Simple Vegan Lentil Soup (Made from Pantry Staples!)
Easy pantry friendly vegan lentil soup with over 20 grams of protein per serving! Made with simple ingredients found in your pantry and very customizable!
This vegan lentil soup is absolutely my favorite of all pantry staple recipes.
It’s packed with hearty lentils and mung beans, veggies, and even over 20 grams of plant based protein!
This lentil soup is:
Full of flavor
Made with only plant based, dairy free, gluten free, vegan ingredients
Made from pantry staple ingredients
Very customizable
Budget Friendly (it’s only $2.50 per serving!)
Kid Friendly
Beginner vegan friendly
Non vegan friendly (i.e. you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy this soup!)
You’re going to love this recipe!
What lentils should I use for this pantry staple recipe?
You can use any type of dried lentil for this recipe. I also added in mung beans, but you can swap in azuki, or use more lentils.
If you don’t have dried lentils or any dried beans, I give a few options so that you can still make this recipe!
Do you have to soak lentils before cooking them?
Typically no!
Lentils are a bit different from other beans, especially sprouted lentils. Plus, they’ll be doing a lot of soaking in the pot, so they’re going to be perfect when the soup is ready.
How to make lentil soup from scratch
Making this lentil soup from scratch is incredibly easy; you’ll want to be meal prepping this recipe every week!
First:
- Cook the lentils and mung beans together in boiling water.
- Then add in the crushed tomatoes and an additional cup of water, along with the dried spices, garlic, pea protein, and sea salt.
- Let everything cook together for 1 hour.
- Then add in the mushrooms and spinach, and let it all cook together for another 45 minutes.
- Serve and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer!
That’s it! This pantry friendly soup is so low maintenance, straight forward, and even if you don’t have mushrooms, spinach, or other fresh veggies on hand, you can still make it with just the canned goods.
Will any dried beans work here?
Yes, absolutely! I recommend using lentils and mung beans (or just all lentils), but if you have other dried beans, feel free to use whichever you prefer!
You can even use black beans, chickpeas, cannelloni beans, navy beans, pinto beans, and more. That way, it’s still a delicious bean soup recipe even if you don’t have lentils!
What if I only have canned beans?
You can still make this soup with canned beans! I recommend using dried, but I think that most people who are just starting out on a vegan diet probably gravitate more towards cooked and canned beans (I know I did!).
If you only have canned beans, not a problem. Simply swap out the dried beans (and 4 cups of water) with 4 cups of canned beans, rinsed and drained.
Then proceed on with cooking the beans in the crushed tomatoes and 1 cup of water.
You can use any beans you’d like here as well: lentils, mung beans, azuki beans, cannelloni beans, black beans, and more!
What goes with lentil soup?
I absolutely love to cook some sprouted brown rice and add it into this pantry friendly recipe, but it also tastes amazing with a baked sweet potato (you can follow my sweet potato guide here!), quinoa, or even roasted parsnips.
You can also toast up some leftover bread and smear with a little vegan butter. It’s such a good combo!
Because this bean soup is packed with not only veggies, but protein as well, it makes it really a one-stop shop for a healthy kid friendly or beginner vegan dinner!
I hope you love this vegan lentil soup as much as I do! If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest so that I can see!
As always, I love to know what you think, so let me know how the soup goes for you in the comments section below.
Happy pantry soup making!
More Vegan Lentil Recipes & Dinner Ideas
Vegan Whole30 Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Simple Everyday Vegan Lentil Soup (Pantry Staples!)
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 185
- Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy pantry friendly vegan lentil soup with over 20 grams of protein per serving! Made with simple ingredients found in your pantry and very customizable!
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried lentils*
- 1 cup dried mung beans*
- 5 cups vegetable broth, separated
- 18 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons plain pea protein
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- Salt + pepper to taste
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring 4 cups vegetable broth to a boil.
- Add in the lentils and mung beans. Swirl the beans, cover, and let cook on low heat for 1 hour.
- Remove the lid and add in the crushed tomatoes, plus 1 cup vegetable broth. Mix the soup with a large wooden spoon.
- Next, add in the garlic, plain pea protein, nutritional yeast, cumin, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and sea salt, mixing with a large wooden spoon to evenly distribute.
- Cover the soup again, and let it cook on low heat for 1 hour.
- Remove the cover, and add in the sliced mushrooms and spinach. Mix the soup and cover it once more to let it cook for 45 minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve.
- Store in a glass airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in a container for up to a month.
Notes
*You can use whichever dried beans you want, but those are what I recommend. However, if you only have canned beans, you’ll need 4 cups of canned beans (rinsed and drained), and skip steps 1-2.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.75 cups
- Calories: 282
- Sugar: 5.5 g
- Sodium: 959.9 mg
- Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.6 g
- Protein: 21.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Could this be made in a crockpot? Thank you!
Absolutely!! You can make the lentils in the crockpot too even- just throw everything in there and cook for about 2.5 hours!
This soup is so perfect for a cozy and filling meal! So great to have recipes like this with pantry staples!
AW Jess thank you so much!! Means the world to me!! Enjoy!
This soup is SOOO satisfying! Warming, hearty and doesn’t require a trip to the grocery store
Aw YAY! Love that!