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
So, I’ve never used an Instant Pot in my life. How would you set the Instant Pot while cooking this? This recipe has me contemplating buying an Instant Pot this weekend, but I’m afraid I won’t set it correctly…
Once you do it once, you will get the idea! I was the same when I first got mine- no experience with it, but it is actually very easy.
How do you think this would be with a punch of saffron?
I’m not sure? Give it a try!
Can I use lentils I have on hand that are already cooked? How would that change the recipe? I’m looking forward to making this!
Hi Kathy, truthfully I have not used pre-cooked lentils. You would not need to pressure cook. And you wouldn’t need much of the liquid. I would just do it on the stovetop, and add liquid as needed.
Very flavorful- even my lukewarm-on-lentils husband liked it.
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Haha! Funny. Love it!
Totally delicious! I didn’t have the usual carrots and celery so made this with green peppers and cabbage. It was amazing! The flavor was rich and the dish very filling! Best lentils ever! Thank you!
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Thanks so much Barb, glad you liked it!
Despite the summer heat I am craving healthy, nourishing soups! This looks so colorful and amazing! Thank you for sharing so many good recipes!!:)
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The thing about soups is they are hydrating! I crave them too. 🙂
Love this soup. I make it all the time and mix and match veggies and slices. Good staple in my household.
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Thanks and happy you enjoyed it!
Absolutely delicious soup and a total meal.
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I used black beans by accident… woops! it went super black. not the beautiful brown colour of yours!
This is so delicious! I have made it 3 times and it is now such a quick instant pot recipe! My husband loves it with a dollop of sour cream. I’m vegan so it works for both of us.
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Perfect!
Very tasty! I only added about one teaspoon of cumin as I am still afraid of strong spices, but it still turned out great 🙂
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Oh great!
Will this recipe freeze okay?
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Yes, it should!
Welove lentils at out house and this recipe makes a great, flavorful soup for the whole family. I only used water (I’m not used to cooking with broth) but it was still delicious. Also added parsley, olive oil and tomatoes on top.
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Thanks and Im so glad you liked it!
Wow, Amazing! Simple to make and quick! Used an assortment of veggies in the fridge. Used red and green lentils for a creamier texture. Absolutely love it!
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Sounds delicious David! Thanks for sharing!
My 8mo, 2.5 & 4.5yo all loved this recipe! And they don’t usually love soup or anything that mixes food together and they’re not used to middle eastern seasoning so I fully expected my husband and I to be the only ones eating it. I did add a few tweaks based on ingredients I had available but the seasoning was just perfect! My only criticism is the amount of time written in the record. It definitely took me closer to an hour with only a few short interruptions and I’m usually pretty fast and efficient. Maybe if all the food and utensils were sitting right there on my counter it would have been that fast but that’s not realistic. (But I find this to be true of most recipes – maybe I’m just slow . . .)
★★★★★
Yay, so happy your kids liked this too!I will update time, sorry about that.
Wonderful recipe! I love how it’s chock full of veggies and very customizable. I used some cabbage for a little sweetness, carrots, celery and bell pepper.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Alanna!
I love this recipe and have made it multiple times. Really good.
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Thanks and so happy you enjoyed!
Fantastic! I’ve been looking for a “WOW!” lentil soup. Found it here! I made one change: sauteed with water instead of oil, still amazing. I did the canned fire-roasted tomatoes, used green bell pepper, celery, carrots, and cabbage for the veggies, and did stir in some lemon juice and topped with cilantro. Gonna share this on Facebook.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Leslie- very appreciated!
Fantastic recipe! I made this on the stove top and followed the recipe exactly as written using Sylvia’s suggested vegetables and adding potatoes. I created a relish out of the suggested accoutrements: tomato, parsley, lemon, olive oil and red pepper flakes and topped each bowl – which elevates the stew to even another level.
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So glad you enjoyed this Dianne!
Excellent lentil recipe! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks Gloria!
I made this for lunch today and it is fantastic. So rich and flavorful. It’s definitely going to be a staple in my. End rotation. Thank you
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I made this soup for lunch today – it’s a keeper! Our whole family (including our 3 and 5 year old) loved it. The flavors were amazing – delicious, filling and healthy…yum!
I didn’t have allspice so used 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves and a pinch of nutmeg as a substitution. The taste of cloves was a little strong for me initially but the lemon cut through that nicely.
★★★★★
Great to hear… thank you!!!
I did a search for vegan recipes because I felt that I really needed to give my body a break from the meat, dairy & sugar that I was loading into it and when your site popped up I couldn’t stop reading! I made a huge list of the recipes I wanted to try and went right the store and made 2 the next day (this lentil soup is FABULOUS!!!) had have ingredients to make 2 more this weekend! Not only were they delicious but my body was so grateful! Then just now, I read the”about” section of your blog and it resonates with me COMPLETELY . Your words were exactly what I needed to hear at this time in my life. I have NEVER posted a comment online but I just had to say THANK YOU for inspiring me and for sharing your words of wisdom and your INCREDIBLE gift of flavor. Thank you!
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Really appreciate this- thank you!!!
love this!!!
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This soup is delicious! I will definatly make it again.
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