Instant Pot Mulligatawny Soup is a fast, easy weeknight meal. Creamy and rich, with bright and spicy Indian flavors, this vegan-adaptable version is delicious as is or served over basmati rice. Video. *See notes for stovetop version.
In this time of seasonal transition, where signs of spring start to subtly tease, I find myself running towards the pockets of warm sunny rays. It feels so amazing to just bask in the light! Animals know too! I need to take more cues from my dog, who just luxuriates in the sun’s warmth without any other agenda.
I am loving more spice in my meals right now, too. Give me heat in all the forms to break me out of my hibernating winter haze! Make this Mulligatawny Soup with more or less of a spicy kick, up to you! Use your Instant Pot for a quick dinner, or simmer it on the stovetop.
What is Mulligatawny, and where did it originate?
Mulligatawny is a warmly spiced soup with a layered history. It's widely believed to have originated during the British Raj, when British colonists, accustomed to beginning meals with soup, sought to recreate that tradition in India. Since soup was not part of traditional Indian cuisine, a practical solution emerged: thinning and adapting a South Indian dish into a broth-like form. The name mulligatawny itself is thought to be a British misinterpretation of Tamil words referring to "pepper water."
When the British returned home, they brought the recipe with them, continuing to modify it by adding meat, apples, and other local ingredients. Over time, mulligatawny gained popularity in British restaurants and eventually beyond, earning a lasting place on menus that continues today. While there are countless variations now, classic mulligatawny often includes curry spices, chilies, and a touch of apple for subtle sweetness.
This version-made with red lentils, yams, and carrots-is lusciously creamy, gently sweet, and finished with a warming spicy kick. The flavors are balanced, comforting, and deeply satisfying.
Mulligatawny Soup Recipe Ingredients
- Ghee - Adds rich, buttery depth and warmth; coconut oil works well as a plant-based alternative.
- Whole spices (cumin seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds) - Bloomed in hot fat to release earthy, citrusy, and nutty aromatics that form the flavor foundation. You can substitute ground spices.
- Aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger) - Create a savory, fragrant base that builds depth and warmth.
- Vegetables (carrot, yam, tomato) - Add natural sweetness, earthiness, acidity, and body to the soup.
- Serrano chili - Adds gentle to moderate heat and fresh green spice while infusing the dish.
- Yellow curry powder - Adds layered spice, warmth, and golden color to the broth.
- Green apple - Adds brightness and gentle acidity to balance the spices.
- Vegetable broth - Forms the savory base of the soup; chicken broth may be used for extra depth.
- Red lentils - Break down as they cook, naturally thickening the soup and adding protein.
- Sea salt - Enhances and balances all the flavors.
- Coconut milk - Brings creaminess and richness, softening the spices.
- Fresh herbs (parsley and cilantro, including stems) - Add fresh, herbal brightness at the finish.
- Fresh lemon juice - Adds a final lift of acidity to balance richness and spice.
- Optional Garnishes- toasted cashews, more fresh herbs, yogurt drizzle.
How to make Instant Pot Mulligatawny
Gather and prepare your ingredients. Set the Instant Pot to the saute function.
Add ghee, cumin, mustard, and coriander seeds to the instant pot. Sauté 2 minutes. this is called blooming the spices.
Add onion, garlic, ginger, whole serrano chili, and curry powder. Sauté 3 more minutes.
Add carrot, yam, apple, broth, red lentils, sea salt, tomato, and coconut milk. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any stuck bits and pieces. This will prevent the burn error.
Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Manually release. Stir in parsley, cilantro, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt and lemon to taste.
Stovetop Instructions
For the stovetop, follow the instructions using a Dutch oven and sauté over medium heat. After adding all ingredients, let it simmer covered for 40-50 minutes.
Serving suggestions
Serve on its own, over basmati rice, or with naan bread.
