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This Coconut Curry Lentil Soup is a creamy, cozy hug-in-a-bowl! It’s the perfect nourishing meal or side to satisfy your comfort-food cravings. Vegan & Gluten-Free.
Ahhh, the magic of a warm, hearty bowl of soup…isn’t the thought of it just so relaxing? Sometimes a bowl of dang-good soup is all it takes to reset my entire day.
This Coconut Curry Lentil Soup is a a delicious conglomeration of ALL of my favorite things – warm curry spices, hearty lentils & veggies, and creamy coconut milk. While the ingredients aren’t traditional per se, I think you’ll find the flavor more than makes up for that! ????
INGREDIENTS FOR COCONUT CURRY LENTIL SOUP
I’m all about making traditional dishes, but sometimes you’ve just gotta get creative in the kitchen and whip up something a bit more unique! If you feel inspired to swap out any of the ingredients, see my notes at the end of the recipe for substitutions.
- Shiitake Mushrooms: add a hearty bite as well as satisfying umami flavor.
- Brown Lentils: add some easily-digestible plant-based protein to the dish, making this soup even more satisfying!
- Sweet Potato: I just love the creaminess of potatoes in a soup; they make the soup more hearty and flavorful, no matter what spud you use! For this curry lentil soup, sweet potato is the perfect addition.
- Kale: De-stemmed lacinato kale adds a bit of crunch to the soup and is a great way to add some extra greens, for you know, #health
- Sweet & Savory Spices: Curry Powder, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, and a Cinnamon Stick come together to make the ultimate blend of savory flavors with just a tiny touch of sweetness.
- Veggie Broth & Coconut Milk: serve as our liquid base
- Fresh Lemon Juice: The juice from ½ of a fresh lemon adds just the right amount of acidity to balance out all of the flavors in the dish and really help them pop
HOW TO MAKE COCONUT CURRY LENTIL SOUP
This Coconut Curry Lentil Soup is as easy as 1-2-3! All you do is sauté the veggies, add the liquids, and cook until everything is deliciously tender! Quick and easy comfort food?! Sign me up.
- Sauté the onion in a pot until translucent, then add the mushroom and cook for another few mins, until wilted. Finally, add the ginger, garlic, curry powder, and cinnamon stick until fragrant.
- Add the sweet potato, lentils, broth, and coconut milk to the pot and mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are tender.
- Remove from heat and mix in kale and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to bowls to serve!
This soup stands alone as a hearty main but as a self-proclaimed carb-lover, I also enjoy serving it with a slice of buttered bread. Pro-tip: dip the crust in the broth for even more goodness ???? You could also serve this soup over a cooked grain, like quinoa or brown rice, to make it go even further.
Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to two months. This would be a great dish to pre-portion out and freeze for easy meal-prep 🙂
If you’re looking for more curry-inspired recipes, you’ll also love this Creamy Coconut & Red Lentil Curry, this Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Red Curry Dressing, and this Curried Lentil Salad with Roasted Cauliflower!
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
PrintCoconut Curry Lentil Soup with Kale
This Coconut Curry Lentil Soup is a creamy, cozy hug-in-a-bowl! It’s the perfect nourishing meal or side to satisfy your comfort-food cravings. Vegan & Gluten-Free.
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (sub 1/4 cup broth for oil-free)
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 ounces (115 g) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1“piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon salt-free curry powder blend
- 1 small cinnamon stick (optional, or add 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon)
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (3 cups or 330 g)
- 1 cup (200 g) dry brown lentils
- 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (store-bought or homemade)
- 1 13.6 ounce (400mL) can full-fat coconut milk
- 1 bunch of lacinato kale, de-stemmed and chopped
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Sauté: Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes, until translucent. Then, add the mushrooms and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, until they have wilted slightly. Finally, add the ginger, garlic, curry powder, and cinnamon stick; sauté for 1 minute, until the spices are fragrant.
- Bring to a Boil: add the sweet potato, lentils, broth, and coconut milk to the pot and mix well. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the head to medium/medium low. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
- Final Touches: turn off the heat and mix in the kale and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Transfer the soup into serving bowls and enjoy warm. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to two months.
