Hooray for easy soups! This Curried Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup is the type of recipe that saves the day—very few ingredients, fast, and really delicious. Oh yeah, and did I mention how incredibly inexpensive it is?? Seriously, just pennies per bowl. It’s also freezer-friendly, super healthy, just happens to be vegan-friendly, and you can have fun customizing the toppings. It basically checks all my boxes! Bookmark this recipe for later because I promise it will become part of your regular rotation.
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Have Fun with the Toppings
I just LOVE any meal where I can add toppings and this soup is the perfect blank slate. Not that it’s not awesome on its own, it’s just that the flavors in this lentil and pumpkin soup are versatile and can handle being paired with all sorts of add-ins. So here are some ideas: go creamy with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream (as I do in my classic pumpkin soup recipe), spice it up with a few red pepper flakes or sriracha, toss in some crunchy pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or croutons, or sprinkle on a few sprigs of fresh cilantro. Or hey, DO THEM ALL. I won’t judge.
Can I Substitute the Pumpkin?
If you don’t have canned pumpkin, you can use about a cup and a half of mashed sweet potato or butternut squash in its place. Just make sure they’re really soft and well-mashed so there is no stringiness in the final soup. Oh, and speaking of that, you can take an immersion blender to the finished soup for a super silky finish if you’d like. Me? I prefer to have a little texture from the lentils.
Can I Use Brown or Green Lentils for Pumpkin Soup?
While you can use a different type of lentil, it will definitely change the outcome of the soup. Red or yellow lentils are best for this soup because of their mild flavor and the fact that they break down quickly when cooked, giving the soup a nice thick consistency (like split pea soup). A brown or green lentil will give the soup a much earthier flavor and have a chunkier texture.
What Kind of Curry Powder Do You Use?
I’m not very picky about curry powder and haven’t come across one yet that I don’t like. I do prefer to use mild curry powder for this soup, that way I can adjust the heat by adding my own cayenne pepper if I want. One brand that I’ve enjoyed is Sharwood’s mild curry powder. Or you can try making your own curry powder using this recipe for Easy Homemade Curry Powder from Spiceitupp.com.
Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup
Servings 6 1.33 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.31)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp curry powder ($0.30)
- 1 15oz. can pumpkin purée ($1.05)
- 1 cup dry red lentils ($0.67)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a large pot with the olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft (about 5 minutes).
- Add the curry powder and continue to sauté for about a minute more.
- Next, add the pumpkin purée, lentils, and vegetable broth. Stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring the soup up to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
- Finally, taste the soup and add salt to taste (about ½ tsp). Serve hot with bread for dipping!
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Equipment
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love savory pumpkin recipes? You should also try our Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup, Chipotle Pumpkin Pasta, or Easy Pumpkin Soup.
How to Make Curried Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion, mince two cloves of garlic, and grate about 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger (I use a small-holed cheese grater). Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large pot and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add one tablespoon curry powder to the sautéed vegetables and continue to sauté for one minute more.
Next add 1 cup uncooked red lentils, 1 15oz. can of pumpkin purée (NOT pumpkin pie filling), and 6 cups vegetable broth. Stir to combine the ingredients.
Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the soup up to a boil. When it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes the lentils should be broken down and tender, resulting in a thickened soup.
Give the soup a taste and then add salt. Salt is what is really going to make the flavors pot, so don’t skip it! The amount of salt you’ll need will ultimately depend on the salt content of the broth you used, but I added about a ½ teaspoon of salt.
I added a bit of cinnamon, a couple of tablespoons of full fat coconut milk, blended it with an immersion blender, poured it over brown basmati rice, and then sprinkled roasted pumpkin seeds on top for a main course.
This recipe was so easy and insanely delicious. The pumpkin gives it a nice thick consistency that is perfect for naan without a long cook time. Leftovers are even better the next day. This will absolutely go into my meal rotation.
Just wanna say this is one of my favorite soups of all time! Extremely simple and delicious. It’s been a staple of mine for a few years now.
A word of advice in case you’re tempted to use canned pumpkin pie filling in a pinch like I just did: it does not work :( The added spices and sugar mess up the flavor, and it’s way too thin to give the soup any substance. Stick with plain canned pumpkin!
How would you adjust the recipe to use brown lentils? By the time I got to the store all of the red lentils were gone!
Personally, I’d only use the red or yellow lentils for this recipe. They have a less earthy flavor than the green and brown lentils, too, so they blend better with the flavors. But you can certainly try it as it’s what you’ve got!
Making this tomorrow. Yellow lentils werecwhat we found.
Dumb question: can you make this with just water? I didn’t replenish my stock pre-quarantine, but I have the rest of the ingredients.
You can, but the soup will likely be less flavorful. That broth provides a lot of the depth of flavor in the soup. It’s worth a shot, but if you do definitely make sure to add salt at the end to make up for the missing salt from the broth. :)
Next time I will add cumin and tumeric. I expect that to bring up my already very good rating.
What an amazing and quick recipe. I actually had all he ingredients on hand. The only thing I did differently was I added coconut milk in the end. It was awesome! I used 5 cups of broth instead of 6 and added about a cup of coconut milk . I also sauteed the onions, ginger, and garlic in coconut oil instead of olive oil since I was adding coconut milk.
Made this again tonight. So easy, and so good! I’ve increased the lentils a bit, for a thicker, more filling soup.
Good with naan, and much better flavor the next day. It was a little bland for me as written so I added coriander and turmeric but still felt it was missing…something. It would probably be excellent with a swirl of coconut flavored greek yogurt (a favorite of mine with daal) but I didn’thave any on hand. But the recipe was healthy and cheap and used my pantry staples so checked my boxes of what I needed.
Has anyone tried adding coconut milk? Seems like that would go well with the curry and pumpkin flavors.
Liana, I did. I used 5 cups of broth instead of 6 and added cup of coconut milk at the end. I also sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger in coconut oil instead of olive oil. It came out really good.
yessssssssss love this. it’s definitely getting added to my rotation of soups!! I think a bit of cinnamon would be a good addition, too, though I didn’t try it this time (stuck to the original). Very quick and easy, and lots of room to play around with added veggies or spices!
Happy to hear it Sonia!
This was tasty, warming, and seasonal! The fresh ginger gives it that little something extra. I have tried it both with homemade curry powder, and also with half Tbsp each ground cumin and ground coriander instead of curry powder and it was good both ways. Actually I might like the cumin and coriander best, but this is the sort of thing that lets you play around with flavors easily!
Thanks Alexis!
This soup is so good! So quick and easy to prepare! Thank you!
Thank you Jennie!
this is a great, simple cheap recipe. However as made it lacked acid as a contrast. Finishing the soup with the juice of one lemon really elevated this.
That’s what I was just saying! I had a half of a lemon in the fridge and squeezed it right in!
Instead of premade broth, I used stock cubes to control the amount of salt. It was amazing! Thank you :)
I love this recipe! I double it and add
a cup of heritage lentils and a 1/2 cup of quinoa. It ends up becoming a bit more like a stew but it’s still delicious.