Storage
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, and the flavors get even better. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Wherever you are, I hope you can find some time to simply luxuriate in the sounds and feel of the changing season, letting go of the agenda even for just a moment. Be well! ~Tonia
More recipes you may like:
- Our 25 Best Instant Pot Recipes | Easy Pressure Cooker Meals
- Indian Coconut Lentil Curry
- Comforting Lentil Dal with Sweet Potatoes
- Our 25 BEST Lentil Recipes!
- Moroccan Lentil Quinoa Soup
- 35 Must-Try Indian Recipes to Make at Home
Instant Pot Mulligatawny Soup Video
Mulligatawny Soup Recipe (Instant Pot or Stovetop)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: instant pot
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Instant Pot Mulligatawny Soup is so creamy and richly satisfying with bright and spicy Indian flavors. This vegan adaptable version is delicious as is or can easily be built upon adding chicken, more veggies and rice. An easy and fast weeknight meal! See notes for stovetop.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee or coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 serrano chili, slit in half leaving the stem intact
- 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 yam, cubed
- 1 green apple, cubed
- 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 15 ounces coconut milk
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro- leaves and stems, chopped
- 1-3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Saute: Turn instant pot on saute function. Heat the ghee over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and mustard seeds and toast 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Add in the onion, garlic, ginger, serrano chili, and curry powder; sauté about 3 minutes, until softened.
- Add veggies, lentils and liquids: Add carrot, yam, apple, broth, red lentils, sea salt, tomato, and coconut milk. Stir and scrape any bits stuck on the bottom. Secure the lid and set the instant pot to medium pressure for 10 minutes.
- Release the pressure: Carefully turn the steam valve to “Venting” to let the steam escape until the float valve drops and the lid unlocks.
-
Finish: Stir in parsley, cilantro and lemon juice. Adjust flavor if needed by adding salt, more lemon or spice.
Serve with yogurt and naan bread or basmati rice.
Notes
Feel free to swap out ground spices for the whole seeds, in a pinch.
Optional garnish– tempered seeds (so crunchy and flavorful!) Just before serving in a small skillet, heat 2 teaspoons ghee (or grapeseed oil), 2 teaspoons each: mustard seed, whole coriander & whole cumin. Fry a few minutes until spices darken a bit and smell heavenly.
Make more of a hearty meal; add chicken thighs or breasts (or chickpeas) to the Mulligatawny before pressure cooking, cook basmati rice in a separate pot. Serve in a bowl with soup ladled over the rice. Top with yogurt, chopped tomatoes, cashews and more fresh cilantro.
Stove Top: Saute: In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat the ghee over medium heat. Add the cumin, mustard, and coriander seeds and toast 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, serrano chili, and curry powder; sauté about 3 minutes, until softened. Add veggies, lentils and liquids: Add the carrot, yam, apple, broth, red lentils, sea salt, tomato, and coconut milk. Simmer: Bring to a gentle boil, then lower to a simmer, cover, and cook about 30 minutes, or until the lentils and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Finish: Remove from heat and stir in the parsley, cilantro, and fresh lemon juice before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cup
- Calories: 408
- Sugar: 7.5 g
- Sodium: 363 mg
- Fat: 28.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 23.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 36.1 g
- Fiber: 6.4 g
- Protein: 8.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I read your recipe of INSTANT POT MULLIGATAWNY (CURRIED INDIAN SOUP). It was very easy to cook and i enjoyed it while listening soft rock music. The taste was great i would love eat this in a rainy day.
I love that you set the mood for cooking Jonas! So glad you enjoyed the soup.
Another winner! I love curry and this soup hits the spot. It’s so flavourful and addictive. We had leftover quinoa that we added to the soup. It’s nice to have all these awesome recipes to rotate through. Delish! 😋
This is one of my favorites too. Glad you enjoyed!
This was absolutely fabulous. I used an immersion blender at the end to make a smoother soup and it was delicious. Can’t wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow!
Nice, I like that idea! Glad you enjoyed!
Hi! I only have low and high settings on my instant pot, which setting is better? Do I need to adjust the time?
Thanks!
