This Lentil Spinach Soup with Lemon is a quick and easy one-pot vegetarian meal that is full of unexpected flavor. It’s light, nutritious and satisfying with lots of fiber. Serve it over rice for a complete vegan protein. What’s not to love?
The winter holidays are loaded with culinary temptations. From party cocktails to comfort food to dessert platters, we’re indulging like there’s no tomorrow. Around this time of year I often feel the need to clean up my diet a bit. My energy level becomes low; I feel sluggish. Last winter I came across Melissa Clark’s recipe for Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and it seemed just the ticket. Using the ingredients I had on hand, I made my own version of this popular soup. The result was a perfect combination of healthy and tasty.
Since last year I have made this soup repeatedly, refining it to suit my taste– using brown lentils, less stock for a thicker soup, and wilting in lots of healthy greens. The result is a simple stew-like lentil soup, richly flavored and full of vitamins. The lemon gives it an unexpected brightness that just sings. My husband, who tends to think lentil soup is boring, was pleasantly surprised. “So much flavor! And it tastes healthy, in a good way.”
Suffice it to say, this has become one of our winter staple meals. It’s so easy to throw together. I’ve thickened the broth so it’s halfway between a soup and a stew; pour it over white or brown rice for a complete protein and a heartier meal. Enjoy!
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Food Photography and Styling by Kelly Jaggers
Lentil Spinach Soup with Lemon
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 whole onion, diced
- 1 whole carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 quart low sodium vegetable stock (if not vegetarian, you can substitute chicken stock)
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/4 cups brown, green or red lentils, rinsed and sorted
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups fresh spinach leaves (or substitute kale, swiss chard, or another favorite green)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (or can substitute parsley-- I prefer the flavor of cilantro here)
- 1 whole lemon
NOTES
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and carrot. Sauté until the onion softens and starts to turn golden. Add the garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes longer until fragrant. Add the tomato paste, cumin, cayenne, salt and black pepper. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes longer.
- Add the vegetable stock, water, lentils and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer then cover the pot, slightly vented. Let the soup cook for about 30 minutes until the lentils are soft.
- Remove soup from heat, remove the bay leaf and discard. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup halfway, so that it thickens but still has texture.Put soup over medium heat again. Add the fresh spinach leaves and cilantro. Stir the greens into the soup for 1-2 minutes until just wilted (covering the pot will wilt them faster).
- Turn off the heat and stir in fresh lemon juice to taste. Adjust seasonings if desired, and serve.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
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It was tasty, but I think there was not enough for 4 servings. More like 3.
I’m a “party” of one so freezability is important when I make recipes. Can this soup be divided into portions and frozen?
Thanks!
I make a very similar soup! I don’t bother with stock, or tomato paste (add celery, garlic – I call it self stock!) I use French green lentils, just because, and I confess to using organic frozen spinach. So quick, so easy, always a hit! I’ll try adding some cumin!
Organic frozen spinach works great! No need to use fresh unless you’ve got some on hand already.
I made this today, I used silverbeet as it’s in season here. It’s so yum and so cheap, what an awesome recipie.
Glad you liked it!
Best soup I’ve ever made. So filling.
Really glad you liked it!
Can the tomato paste be left out? The acid in tomatoes makes me sick. I’m going to try substituting roasted red pepper paste which I make and freeze. Also has anyone tried to make this in an Instant Pot? If Yes, how much cooking time?
Red pepper paste should be fine, or you can omit the tomato paste. I don’t have advice on the Instant Pot, sorry!
Just made this in an instapot. Is has a said we function so you can do the first steps as you would stove top and then it came with cook times for things lentils being about 10 minutes on the pressure cook setting. Since I don’t have an immersion blender, I did 15 minutes of pressure cooking and added some chickpeas and lemon zest to the mix. Tastes great! Love the lemon!
I followed the recipe to the letter except I used frozen spinach. It worked great and my whole family loved it even the kids who said they “hate” lentil soup. Ha!
Tory, have you tried making this in an Instant Pot? I’d love the recipe for that version.
Hi Francine, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Unfortunately we have not tried any of Tori’s recipes using the Instant Pot, so I cannot advise here.
Excellent recipe! Just made my second batch in one week. I was fortunate to have gorgeous Meyer lemons on hand so I used the juice from 2. Amazing. Will be trying more recipes from the site based on this success. Thanks!
Hi Tori, just wondering, is there a difference in the lentils? I haven’t cooked very much with them. I heard that some get mushier than others.
Thank you! Can’t wait to make this soup!
Nancy
Hi Nancy, the green and red are both fairly comparable. Sprouted lentils sometimes cook faster. The best rule of thumb with any legume is to check often for texture; when it reaches the right texture, it is done. Don’t worry about this one becoming too mushy, as it is half-blended with an emulsion blender to thicken it anyway.
I just made this soup – it’s simple and delicious! For the optional ingredients I used spinach, cilantro, and chicken broth. I’m saving this recipe as a favorite and forwarding it to friends. Thank you, Ms Avey!
Glad you enjoyed it! It’s one of my favorites 🙂
This soup is soooo delicious. The lemon really makes this dish shine. It freezes really well, so it would be easy to double the recipe and have yummy soup ready to go for multiple future meals. We had our first rain of the season, and it was perfect on a cool, rainy day. I just finished the last of it cold-right from the refrigerator, scooping it up like dip with some saltine crackers. What a delicious, healthy and economical recipe!
As a vegan I am always looking for meals that are nutritiously heathy, delicious and fun to eat, including easy to prepare. This soup is truly amazing. It’s fantastically economical too.
Thank
I love your recipes and often refer to them. I have learnt so much from your website, not only how to cook and eat fabulous foods,but your History of Food column is a great read whilst enabling me to connects energetically and spiritually to the food I am eating. Thank you for your commitment to providing great authentic receipts.
Thanks Sofia! Very happy you are enjoying the site and especially the historical aspect. 🙂
thank you for the yummy lentil soup recipe. love the lemon and cilantro in it. It was easy to make and so filling. I added extra minced garlic. Sandra
I made this soup for dinner last evening. It was so delicious. I used a good quality no salt chicken stock. It presents beautifully, the colours are lovely. Tori last night I was a hero in the kitchen. I have also made your mushroom and barley soup a few times and it’s to die for as well. Thank you for posting such interesting and extremely flavourful recipes. I am a follower!
Fantastic Judith! So happy to hear that.
Hi Tori. This soup sound wonderful and I plan on making it for 15 people. Should I multiply all the ingredients by 4?
Yes, and make sure you use a very large pot. 🙂 Enjoy!
Love this soup & all the updates to your site!
Thanks for sharing your talents!
Thank you Shelly!
Try beet greens. I added two beets and then at the end added the beet greens and it turned out great.
This soup is going to be wonderful, I can tell just by looking at the recipe. But that’s a lot of sodium. Anyway to cut it down a bit, Tori?
Hi Fran, feel free to cut the salt listed in the ingredients, then simply add to taste at the end of cooking.
Just use either low sodium broth or broth with no sodium. It’s a very easy fix these days to correct. Or just cut down or cut off the salt entirely.
Yum, made this today because I had some spinach to use. I used red lentils and they cooked much faster than the brown. I think I’ll pass on the immersion blender next time, but a great recipe! Thanks!