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.
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
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!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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.
Lovely soup for a chilly Fall day.
Topped with a drizzle of Siracha, a sprinkle of cilantro, and roasted pepitas. Perfect and super easy.
Gosh, I basically live on this stuff as soon as the summer weather cools off. The recipe as written is a little bland for my taste, so I highly recommend using this as a base, and experimenting from there – more cumin and cayenne is always a nice addition, and a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar at the end to kick it up. Some coconut milk (esp coconut milk powder!) is always great as well. Lately I’ve purchased a jar of red curry paste, and just use a couple tbsp of that instead of curry powder. Frozen spinach? Some peas? Whatever you like best, you can hardly go wrong!
Inexpensive, healthy, and flavorful. I added my own flare with a squeeze of lemon, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, chili flakes, and a splash of plant-based milk. (I took inspiration from the Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup recipe.) I also only used 4 cups of broth instead of 6. It just preferred to use a round quart and to have it a bit thicker.
I diced sweet potatoes and simmered them in the broth until soft before adding the lentils ( I can’t get canned pumpkin where I live) and ended up using almost three tablespoons of curry powder to end up with the flavour intensity I wanted ( my curry powder is less than a month old, but is quite mild I guess). I finished the soup with a bit of coconut milk to increase the creaminess as well, on recommendation from other comments which really helped round out the mouthfeel and added some complexity to the flavour. Super-quick and easy with tasty results.
So, so good – and so easy! I added a dollop of yogurt, a few chopped herbs, squeeze of lemon juice, and drizzle of olive oil on top of each bowl of soup, and served with toasted pitas brushed with more olive oil and sprinkled with za’atar. What a dinner!
Tried this tonight … added quite a bit (ex. spinach to pack in some more veggies, coconut milk as others have suggested, etc) because I have a pathological inability to actually follow a recipe, nothing personal (love your blog!) … but YUM! One of most satisfying and non-boring soups I’ve had in a while. Also, if anyone hasn’t tried this with smoked paprika yet, they need to!
I didn’t have broth so I just used water and extra salt, curry, and ginger. Mine came out with a thin broth. I did a double batch, which called for 2 cups of lentils. I think I should’ve put the entire bag of lentils in or used 10 cups water instead of 12. Next time I would use a chicken bone broth instead.
For my leftovers I added Greek yogurt, cilantro, and red pepper flakes. Hopefully it will mix well in the fridge and be more satisfying.
Why rate this recipe with only three stars when you didn’t even follow it correctly??
Delicious! We used the immersion blender at the end and it was smooth and yummy!
Super easy, minimal ingredients, very delicious. I don’t feel like mixing together a yellow curry powder and the only thing they had at my corner store was a yellow curry paste, which ended up working well. Only change from recipe. Will definitely go into rotation.
such an incredible soup! amazing fall flavors. highly recommend pureed with sour cream, red chili flakes, and pepitas as she recommends. this is a recipe i’ll be excited to cook when guests come over!
Can’t believe how easy and delicious this was! Will be returning to it often this winter, thank you!
Yum! Based on comments, I doubled the curry, added a bit of cumin, cayenne, and red pepper flakes. I also subbed 1/4 of the broth with full fat coconut milk. So good!
Served over jasmine rice since I didn’t have basmati on hand. I’ll be adding to the rotation, but will probably use 1 1/2-2 cups of lentils next time.
This, for me, is a quintessential Budget Bytes recipe: super inexpensive, super easy, pantry ingredients, and delicious. That it’s also super healthy is a delightful bonus. Thanks for another winner Beth!
Does this freeze well?
Yes :)
I doubled the spices added some garam masala and a couple Indian chiles and served over basmati rice and it really hit the spot on my craving for Indian food. Thanks!