Notes
- Substitutions: shiitake mushrooms can be swapped with cremini – the flavor will be slightly different, but still good! Sweet potato can be replaced with another squash. You can use light coconut milk or oat milk instead of coconut milk, but the broth won’t be as rich. I don’t recommend replacing the lentils – different varieties have different cooking times, and brown lentils hold up well to cooking while still getting a little creamy.
Keywords: coconut curry vegan, coconut soup vegan, coconut lentil stew, coconut curry with kale, lentil curry with kale
Turned out great, I used about double the amount of mushrooms and added a can of chickpeas.
★★★★★
The more mushrooms the merrier!
Another winner! I love this soup. I added chickpeas for extra protein and I also only had red lentils so that’s what I used. They definitely broke down a lot but it made the soup kind of creamy and thick, so no one was mad about it. I always think your spice levels are spot on but I added a few red pepper flakes for some color and kick at the end. Thanks!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the review, Brianne!
Delicious recipe! Thank you! This one of my new favorite soups. A touch of cayenne is a great addition if you like a little heat.
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Amanda! Glad you loved it.
This has become my favourite winter soup recipe. Delicious – thank you!
★★★★★
Yay! Thank you, Sue!
Aside from the fact that I am evidently the slowest veggie chopper in the world (no 10 minutes of prep for me), this recipe was excellent! Will definitely make this one again.
This recipe is the real deal. I’m not a mushroom person, so I omitted the mushrooms. I didn’t have coconut milk, so I ended up using coconut cream. I have no idea what type of kale I used.
A previous post suggested adding chick peas and cauliflower, and puréing a portion, and adding it back, along with the kale. That seemed like a good idea, so I did that. The result was delicious.
I don’t post reviews often, but this recipe is great. It really allows the flavor of the veggies and beans to shine, without one overpowering the other. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
★★★★★
Yum! Thank you for the review and I’m glad you found a way to make it your own!
omg this looks delicious! So excited to make it. Do you think curly kale will work in place of lacinato kale? Here in Spain Lacinato kale doesn’t exist 😂
★★★★★
You can use what’s available, Ella. The main difference between them is merely aesthetic. Excited for you to try the recipe as well! ♥
Absolutely delightful. Tastes amazing as is, but I also decided to add some cauliflower and chickpeas at the same time as the sweet potato for extra heartiness, as well as some chili flakes to bring in some heat. When the soup was done, I blended half of it and added it back in with the kale for some more texture. Lastly, I made some garlic naan on the side, and needless to say, my tummy was very happy.
Thanks so much for the delicious recipe!
★★★★★
Ah yes…. i bet cauliflower would be amazing in this! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
This is fantastic! So delicious! Im very new to cooking but was able to follow the recipe exactly and it came out better than I expected.
Will be making again!
★★★★★
This recipe is crazy good. I’ll be making this again and again, thank you!
★★★★★
This soup is delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out amazing. I’d have never thought to combine all of these flavors together on my own! I was so excited when this recipe came out. So many recipes from this blog are staples in my diet and have never let me down. I needed some new inspiration, and this was my dinner I meal prepped for the week. I had just made your coconut lentil curry last week, and was worried it would taste too similar and I’d get tired of it. But despite them both using curry, the flavor profiles were so different in the best ways. The ingredients in this dish add so many layers and so much depth of flavor that melded together perfectly. Because of you and your recipes Caitlin I’m constantly learning more and more about what goes into making a good dish, and the extremely wide array of flavors that can compatibly be put together and compliment one another. I’m always eating balanced and delicious vegan meals as a result of you and your recipes, whether it’s directly or indirectly. Thank you! I truly appreciate it.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the kind review, Lindsey! This made my day 🙂
Delicious!! I saw the YouTube video and knew I had to try this. Instead of lemon, I used fresh lime and added 2 tsp of coconut sugar to balance out the savory flavor. I’ll definitely be making this soup again.
★★★★★
I LOVE this recipe. I made it for the first time this week and can’t get enough. My meat-loving coworker even threatened to steal some after hearing what it was because he thought it smelled so good! I had to sub the brown lentils with green because my store didn’t have brown, but I was careful to watch cooking time, and it still turned out great. This has definitely become a staple in my home!
★★★★★
Great it worked out with the lentil swap and so happy to hear your coworker enjoyed it from a distance!