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    You are here: Home » Instant Pot Recipes » Easy Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup

    Easy Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup

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    Last Modified: December 17, 2022

    bowl of red lentil soup made in an instant pot

    A delicious and creamy Instant Pot red lentil soup that is easy to make and loaded with wonderful flavors. With simple seasonings and just a touch of fresh ginger, this hearty and vibrant soup is  perfect for any time of the year. This is one of my favorite Instant Pot soup recipes and I’m excited to share it with everyone.

    Recipe for Instant Pot red lentil soup

    What Are Red Lentils?

    Red Lentils don’t get enough credit in the legume world. They have a wonderful, delicate, slightly sweet flavor and provide a wonderful texture when cooked into a soup. They readily take on the flavors that are added to it, while providing a heartiness all their own. Red lentil soup shares some of the texture and consistency of split pea soup, but with it’s own terrific flavors.

    Adding split red lentils to an Instant Pot to make red lentil soup.

    Why You’ll Love This Soup

    This red lentil soup is an excellent choice for a hearty, filling soup without all the junk of many commercial soups. We don’t need to add any cream at all. The soup will be silky smooth if you decide to purée it all the way. Red lentils are also loaded with fiber and an excellent source of protein.

    You get to enjoy a bow of thick, hearty, delicious soup and feel satisfied to even use it as a meal. My only word of warning is that, well, you might want to go back for a 2nd helping… and maybe a 3rd!

    Ingredients

    This recipe starts with onion, celery and carrots, when diced and sautéed in a little butter. This is called a mirepoix. It’s the base for many soup recipes. For seasonings we’ll choose some pantry staples such as cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper. Of course, the star of the show will be our split red lentils. The lentils will have their great flavor accentuated by a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and some fresh ginger. I honestly think I could put ginger in everything. It adds such a wonderful vibrance to the flavors. Finally our liquid base will be a good, full-flavored chicken broth. Have you ever tried chicken bone broth? The flavors are deep, rich and make the perfect foundation for this soup.

    Recipe for Instant Pot red lentil soup

    Preparation

    One of the things I love about this soup is that it’s super easy to make. The most prep you need is dicing the carrots, celery and onions. Then, all that’s necessary is opening the can of fire roasted tomatoes, measuring out the seasonings. We’ll call it 10 minutes for prep.

    Sauté, Pressure Cook and Quick Release

    I absolutely love the Instant Pot pressure cooker for making soup recipes. We start by putting the Instant Pot in sauté mode and adding the butter to the inner pot. Once it’s hot, add those veggies and stir them around with a wooden spoon. They’ll only need about 5 minutes and the onions will become translucent.

    Making red lentil soup in an Instant Pot pressure cooker.

    Once the veggies are sauteed, you’ll press cancel to stop the sauté mode and add all the remaining ingredients. Give everything a good stir, close the lid, and pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. The Instant Pot will take about 8-10 minutes or so to come to pressure, then the pressure cooking cycle will begin. Once the pressure cooking cycle is complete, you can open the valve to quick release the pressure. It may take a minute or two for all the pressure to release. Once the pin drops, you can safely remove the lid.

    Blend to Desired Consistency

    There are some red lentil soups which are blended to a smooth consistency and some of which, well are not blended. Some, in fact, will use a combination of blending ½ of the soup to a smooth consistency and adding it to the unblended portion. There’s no right or wrong way when it comes to blending the soup. Personally, I like it puréed most of the way through with just a little bit of chunkiness.

    Blending red lentil soup with an immersion blender

    The best way to blend the soup is with an immersion blender. You can place it right into the bot of hot soup and start blending away. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you’ll want to let the soup cool before adding it to a regular blender. Letting it cool is important because hot soup can create a massive amount of steam and blow the top right off of a regular blender.

    Serving Suggestions

    Some fresh chopped parsley is very popular to add to red lentil soup. Some flat-leaf Italian parsley will add a real fresh vibrance to the hot soup. You know what else goes excellent with red lentil soup? How about some feta cheese! Add some crumbles for some amazing silkiness and flavor. And naturally, you can’t go wrong with croutons.

    Storage and Reheating

    I love to freeze this soup to be enjoyed whenever the taste for some strikes. The soup freezes perfectly in air tight freezer containers. Let it cool first before adding to the containers. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months. You can also make the soup as part of you meal planning and store in air tight containers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

    The soup reheats very well in a microwave. If heating from frozen, use 50% power for about 4-5 minutes, then full power until soup is heated through.

    Vegan Option

    This soup is only 2 simple changes away from being a vegan recipe. Swap out the butter for extra virgin olive oil and the chicken broth for vegetable broth.

    No Instant Pot? Make on Stovetop

    If you do not own an Instant Pot, no problem. You can still make this soup the traditional stovetop way. Simply use a medium Dutch oven or large sauce pan and saute the vegetables over medium heat, then add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

    Recipe for Instant Pot red lentil soup
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    Best Damn Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup

    Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup


    ★★★★★

    5 from 5 reviews

    • Author: Recipe Teacher
    • Total Time: Under 30 minutes
    • Yield: 6-8 servings
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    An absolutely delicious, thick and creamy red lentil soup with a hearty flavor and a perfect zest from the ginger.


