Make Life Simple, Instant Pot Lentil Soup is vegan and gluten free and can be made on the stove- top or in an Instant Pot ( with only 12 minutes of pressure cooking time!). Flavorful and healthy, this version is seasoned with Middle Eastern Spices.
True abundance is the freedom that comes from wanting less. Yung Pueblo Inward
Make Life Simple, Instant Pot Lentil Soup. Packed full of veggies, this delicious, vegan soup is seasoned with Middle Eastern spices and is satisfying and filling, yet low in calories. Humble yet abundant. Make a big batch and have it on hand for lunches or dinners during the busy workweek. Serve it with a drizzle of olive oil, a little squeeze of lemon, fresh Italian parsley, chili flakes, diced tomatoes and a side of toasted pita bread to mop up all the tasty juices.
Here is a quick video on how to make this in an Instant Pot!
The best part . . . the soup can either be made in an Instant Pot or on the stove top!
Many of you have been asking for Instant Pot recipes, so many in fact, I went out and bought one just to see what all the hubbub was about. If unfamiliar, an Instant Pot is basically a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one, with a saute function. The pressure cooker function comes in especially handy if wanting to cook dried beans or grains very quickly, or make stews out of tougher cuts of meat in under an hour. For people with families who are short on time, I see how this could be a great tool in the kitchen. For me personally, I’ll admit, I guess I’m a little old-school and much prefer to cook meals like this one in a dutch oven on the stove – nice and slow. But I don’t have 4 kids and a 9-5 job. So I get it.
The recipe calls for 4 cups of chopped veggies – any combination of carrots, celery, parsnips, bell pepper, potato, or even cabbage – in this nutrient dense soup.
After 12 minutes in the Instant Pot, the lentils are perfectly cooked, as well as the veggies.
Here I’ve used tiny Caviar Black Lentils, but any lentil will work fine. Smaller lentils cook much faster so keep that in mind. If going with a conventional large brown lentils, increase time to 20 minutes.
Make sure to add the finishing touches – olive oil, lemon, parsley and fresh tomatoes . . . so good!
The leftovers are even more delicious as the flavors have time to meld.
Make Life Simple Instant Pot Lentil Soup – a fast healthy recipe to make our busy lives a little easier.
For more Instant Pot recipes try Instant Pot Moroccan Split Pea Soup
or Cassoulet Vert!
If you try this recipe, be sure to let us know by leaving a comment, rating, and tagging a picture #feastingathome on Instagram.
Cheers, friends!
Print
Make Life Simple Instant Pot Lentil soup
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5
- Category: vegan main
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: middle eastern
Description
This Middle Eastern-inspired, Make Life Simple Instant Pot Lentil Soup is vegan and gluten free and can be made on the stove top or in an Instant Pot in with 12 minutes of cook time! Flavorful and healthy!
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced (or sub 2 fat shallots)
- 6 –8 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups diced veggies – any mix of carrots, celery, parsnip, bell pepper, potato, cabbage (I normally use 1 –2 carrots, 1 parsnip, 1–2 celery)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, more to taste.
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice (optional)
- 1 bay leaf or 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence or Italian herbs
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced with their juices (one 14.5 ounce can, diced)
- 4 flavorful cups chicken or veggie stock (or use 3 bouillon cubes w/ water)
- 2 cups water
- 1 ¼ cup small Black Caviar lentils or French Green Lentils (You can always use bigger, brown lentils, but increase pressure cooking time to 20 minutes.) You can also substitute split lentils for ¼ cup of the lentils for a creamier texture. 🙂
Finish with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped Italian parsley (or cilantro), diced tomatoes and optional chili flakes (Aleppo chili is nice here) and toasted pita.
Instructions
Saute onion and garlic in the Instant Pot in 2 tablespoons oil until fragrant and tender, about 2-3 minutes. (Or cook in a dutch oven on the stove, over medium-high heat)
Add the veggies, spices and salt. Saute 4-5 more minutes. Add the tomato paste and brown it a bit. Add the tomatoes and their juices, stock and water, scraping up any browned bits. Add the lentils, stir and cover, setting the Instant pot to Pressure Cook on Normal for 12 minutes. (Alternately if cooking on the stove top, bring to a simmer and cover, simmering on low for 20-25 minutes)
Let the pressure release either manually or naturally.
