Instant Pot Curried Red Lentil Soup. Need a fast weeknight dinner from pantry staples? This recipe is part quick curry, part hearty soup. Pressure cook for 12 minutes, stir in coconut cream, and dinner is served.
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I've had a bag of Rancho Gordo red lentils sitting in my pantry for months now. (I'm struggling to keep up with my Rancho Gordo bean boxes now that the kids are away at school, or working their first real world jobs.)
Red lentils make me think of two things. The first is lentil curry, one of my favorite Indian dishes. The other is Laurie Colwin's essay about lentil soup in More Home Cooking. (Laurie Colwin wrote a couple of the best "non-cookbook" books about cooking I've ever read...but I digress...where was I? Oh, right, lentil soup.)
I decided to combine the two ideas as a weeknight dinner, mashing together my Instant Pot Lentil Soup and Instant Pot Quick Lentil Curry recipes. It turned out so well that I had to make the recipe again over the weekend, so I could take pictures for the blog.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Lentils: Though I wrote this recipe for red lentils, you can use any lentil in this soup. Brown lentils, green lentils, yellow lentils - use what you've got on hand. (Even exotic black caviar lentils will work.) This recipe grew from a "clean out the pantry" dinner, so using the lentils you already have fit perfectly in the spirit of the recipe.
- Curry Powder: This is not a particularly authentic recipe, so use whatever non-specific "Curry Powder" is sold at your local grocery store. (I like Penzeys sweet curry powder and "now" curry powder.)
- Vegetarian/Vegan: This recipe is vegetarian and vegan as written. Enjoy!
- Heat level: This recipe has a lot of spice flavor, but no heat. I serve it with a hot sauce (usually Sriracha) on the side so my diners can add heat that way. If you want to make it hot from the start, add ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, or use a hot curry powder.
- Vegetable broth: I like the extra depth that homemade vegetable broth adds to the curry, but you can use water if that's easier. If you use store-bought vegetable broth, do not use the optional ¾ teaspoon of fine sea salt - store-bought broth is already salty enough.
- Crushed tomatoes: Crushed tomatoes are my favorite for this kind of soup, but again, in the spirit of a weeknight "empty out the pantry" recipe, any canned tomato will work - diced tomatoes (with their juices) or tomato sauce are good. If you use whole canned tomatoes, crush them by hand before adding them and their juices to the pot.
- Coconut cream: Unsweetened coconut cream adds a creamy and sweet finish to the soup. (Even though the coconut cream is unsweetened, it has natural sugar from the coconut itself). If you can't find coconut cream, use the cream from a can of unsweetened coconut milk - skim the coconut cream from the top of the can - there is usually a thick lump of coconut cream at the top.
How to make Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup in pictures
Sauté the aromatics and toast the spices
Heat the vegetable oil, add the onion and salt, sauté the onion. Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder, toast for a minute, then stir into the onions.
Everything in the pot
Stir in the vegetable broth, ¾ teaspoon salt (if using homemade broth or water), lentils, and crushed tomatoes.
Pressure Cook for 12 minutes with a quick release
Lock the lid and pressure cook for 12 minutes with quick release. Stir in the coconut milk, garnish with minced cilantro, and enjoy.
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Instant Pot Curried Red Lentil Soup
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups of soup 1x
Description
Need a fast weeknight dinner from pantry staples? This recipe is part quick curry, part hearty soup. Pressure cook for 12 minutes, stir in coconut cream, and dinner is served.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-inch piece of ginger, minced or grated
- 1 ½ tablespoons Curry Powder
- 3 cups vegetable broth (preferably homemade vegetable broth) or water
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt (if using homemade broth or water)
- 8 ounces red lentils (about 1 ¼ cups)
- 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 7.5 ounces unsweetened coconut cream
-
Minced cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils: Put the lentils in a strainer and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Let stand to drain while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Sauté the aromatics and spices: Heat the oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode - high (medium-high heat with a stovetop PC.) When the oil starts to shimmer, add the onion to the pot, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Sauté until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Make a hole in the center of the onions and add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder. Let them toast for 1 minute, then stir into the onions.
- Everything in the pot: Stir the lentils into the pot, coating them with the onions and spices. Pour in the vegetable broth (and add the ¾ teaspoon of salt if using homemade broth or water.) Scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned onions or spices.
- Pressure cook for 12 minutes with a quick pressure release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 12 minutes in an electric PC (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot), or for 10 minutes in a stovetop PC. When the cooking time is done, quick release the pressure.
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Serve: Remove the lid from the pressure cooker, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Stir in the coconut cream, and stir until it is dissolved into the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with some minced cilantro, and enjoy.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 307
- Sugar: 3.6 g
- Sodium: 459.4 mg
- Fat: 15.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 33.8 g
- Fiber: 6.8 g
- Protein: 11.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
What to serve with Red Lentil soup
I served this as a "soup, salad, and breadsticks" kind of meal, using store-bought naan as the bread. Pita bread is my substitute when my grocery doesn't have naan, and breadsticks are another great option for dipping in the soup.
Storing leftovers
Lentil soup is great as leftovers. I portion it into 2-cup containers, where it will last for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, or for up to 6 months in the freezer.
Related Posts
If you've got leftover red lentils, try my Instant Pot Ethiopian Red Lentils (Misir Wat). Beyond that, I've got a ton of lentil recipes for you: Instant Pot Lentil and Bacon Soup, Instant Pot Beef and Lentil Stew, Pressure Cooker French Green Lentils (Lentils du Puy), and Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage are just the tip of my (lentil) iceberg.
If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes.
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