This quick red lentil soup recipe is flavored with warming Moroccan spices and packed with red chard. It’s a filling gluten-free vegan dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes.
It’s always a fun to see what recipes end up topping the Feed Me Phoebe charts every year. One of the dishes whose popularity continues to surprise me is this Red Lentil and Spinach Masala recipe, which is now one of your all-time fan favorites.
Lentils always seem like the lowly vegan peasant food that most self-respecting meat eaters wouldn’t touch unless providing structural support for some thinly sliced lamb on a restaurant plate. But I was pleasantly shocked a few summers ago when my favorite self-respecting meat eater, Charlie, ordered the vegetarian entrée—a bowl of lentils with a fried egg—when we went out to a nice meal on Martha’s Vineyard.
Ever since then, I’ve added lentils back into our shared meal cycle. Now that I’ve successfully added most FODMAPs back into mine and tallied the votes (er, clicks), I see that my perceived legume bias was totally unfounded across the board. This is a win win for me, as it means this simple red lentil soup, which I once might have considered too pedestrian for your collective taste buds, now has a home here.
After a long month away, I came home to the onset of fall craving simple, healthy soups. In a effort to clean out my pantry, I decided to use up my remaining red lentils in a Moroccan harira-like concoction with lots of carrots and red chard mixed in. I also have a recipe for more traditional Moroccan Harira with chickpeas.
This red lentil recipe is just the kind of healthy comfort food this site was founded on, even if I didn’t realize its proper place here until recently.
If you’re looking for more recipe ideas for those extra red lentils, this red lentil masala dahl is one of my most popular recipes of all time, and these gluten-free red lentil veggie burgers are a new favorite!
As you begin to dial back on the summer hedonism and get back into a healthy fall routine (whatever that means for you), I hope you’ll give this warm bowl of goodness some love. I’m trying to eat less meat in addition to kicking sugar this month, and this soup has been the perfect addition to my lunchbox at Feed Me Phoebe HQ.
With health and hedonism,
Phoebe
p.s. Need a little leg up finding healthier habits this season? Go back to school with ME! The new session of 4 Weeks to Wellness begins soon. Don’t miss out on the early bird pricing!
30-Minute Moroccan Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup dried split red lentils
- 2 quarts vegetable stock
- 1 bunch chard stems removed, roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the oil. Saute the onion and carrot over medium-high heat until soft and beginning to brown, 7 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, ginger, turmeric, chili flakes, and salt. Cook one minute more. Stir in the tomatoes, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook until the liquid has reduced and the tomatoes are soft, 5 minutes.
- Add the lentils and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the lentils are soft, 10 minutes. Fold in the chard and cook until wilted, but still vibrant, 5 more minutes. Taste for seasoning.
- Serve the soup in bowls with a wedge of lemon on the side or a dollop of Greek yogurt.
Nutrition
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe – I’d love to see it!
Hi! Looks amazing! Is the chard replaceable though? I live in Finland and think it’s hard to find it here..I’ve never heard of the plant before. Would spinach do? 🙂
absolutely! Any leafy green would be great. Hope you enjoy!
I live In finland too, an i grow it myself, but you can find it In big cities, i have find it In Citymarket, and In slme turkish or thai-shops/market.
It is a great recipe , I make it often. I have used spinach in it , it’s ok not really enough bite or strength in it unless you get the Chinese spinach from a Chinese grocery store . I used curly kale mostly because chard isn’t easy to find
Chinese spinach, or amaranth greens/callaloo (probably not easy for many people to find, either) — that’s a great idea for a substitute. 🙂
mmm…it’s not cold here, but this soup is making me wish it were (almost)! I cant wait to make it and sit in front of a fan to eat it.
Really delicious! And beautiful too.
Question: Can this soup be frozen?
Thanks Vickie! Absolutely. It’s a great one to freeze.
This is a superb really delicious recipe. Can’t stop eating it. Even my teenagers liked it.I made it with half red and half green lentils the first time ( that’s what I had in the cupboard), I used grated fresh ginger instead of powder and a can of pomodorini ( cherry tomatoes) instead of regular chopped tomatoes. I used curly kale instead of chard thats what’s in season here and gosh I was delighted with the result. I will be making this over and over. Thanks Phoebe
hooray!! I’m so glad! I love those creative substitutions. That’s the beauty of a simple recipe like this – you can play around. Thank you for making!
I just made this and it is delicious!
Yay Kristen! I’m so glad!
I made this for lunch today (replaced the chard with spinach) and it was a fabulous recipe! Even my husband, who isn’t a big fan of lentil dishes, loved it. Thank you!
Hooray! That’s awesome to hear! I’m glad you AND the man enjoyed it. Winning.
I made this today and really enjoyed it! I accidentally used beet greens instead of Swiss chard (and used chard in the beet greens recipe), and it still turned out marvelous. I also added chopped potatoes and used slightly less vegetable broth to make it more hearty. Thanks for a lovely recipe!
haha what a happy mistake!! i’m sure it tasted great. those two are interchangeable in my book!
this soup was really good and easy to make! I used half the recommended amount of broth because I wanted a thicker, less watery soup. The spices were perfectly blended and proportioned. thank you for sharing.
so glad you enjoyed Teresa!!
