamy Vegan Artichoke Soup Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup Quinoa […]

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Hi, I'm Rachel! Welcome to Simple Seasonal, a resource for simple, healthful, and delicious recipes that help you make the most of seasonal produce from your local farmer's market, CSA, or home garden. Simple Seasonal is committed to a whole foods diet. With an occasional cookie... ;)


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