Divide among bowls and drizzle with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, chili flakes, fresh parsley and fresh diced tomato (optional)
Notes
Remember little Black Caviar lentils (or French Green Lentils) cook much faster than regular brown lentils. Red lentils have been split and will work here too, and will cook fast, but will give a different consistency. Sometimes I’ll substitute a ¼ cup of split red lentils for the Black Caviar lentils for a creamier texture. The larger the lentil, the longer you will need to cook.
Keywords: instant pot lentil soup, best lentil soup recipe, vegan lentil soup, instant pot lentil soup recipes, best instant pot recipes, vegan lentil soup pressure cooker
How would regular green lentils change the cooking time?
I bet you could keep it the same or add 1 minute?
Made this on a rainy day and it was PERFECT! The flavor of the Mediterranean spices were so delicious. I didn’t have coriander but I subbed it for Za’atar and topped it with feta once completed 🙂 Will definitely make this again and again
★★★★★
This recipe is sensational. Over the last two weeks I have made six of the dishes from this website.My success rate is six out of six. My husband has been amazed at my sudden culinary ability which has previously never existed. I am so great full and amazed at the quality of these recipes . Thank you very much.
Haha, love it Marylou! Our little secret. 😉 Thanks so much for coming back to rate the recipe, very appreciated!
So easy and everyone loves it! My daughters want to make sure they have the recipe before they leave for college.
★★★★★
This recipe is golden and a host for any kinds of veggies or addition of Italian sausage to suit any or many meals! Thanks Sylvia!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Julie!
This is incredible! I am so so happy with this. – I made mine with black lentils, celery, carrots and sweet potatoes.
★★★★★
I’ll be dreaming of this tonight, it was so delicious!
★★★★★
Made this soup today and i used red lentils that I had in the cupboard. I made in a cast iron pot. For my veggies I used carrots, zucchini, celery and peppers. The spices really make the soup. My husband had the soup chunky and I pureed mine. Very good and will make again. I think sweet potato would be really good it this soup
★★★★★
I used French green lentils, carrots, celery, kale, spinach and it was so yummy!!
★★★★★
Delicious, very flavorful. Very fast, great for lunch or to supplement dinner!
★★★★★
Just made this for the first time. Very flavorful! Perfect for winter meal. I did not add any water. For veggies I used carrots, celery, chopped red bell pepper and 2/3 bag of frozen riced cauliflower. My husband added sautéed shrimp to his bowl for an Indian flavored gumbo dish!
★★★★★
This recipe is my go-to for any weekday where I’m short on time but need something delicious and nutritious. I love to throw in chopped sweet potato, and I keep frozen chopped celery and canned chopped tomatoes on hand just so I can make this! The soup also freezes wonderfully. I make a big batch and freeze half in portions so I can have a quick lunch when I don’t have leftovers in the fridge.
★★★★★
I made this yesterday for lunch. It was snowing outside and this soup was a perfect winter warmer. I loved the spicing.
★★★★★
So good! This is about the tenth vegan meal I’ve made from Sylvia’s recipes and not one recipe has disappointed me. This one is one of our favorites though, I highly recommend making it. My fiancé describes this lentil soup as a “heavenly tasting Samosa in soup form.” ( I used potato carrots, celery, and potatoes as my veggies).
★★★★★
I have made this recipe twice now and it is deliciousssssss!
The spicing, fresh tomatoes are such a nice touch to this soup.
Seasonings in this recipe were just right. Very good flavor. I did use chicken bone broth instead of water and actually would add more moisture next time. Overall, I like it and will make it again!
★★★★
Fingers crossed! Have it on the stove top right now, smells wonderful. I have never cooked with this spice pallet before so here’s to hoping it tastes as good as it smells. Going to be a wonderful New Years Eve dinner …and its such a rainy day out …good soup day
★★★★★
Me again! I wish I could rate this recipe a 10 stars! Awesome, awesome, awesome! Love it! Thank you so much for publishing, my new lentil go to recipe. Happy 2021 to all!
★★★★★
Happy Ney Year!
I made this today and it was so delicious. It was nice and spicy, and it warms the cockles of the heart! I have the Mini Instant Pot, 3 liters, so I reduced everything to 2/3rds. but I pressure cooked it for the same 12 minutes. Instead of the (optional) allspice I used Hawaij, a Yemeni ground spice mixture. This soup is outstanding and I highly recommend it to everybody.
★★★★★
Amazing lentil soup recipe! I use homemade garam masala for the curry and grind all my spices fresh.
The spices are on point for this soup. My children are too fussy to try it but my spouse and I love this soup.
★★★★★