Hi Milly, I would try high for 9 minutes.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’ve made this twice already this month and I love it! I did find the whole coriander seeds a little too much for my kiddos and myself to bite into so the second time I used ground coriander and it still tasted amazing. We also added some mango chunks as a topping and loved it.
Awesome Tawna! Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a delicious, quick and easy recipe! I added tofu, and will be making it again!
Glad you liked it Jamie!
Greetings from Scotland. I’ve recently started on a more plant focused diet for health reasons, although I’ve not switched to totally vegie or vegan diet for the present. This is the second of your recipes I have tried and found them both delicious. Thank you for sharing your skill and knowledge, it is much appreciated.
Great to hear!
Excellent. Made this for a group and they all loved it. I did stove top and served over basmati. Thanks for another delicious flavorful recipe!
Delicious- My teens haven’t tried a spicy soup before and were very pleased.
Thank you.
Can I use the spice powder instead of the seeds?
yes, for ground you use 1/2 of the measurement for whole seeds. Also be aware that ground will burn faster, so just a minute or two on the heat.
Absolutely delicious! Another favorite recipe from feasting at home. Directions were easy to follow and not at all time consuming. It tasted like I spent more time on it than I did. Thank you!
This was wonderful, Tonia! I loved the green apple. I’ve never used an apple in soup before.
so glad you tried something new and liked it!
This was a HUGE HIT! We live in big multigenerational home with kids, teenagers, parents and grandparents. Everyone LOVED this recipe!
My husband and I are vegan (or at least trying to be) and everyone else is meat lovers.
Grandma really hates beans so I didn’t expect a comment from her but she loved it! She asked if we could have it on our regular rotation!
I didn’t cook the apple.
Instead I put out toppings for everyone to choose from.
Fresh chopped apple
Coconut
Cashews
Craisins
Cilantro
We served it over rice.
I also used Coconut cream (ya gotta win the skeptics over somehow! Ha ha!)
I love this Heidi! Feels like such a success to please everyone. The topping idea is perfect!
My husband I I enjoyed the soup. I served it with chickpea flour naan from another recipe I found online.
So glad you enjoy it!
This was an easy and delicious curry. It was a nice change from most of the curries I make, really like the flavor the apple adds. I used 2 cups of broth because I like thicker soups, added a can of chickpeas and served it over rice.
Delicious! Just bought an Instant Pot and came across this recipe on Pinterest.
Do you think it would freeze well?
I have not tried it but I don’t see why not!
Made this last night and had for lunch today. Really beautiful, complex flavor with just the right amount of heat. The only thing I left out was the mustard seed since I didn’t have any. I served it over rice and topped with roasted cashews. Delicious and filling!
Good job .I really want to learn international dishes.es
I just finished making this recipe and tasting it…What a treat! Absolutely delicious. This is one I will return to. Flavors are fabulous. Will eat with rice AND naan. 🙂 I see someone else added garbonzos, which I will do as well.
WOW, phenomenal. Used Indian curry powder, Japanese yam, doubled red daal, and added can of chickpeas. When cooking rice on the side, added a cinnamon stick, two cloves, and cardamom
love your additions! glad you liked it!
I can’t wait to try this soup! The photo shows you garnished the soup with some whole spices. Is this in addition to the amount you used in the soup?
Yes. I just added notes on the recipe for the tempered spice garnish.😊
Sounds great! My instant pot is one of the originals and is high pressure only. Do you think this could work under high pressure? Reduce the amount of time? Thank you!
It’ll be fine! Maybe try 9 minutes.
Looks amazing! Are there lentils in it? See them in thee picture, but not in the ingredients. Thank you!
Yes, just updated the recipe, sorry about that!
This recipe sounds wonderful….but I do not have an Instant Pot, can it be adapted?
yes! I will put instructions in the notes.
There are red lentils in the picture but not in the ingredient list or instructions. Could lentils be added and will they be cooked in the 10 minutes of pressure?
opps! recipe adjusted now. thanks!
Do you use uncooked or come lintels?
raw uncooked lentils.