    Ingredients

    • 1 cup split red lentils
    • 4 cups lower sodium chicken broth
    • 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (14.5oz)
    • 1 medium onion, chopped
    • 1 medium carrot, diced
    • 1 stalk celery, diced
    • 2 teaspoons ginger, fresh grated
    • ½ teaspoon cumin
    • ½ teaspoon turmeric
    • ½ teaspoon black pepper
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • salt to taste (about ½ – 1 teaspoon)

    Instructions

    1. Set Instant Pot to sauté mode and add butter. When hot, add carrot, celery, onion and sauté until softened – about 5 minutes.
    2. Add chicken broth, ginger, turmeric, cumin, pepper, salt, can of diced tomatoes and split red lentils and stir it all together. Secure lid, set vent to the “sealing” position and pressure cook on high pressure (manual on some Instant Pots) for 10 minutes.
    3. Quick release the pressure. Remove lid and use an immersion for about 20 seconds. Leave some of the soup chunky for the best consistency.

    Notes

    Make it vegan by swapping the butter for olive oil and the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

    To make on stovetop: follow step 1 in a medium Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Then, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Stir well, reduce to heat to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Then blend to desired consistency.

    • Prep Time: 10 mins
    • Cook Time: 10 min (+8 to pressurize)
    • Category: Soup
    • Method: Instant Pot
    • Cuisine: Mediterranean

    Keywords: instant pot, red lentil soup

    Did you make this recipe?

    Be sure to leave a comment and rating below. I appreciate your feedback!

    Also, tag @recipe_teacher on Instagram and hashtag it #recipeteacher

    Recipe for Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup
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    Comments

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      Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

    1. Matt Brewster

      January 04, 2023 at 2:14 pm

      Really excellent. Simpl and so tasty, fast too !!!

      Reply
    2. Tam

      January 01, 2023 at 8:26 pm

      Just brilliant 🤩

      Reply
    3. MAK

      September 01, 2022 at 9:42 am

      I have to admit I have never made Lentil soup. Trying to get healthier for my husband and I. So, I made it to see IF I liked it first. Well it is wonderful! I also have to admit that I did sauté the vegetables in a little garlic because I put garlic in almost everything! Would recommend making this and thanks for sharing this recipe!

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        September 03, 2022 at 9:42 am

        Hi Mak,
        Yay!!! I love this recipe so much too! A little garlic is a perfect addition.

        Reply
    4. Nancy

      January 22, 2022 at 7:25 pm

      Absolutely delicious!! First time I made this, but it definitely won’t be the last! I didn’t change a thing and I love it. Hubby coming home from a hard day at work, it is cold outside, and I know he’s going to love this soup, too. Thank you so much for another great recipe!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    5. Sylvia Totten

      January 06, 2022 at 2:27 pm

      Made the soup today with just two exceptions: used veg broth (since I am vegan) and didn’t have any fire roasted tomatoes on hand. I only had plain tomato sauce (but also added a bit of cayenne). It wasn’t too spicy and loved the flavor of the added ginger.
      It was fabulous and most likely one of my top 3 favorite soups! THANK YOU!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    6. Bernie

      January 18, 2021 at 11:21 pm

      Not really a success. I think there were two issues. One, I didn’t have a “vanilla” can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes. I used a can that had green chilies added. Used this in other dishes and hasn’t added a lot of spice. Two, too much pepper. This seems to be recurring with recipes on this blog. Soup had way to much heat and the pepper, even though I was shy the amount called for was overwhelming. If I try this again I’ll use “vanilla” diced tomatoes and with the pepper mill on the table people can add their own black pepper.

      Used whole red lentils and they were completely dissolved following the recommended time and quick release so I can confirm split lentils aren’t needed. Texture after blending was great. Just too much spice/heat. Disappointing since I bought a bottle of Turmeric just for this dish.

      Reply
    7. Lyudmila Ianosel

      July 03, 2020 at 2:38 pm

      I’m thinking of making this soup since my husband just purchased 25 pounds of red lentils. My lentils are regular, NOT split. Can I still use these in this recipe?

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        July 03, 2020 at 3:25 pm

        Now that’s gonna be a lot of soup! 🙂 you can make it with whole lentils no problem. Everything will be the same.

        Reply
    8. TERRI D.

      April 17, 2020 at 5:43 pm

      Delicious! Used my own frozen, roasted Roma tomatoes from last summer.
      Served with grilled cheese sandwiches. There are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Darn, I may have to make it again.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        April 17, 2020 at 5:49 pm

        We love this soup too! And grilled cheese is the perfect sandwich to accompany it. Thank you for the feedback, Terri!

        Reply
      • Joanne Davies

        December 31, 2021 at 11:12 pm

        The best lentil soup I’ve ever eaten. Absolutely delicious! Thank you

        ★★★★★

        Reply
    9. Kim

      January 05, 2020 at 7:04 pm

      I made it today. DELICIOUS!,,

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        January 05, 2020 at 7:05 pm

        Thanks, Kim! Yeah we love this soup too.

        Reply
    10. Amy D

      July 31, 2019 at 5:50 pm

      I made this soup tonight for dinner. Once again, my family enjoyed another souper soup recipe from you. My 2 little daughters ate their soup so quickly and love it. Thank you so much! 🙂

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        July 31, 2019 at 5:52 pm

        Thanks again Amy! I love this soup too.

        Reply

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