Vegetarian French Lentil Soup
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One spoonful of this French Lentil Soup, and you’re in comfort food heaven. Tender lentils du Puy, softened onions and carrots, and a savory assist from tomato paste. I’ve spent years tweaking this one-pot wonder after falling in love with it at my neighborhood bistro in France.
As with the best of French cooking, careful preparation of these simple, high-quality ingredients leads to a soup you’ll be thinking about days later. And thanks to quick-cooking lentils, you can have this on the table in under 40 minutes. I’m sharing all of my best chefs tips below, so your lentil soup will come out perfectly the very first time.
Why Make This Recipe
- Just one pot and easy to make
- Deep, savory flavor thanks to a surprising ingredient
- Vegetarian, but with plenty of protein and fiber to keep you satisfied
French Green Lentil Soup Ingredients
- Onion: Yellow onion preferred, but feel free to substitute a white onion or even a red onion.
- Carrots: Love these for the color and texture contrast to the lentils. I’ve subbed a parsnip in a pinch, though it’s not as pretty!
- Cumin: Just a little bit of cumin adds deep flavor to this soup.
- Tomato Paste: This is the “secret ingredient” for this recipe, adding a umami punch to the soup.
- Lentils: In France, the most coveted variety of lentils are Lentils du Puy, which I call for in this recipe. Known as “poor man’s caviar,” these lentils are used throughout France in salads, sides, and soups. You can use other brown or green lentils, but lentils du Puy are small, grayish-green, and hold their shape nicely even when fully cooked. You can find Lentils du Puy here on Amazon if they aren’t available in your favorite grocery store.
- Vegetable Broth: Feel free to substitute chicken broth or chicken stock if you don’t need this to be a vegetarian soup recipe.
- Spinach: Fresh baby spinach works best here. You could also substitute other leafy greens like baby kale or chopped Tuscan kale.
- Lemon Juice: This adds a little pop of tart citrus—fresh-squeezed juice is always preferred. As a substitute for lemon juice, try a splash of vinegar.
How To Make French Lentil Soup
Rinse and drain 1 ½ cups of green or brown lentils (French green lentils such as Lentils du Puy preferred). Peel and chop 1 medium onion, 2 large carrots, and 2 garlic cloves.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, then add chopped onion and carrots. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, until the onions and carrots begin to soften. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.
Then add 1 teaspoon cumin and 1 tablespoon tomato paste and sauté for 90 seconds, stirring constantly, until tomato paste just begins to sizzle and brown.
Add lentils, 4 cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and 1 cup water, and bring to a low boil. Then simmer for 25-30 minutes, until lentils are tender. Skim off the foam on the top of the soup as it is cooking.
If you prefer a smoother texture for your soup, use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup. Or, put some of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth, then add back into soup pot. (Careful to let hot soup cool for a few minutes before blending).
Add 2 cups baby spinach and stir until wilted. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, taste, and add more lemon juice to taste. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
How to Serve French Green Lentil Soup
A bowl of lentil soup is one of my favorite weekday lunches—it travels well in a thermos to the office, and is excellent with a green salad on the side. It also makes a perfect first course to a full French meal, perhaps followed by Sole Meunière or Hachis Parmentier. And, for a superb late fall or mid-winter dinner, serve a big bowl of French lentil soup with some Baguette Garlic Bread smeared with grainy mustard and topped with melted cheese. Lentil soup is so healthy, you deserve those cheesy toasts.
Storage Tips
With no meat and no dairy, this lentil soup keeps well in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. And honestly, leftovers taste even better, since the soup flavors get the chance to meld overnight. You can also freeze lentil soup. Store in an airtight container for up to three months in the freezer. Defrost in the fridge for 24 hours when ready to eat.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for French Lentil Soup
Like many traditional French products, Lentils du Puy have been AOC-protected since 1996, meaning that only lentils grown in the area around Puy-en-Velay in the Auverne region can be certified as Lentils du Puy. This region of France is known for volcanic soil, which may add to the flinty, peppery flavor of the lentils. And, this region’s microclimate is perfect for lentils, as evidenced by the fact that lentils have been grown there for over 2000 years.
No, they don’t. You can soak them, if you’d like the cooking time to be even shorter, but the beauty of lentils is that you don’t need to soak them and they are still tender in under 30 minutes. Some people say that soaking lentils helps with nutrient absorption, but I do not know if that is true or not. You definitely should rinse them though, because sometimes pieces of grit or small pebbles can be in there.
