Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup
This Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup is a delicious, vibrant vegan soup made with coconut milk and spices. Dump it all in one pot and dinner's ready in 20 minutes!
OMG you guys I have found my most favourite soup recipe EVERRRRRRRR (next to this Zucchini Noodle Pho anyway…)
This Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup is not only a delicious soup recipe, but it's also made in the pressure cooker so you don't have to spend an hour in the kitchen slaving over a hot pot of soup waiting for the flavours to mingle.
Another reason I love the Instant Pot. Instant soup! (almost…lol)
This is another dump everything and push start kind of meal coming right at ya, and it's playing right into the turmeric trend that I'm really obsessed with these days (in case you missed my turmeric tahini dressing in these buddha bowls NOMZ)
Turmeric is supposed to have all kinds of health benefits from being an anti-inflammatory to helping to increase anti-oxidants in the body. We've seen turmeric on the rise as a foodie trend in all kinds of recipes from turmeric lattes or golden milk (which I have yet to try by the way!) to soups, stews, curries, buddha bowls and more. I've even seen it included in cold-pressed juices!
It's only been very recently that I've even seen the turmeric root itself in stores – it's super cool and kind of looks like ginger root except it is bright orange inside and the roots tend to be smaller in size.
This Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup uses just the dried stuff to give off this bright yellow colour and it's really all you need to keep on hand in your pantry. A couple of spices, a can of diced tomatoes, some broth, coconut milk, lentils and whatever veggies you have on hand and you're well on your way to a delicious soup.
I love the Instant Pot because it speeds up the cooking time of this soup but you still get the slowly simmered flavours that develop with a stovetop soup.
I used veggies that I tend to buy every week because they are just so versatile and tend to work with just about any type of recipe. Grabbing a bag of carrots, celery and onions makes your life so much easier when you go to do any cooking during the week since so many recipes call for them. So with the addition of these veggies and some spinach, this Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup is basically a soup made from pantry staples.
Now let's talk about some substitutions you can make here.
I used red lentils and found they kind of broke down into the broth by the time they were finished cooking. I like the texture because it makes the broth a bit thicker with more substance, but the lentils are mush by this point so if you're looking for more of a lentil texture I would suggest adding French or green lentils because they will hold their shape better.
I also recommend using diced tomatoes and crushing them a bit finer with your hands before adding so you still get the juices without there being too many chunks of tomato. I also tried this recipe with crushed tomatoes and really didn't like the taste or texture with the coconut milk so be sure to use diced tomatoes.
And of course, use full-fat coconut milk for a creamy soup, but know that you can substitute in light coconut milk if you're looking to cut calories. Sub in any other greens for the spinach in the end and I think next time I'm also going to stir in some red peppers when I throw in the spinach for a bit of extra colour.
I can't even tell you how much I love this Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup!
Will you be making this Instant Pot Golden Turmeric Lentil Soup?
When a soup is this vibrant and delicious you can be guaranteed to please a crowd with a big pot of this! Try freezing your leftovers to save for a cold, rainy day you don't feel like cooking – it tastes just as delicious re-heated!
If you try any of my recipes be sure to let me know on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments – I’d love to see what you come up with!
The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
is the version I use in this recipe.
Note: You need to buy red lentils for this recipe; other varieties won't work.
Stock up on coconut milk here!
Instant Pot Turmeric Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 2 cans full fat coconut milk
- 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (from a can in their juices)
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 cup red lentils
- 4 cups spinach, chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot except for spinach and lemon juice, making sure you add lentils last. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure. Do a quick release of steam then open lid when it's safe to do so.
- Stir in spinach and lemon juice, then serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Lisa says
I made this last night and it is amazing! It’s delicious, comforting, and perfect on a cold winter night in Alaska. I followed the recipe as-is, with the exception of adding red pepper flakes for a little heat. This one is a keeper. Thank you for sharing!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you liked it Lisa!! 🙂
Sumin Kim says
Hi! I was wondering if you used fresh turmeric or dried. Also, if it is fresh, how do you prepare it? Do you grate it or mince it?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Sumin! It’s dried turmeric 🙂
Melissa says
Right now it’s on my stovetop cooking the old fashioned way. Soaked the lentils on low for a few hours this morning, then sauteed the root vegetables before adding the coconut milk, broth, and seasonings. Strained the lentils and added them last. It’s almost 2 now, it smells and looks amazing. I love lentils, I’m excited to try this and hoping hubs will love it. He hates coconut so I’m not telling him about the coconut milk. He’s never had it in a savory capacity before, so I’m hoping to show him different sides of different flavors.
Janice says
Just made this and it is so tasty and hearty. I didn’t have celery or spinach so I popped in some chopped bok choy and I added some small chopped up sausage. And it was so easy, thank you!!
Corrie says
As yummy 😋 as this recipe sounds…I’m a WW Lifetime member & for me, this recipe is 15 smart points…would it work with any other kinds of milk? I love coconut milk, but, I only use it sparingly. Thx😊
Taylor Stinson says
You could always just do one can of coconut milk instead, would likely take it down by quite a bit! I would not recommend adding any other sort of milk unfortunately 🙁
Tray says
3 onions? Is that correct? Seems like a lot. What size onions we talking about here?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Tray – small to medium-sized onions. You can feel free to leave out one or two if you don’t like that many onions. This makes a HUGE batch of soup so that’s why there are so many.
Kevin says
Should I use dried lentils or cooked lentils? Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
Dried lentils 🙂
Jeanie says
I accidently forgot to add the vegetable broth and it came out more like a stew consistency and tasting slightly bland. So I put it on soup/broth for 2 more minutes and added the vegetable broth. It came out more as a soup and tasting delicious.
My question though, because I don’t work with coconut milk often is how do I store it? Refrigerate immediately after cooking? Or let cool completely? I worry because coconut milk usually goes bad if you let it sit too long correct??
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Jeanie – so glad you like the recipe 🙂 For this soup you should let it cool slightly before refrigerating – don’t put it in the fridge when it’s very hot. You can treat it just like any other soup!