This is delicious! I used fresh ginger also as i saw someone else did and a fresh tomatoes instead of canned. i also added a bit of spinach because I didn’t have much chard. It stores well and as most soups, gets better. Thank-you for this recipe!
yay! definitely tis the season for fresh tomatoes in this recipe! glad you enjoyed it. xo
Could you make this is in a crockpot?
I don’t see why not! You would just need to make sure the lentils won’t get too mushy. The red variety cooks faster than green/brown. I’m not the biggest crockpot expert, but I would cook on lowest possible setting if planning on leaving overnight. Let me know how it goes so I can instruct others!
Thank you for this delightful soup recipe.
I ended up adding cinnamon, chick peas and a little parsley to take it more to the Moroccan side, twas awesome 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad! Thanks for reporting back Grant. Going to have to try the cinnamon next time. I can’t believe I didn’t include any xo
This is really delicious! I think with canned tomatoes, the additional salt is not needed. Also, this could be used as a great base – like someone mentioned adding chick peas…great idea! The recipe says it makes 4 servings…VERY BIG SERVINGS! Personally, I’d call it 8 super healthy, guilt-free servings. Either way, I ran it through a nutritional calculator and sharing for anyone who’s interested.
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 494.1
Total Fat 13.3 g
Saturated Fat 2.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.9 g
Cholesterol 14.4 mg
Sodium 1,646.0 mg
Potassium 2,352.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 66.5 g
Dietary Fiber 15.3 g
Sugars 17.2 g
Protein 29.9 g
Vitamin A 413.0 %
Vitamin B-12 0.0 %
Vitamin B-6 37.3 %
Vitamin C 106.4 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 27.6 %
Calcium 26.6 %
Copper 40.6 %
Folate 17.4 %
Iron 61.9 %
Magnesium 66.7 %
Manganese 58.9 %
Niacin 49.3 %
Pantothenic Acid 7.7 %
Phosphorus 26.5 %
Riboflavin 42.4 %
Selenium 19.5 %
Thiamin 23.5 %
Zinc 12.6 %
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Thanks for sharing!
Delicious soup! Reccomended by a friend so we made a double batch, we loved it!
yay! i’m so glad!
I just made this and…. soooooo good! The servings are very big…. and you could definitely leave out the salt, but ove the spiciness! Great recipe to have around all week. This is going in my “make it again” file!
Yay! So glad you liked it!
This has become a mainstay around my home – thank you for sharing!!
YAY!
This was delish!!! I halved the recipe, used low sodium veggie broth, and a red onion instead of yellow, as it’s what I had on hand, and I doubled the chard. I also couldn’t resist adding some additional spices I picked up on a trip to India… so I added Dal powdered curry, fenugreek, red chili powder, and a cinnamon stick. I spritz a little Meyer lemon over each individual serving and served with triscuit whole wheat pinch of salt crackers. The flavors were complex and yummy! I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much!
thanks for the wonderful feedback Jenni!
So good! I’m making it again tonight.
I was looking for a new soup recipe, and stumbled on this site for the first time. I made this soup – using some of the recommendations from other commenters, such as adding diced potato and using only a quart of stock. It is delicious! Thanks for sharing it, and to all the helpful commenters. The spices were too mild for my husband, so I added some Berbere seasoning. Even for a hearty main dish serving, this recipe as written makes at least six 2-cup servings. (2 quarts of stock = 8 cups of liquid plus 1 15 ounce can of tomatoes brings it up to 10 cups, plus there’s at least 2 cups of solids between onion, carrots, chard and lentils. Even though the lentils and veggies soak of some of the liquid, this is a LOT of soup.)
Made this today substituting fresh ginger and turmeric for the dried and added sumac and preserved lemon! Fantastic!
After days of rich holiday food, this soup was so cleansing AND delicious! Had fresh cut Swiss chard from our garden and this recipe did it justice. Will definitely add this to favorites!
My market didn’t have chard so I bought mustard greens. Never ate them before but they taste spicy fresh. Will they work well in this ? I use kale in Zuppa Toscana and didn’t want to mimic it. Also, Can I make this in the Instant Pot?
both should be fine!
WOW! Just made this tonight – absolutely amazing. Perfect balance of flavors. Beyond impressed, and it is quick and easy.
Getting ready to make this soup. Had a question about the picture, looks like celery pieces in the soup. Did not see it listed in the recipe ingredients.
Delicious, loaded with flavor!! Very easy to assemble and on the table in short order. This will be a repeat meal many times over. Meat not required! Thank you for sharing this amazingly scrumptious recipe.
This soup has amazing flavor. I will be using this recipe as my go to Lentil soup from now on. Thank you for sharing!
Hi…..I am allergic to mushrooms, and most vegetable stock has mushrooms in it. Have you ever tried it with chicken stock? I know that takes the vegetarian element out…but the allergy is more important to me. Thanks…..
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
I found this when looking for a good lentil soup recipe using Swiss chard after a friend gave us a generous bunch from her garden. Glad I did! Quick, easy, and very tasty.
Love this recipe! Made this soup a few times already.
What a delicious, easy and quick recipe. I needed to harvest chard from my garden and looked for a red lentil and chard recipe. And found this one. My substitution was pulling the red pepper flakes and replacing with some New Mexico peppers from my garden, which I sauted with the vegetables. Will take a photo next time. And my friends and family are all making this soup.
So great to hear Scott! Glad you enjoyed it.