The term “French lentils” usually means Lentils du Puy or Puy lentils, as explained above. Their flavor is generally thought to be a little more peppery than regular green/brown lentils, but the biggest difference is in their ability to hold their shape better once cooked.
Green Lentil Soup Recipe Tips
Note that some lentils take longer to cook than others. Check at 20 minutes, and then every 5 minutes after that until they are tender but still hold their shape.
Make it your own: try adding more herbs like fresh thyme, fresh parsley, or a bay leaf to the vegetable mixture (before adding the broth). You could also add in chopped parsnips or a couple of celery stalks. A rind of parmesan cheese also adds great flavor (remove after soup is fully cooked). Some people like to replace the lemon juice with a little red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.
Now that you're hooked on lentils, try this Mediterranean Lentil Soup too—packed with potatoes, carrots, celery, spinach, and more. Super tasty! And, try this Slow Cooker Curried Lentil Soup , filled with veggies and warming spices. You might also want to venture into red lentil territory. These lentils, which cook even more quickly, are delicious in this Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup or this Red Lentil Bolognese.
Other Delicious Soup Recipes
If you’re as big of a fan of soup as I am, you might want to try one of my other favorite soup recipes. Other vegetarian options include this Soupe au Pistou or this Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque. Or try other French classics like this French Onion Soup or this Chicken Florentine Soup.
You can't go wrong with hearty Crock Pot Minestrone or Cream of Crab Soup either. Or try one of these:
If you try this French Lentil Soup recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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French Lentil Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 ½ cup lentils du puy rinsed and drained (290g)
- 5 cups unsalted vegetable broth
- 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, and add onion and carrots.
- Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, until the onions and carrots begin to soften.
- Add garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Then add cumin and tomato paste and sauté for 90 seconds, stirring constantly, until tomato paste just begins to sizzle and brown.
- Turn down the heat slightly. Add lentils, vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and water, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until lentils are tender. Skim off the foam on the top of the soup as it is cooking. You may need to add more broth or water if your lentils are taking a long time to cook.
- If you prefer a smoother texture for your soup, use an immersion blender to purée some of the soup. Or, put some of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth, then add back into soup pot. (Careful to let hot soup cool for a few minutes before blending).
- If your soup has cooled, re-heat it over medium heat. Add spinach and stir until wilted.
- Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, taste, and add more lemon juice to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this lentil soup recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Hearty and delicious - the perfect snow day soup! I topped mine with a scoop of plain Greek yogurt and some chopped fresh dill.
Oooh, love that topping idea! So glad you loved this.
This is so simple to make and so tasty - perfect for a drippy, cold day. I loved that I had nearly everything on hand (will have to make it again when I have spinach).
I'm not a great cook but this recipe is easy and SO GOOD!
I’ve needed more recipes for lentils. I made this soup and my family was so happy. It’s hearty, tasty, healthy and you can make it vegetarian without losing flavor or add additional meat for the meat lovers in your family. It’s so versatile.
I love love love this lentil soup! I have been looking for tasty ways to feed my family more lentils as they are so healthy. This recipe is perfect, hearty, can easily be vegan or vegetarian. Combine it with a crusty baguette and it’s heaven.
Thank you Molly!
Thanks for the lovely comment, Rebekah! So glad you and your family love this recipe!
When I click on your blog and I see your photos..... I’m a bit jealous, to be honest! My dream, which won’t happen, is to live in France. My sister is doing it; they have a house in the Languedoc area, but aren’t traveling there this year. I personally love St. Emilion in Bordeaux, and just about any village in the Dordogne, or Provence, for that matter. I couldn’t live in Paris, I’m just not a city dweller, although I love all that cities have to offer, and the idea of walking everywhere. I used to visit my grandmother, who lived in Nancy, where my mother is from, but she had a house in Charmes la Cote, where there were maybe 100 people and many more cows. I have such vivid memories of our life in France there, and also in Aix en Provence, where we lived for a year. Anyway, I love that’s you’ve embraced these changes by moving to a different country. I’m presently reading Dirt, by Bill Buford. He moved his family to Lyon so he could work in French kitchens. It’s a fabulous book.
That's on my to-read list, Mimi! There are so many places I am dying to visit here in France. But I'm afraid our time is going to run out here before we get to visit them all. I guess that means we'll just have to come back and visit. Would love to buy a house here one day!