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!
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INGREDIENTS IN GOLDEN LENTIL SOUP
OMG you guys I have found my most favourite soup recipe EVERRRRRRRR!
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.
Turmeric is supposed to have all kinds of health benefits from being an anti-inflammatory to helping to increase anti-oxidants in the body.
Here's what you need to make it:
- olive oil or butter
- onions, chopped
- carrots, chopped
- celery, chopped
- garlic minced
- ginger, minced
- coconut milk
- canned diced tomatoes
- vegetable broth
- turmeric
- cumin
- red lentils
- spinach
- lemon juice
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT LENTIL SOUP
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)
Here's how to make it:
- Add all the ingredients to Instant Pot except for spinach and lemon juice.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure then open lid when it's safe to do so.
- Stir in spinach and lemon juice, then serve and enjoy!
YES, IT'S THAT EASY!
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS
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 or an immersion blender 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.
MAKING THIS SOUP ON THE STOVETOP
You can totally also make this soup on the stove top. It's as simple as sauteeing your onions, carrots and celery in the olive oil for 5 minutes, then adding the rest of the ingredients, except for spinach and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and lemon juice at the end, then serve and enjoy!
MAKING IT IN THE SLOW COOKER
Making golden lentil soup is also super easy in the slow cooker. Add everything except for spinach and lemon juice, just as you would with the pressure cooker, then cook on high for 3 hours, or on low for 6 hours. Stir in the spinach and lemon juice at the end and you're good to go!
STORING AND REHEATING
You can store this soup in individual portions in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat, simply microwave for 2-3 minutes. I prefer to use glass meal prep bowls to store the leftovers in because you can immediately reheat individual servings right from the fridge instead of having to portion out the food after the fact, however you can also store the leftovers in a large bowl with a lid.
FREEZING THIS SOUP
You can freeze this soup up to 3 months as well! Simply store in individual portions and let defrost in the fridge overnight, or you can reheat in the microwave from frozen for 6-8 minutes, stirring halfway through the reheat time.
More Instant Pot soup recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
is the version I use in this recipe - You need to buy red lentils for this recipe; other varieties won't work
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into leftovers
- Stock up on coconut milk here
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
is the version I use in this recipe
Instant Pot Turmeric Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 2 (400mL) cans full fat coconut milk
- 1 (796mL) can diced tomatoes (in their juices)
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 1/2 cups red lentils
- 4 cups spinach, chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot in the order in which they are listed, 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!
Video
Nutrition
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Mira says
Not sure why but it came a little bit undercooked. Another lentil soup recipe I made was 7 min in the instant pot that why I was a bit surprised for 3 min on yours but still tried. I’d definitely add more minutes next time.
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Mira – red lentils cook super quickly so it’s very surprising yours can out undercooked! Wondering if you used a different type of lentil here? Also wondering if this is maybe an elevation issue? Very strange.
Holly says
Hello!
I’m allergic to coconut, is there something else I can substitute?
Thank you!!
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Holly – the flavours would change without the coconut milk, but what you could try doing is subbing in regular whole milk (1 cup) or vegetable broth (1 cup). Hope that helps!
Melissa Borden says
This was a good recipe. I used an heirloom mix of lentils (a mix of red, green and yellow lentils) and adjusted the cook time to 9 minutes and the lentils were perfect. Next time, I think I’d add cauliflower.
Randy Kasper says
Enjoyed this just as written. Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed!!