Made with brown lentils, apples, and sweet potato, this easy vegan lentil soup recipe is delicious and comes together in 35 minutes! It’s perfect for fall (and fits a tight budget, too).
This simple soup is so flavorful and easy to prepare! It starts with sauteing onions and garlic with some fennel, thyme, and rosemary, then slowly cooking the lentils with apples and sweet potato. You’ll want a nice crusty French roll or a hunk of fluffy white bread to absorb all those yummy flavors!
Why You’ll Love This Easy Vegan Lentil Soup Recipe
- Quick and easy - Ready from start to finish in just over 30 minutes, it doesn’t get much easier than this!
- Completely vegan - This recipe has no animal products, making it perfect for all your friends and family.
- Inexpensive - Using a few common ingredients and spices, you can transform cheap lentils, apples, and sweet potatoes into a luscious soup you’ll crave all winter!
- Delicious - This recipe is an excellent reminder that simple foods, like lentils, can be incredibly flavorful. The ingredients are humble, but the flavors are perfectly balanced.
Ingredients
- Olive oil: Heat olive oil in a pan to saute the onion and garlic and release their delicious flavors.
- Onion: Stick with a white or yellow onion for its mild, slightly sweet flavor that pairs well with the apple and sweet potato.
- Garlic: Garlic’s robust and savory flavor tastes fantastic with the fresh herbs.
- Seasonings: Use fennel seeds, fresh thyme, and rosemary for flavor. Feel free to use dried herbs if needed.
- Water
- Vegetarian bouillon paste: Dilute bouillon paste or cubes into water or use veggie stock.
- Brown lentils: Give your lentils a good wash and pick out any stones or dried lentils. It can also speed things up to soak them for a few hours.
- Macintosh Apples: These apples cook down beautifully and have a lovely sweetness. Feel free to use any other type of apple you have on hand.
- Sweet potato: A little sweet potato adds a nice texture and pop of color to balance the brown lentils.
Variations
- Use different lentils - Brown lentils are common and inexpensive, but you can also use red or green lentils.
- Add more veggies - This soup can handle lots of veggies! Feel free to add diced carrots, spinach, or shredded zucchini for extra flavor and nutrition.
- Make homemade stock - Bouillon paste is excellent in a pinch, but for real flavor, make your own stock or broth from scratch.
How to Make Easy Vegan Lentil Soup Recipe
- Pour the lentils into a colander and rinse them, picking through them to remove any that look broken or discolored, watching for small stones.
- Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot or Dutch Oven until hot.
- Add the onions and cook for about 4 minutes until they turn translucent.
- Add the garlic, fennel, thyme, and rosemary and stir, cooking for about 30 seconds.
- Add the water and bouillon. Stir.
- Turn the temperature to high, add the lentils, apples, and sweet potato, and bring the soup to a boil. When it boils, turn the temperature to medium-low and cook it for about 20 minutes until the lentils are tender (not mushy) and the potatoes and apples are soft.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it is mostly smooth.
Expert Tips
- Bloom the spices - Fennel seeds taste wonderful when they’re toasted, and this process releases so much flavor.
- Be careful not to overcook - Lentils are easy to undercook or overcook. When they cook for too long, they break down and become mushy. Taste as you go and turn off the heat as soon as they’re tender.
- Deglaze with white wine - This is optional, but after you saute the onion, garlic, and spices, add ¼ cup of dry white wine and let it cook down. It will add so much extra flavor that pairs perfectly with the apple and sweet potato.
Recipe FAQs
Any lentil can be used for soup. We often use less expensive red, green, or brown lentils because they are common and cook quickly. However, all lentils are great for soup. Just be sure not to let them overcook, or they’ll become mushy.
It’s easy to overcook lentils because they cook much faster than other beans. Be sure to taste and feel the lentils while they’re cooking. Press them between your fingers. If they smush, they’re done. If there is a little hard center, keep cooking. Remove them from the heat once they seem soft enough because they will continue cooking.
Like potatoes, lentils need a lot of seasonings; otherwise, they’ll be completely bland. This starts by gradually sauteing aromatic ingredients like onions and garlic. Bloom your spices to release their oils and flavors, and season with plenty of salt, tasting as you go.
Related Recipes
- French Vegetable Stew
- Roasted Ratatouille with Corn
- Indian Ratatouille
- Mediterranean Chickpea Stew
- Lentil Riced Stuffed Roasted Eggplant
- Vegetable Dill Stew
What You Need
You will need the usual measuring cup and spoon, a knife, a cutting board, a garlic mincer, and a good Dutch oven (this one is my favorite!) or soup pot. But the most helpful tool for this recipe is an immersion blender.
There's no more transferring hot soup to a blender or food processor. You just blend it in the pot. So easy!
Sweet Lentil Soup Easy Recipe
Author: Recipe Idea Shop
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
- 8 cups water
- 2 teaspoons vegetarian bouillon Better than Bouillon seasoning
- 16 ounces brown lentils
- 2 Macintosh apples cored and diced
- 1 large sweet potato peeled and diced
Instructions
- Pour the lentils into a colander and rinse them, picking through them to remove any that look broken or discolored, watching for small stones.
- In a large soup pot or Dutch Oven, heat the oil over medium high heat until hot.
- Add the onions and cook about 4 minutes until they turn translucent.
- Add the garlic, fennel, thyme, and rosemary and stir, cooking for about 30 seconds.
- Add the water and bouillon. Stir.
- Turn the temperature to high and add the lentils, apples and sweet potato and bring the soup to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn the temperature to medium-low and continue to cook the soup for about 20 minutes until the lentils are tender (not mushy) and the potatoes and apples are soft.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it is mostly smooth.
Kathy acquired the blog, Recipe Idea Shop in 2024. She was raised on a farm in Arkansas where having a big garden and good food to eat was the norm. She shares recipes for homemade comfort food and new trending dishes.
Kathy began her blogging journey in 2011 when she founded PetticoatJunktion.com, a home décor blog focused on repurposing and upcycling furniture, and thrift store finds.