Instant Pot Green Lentil Soup is a hearty, yet full-of-flavor lentil soup made with green lentils, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, coconut milk and indian spices.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course, Soup
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole green lentils ((or brown lentils), rinsed)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onions (diced)
  • 2 medium tomatoes (diced (about 1 cup))
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 stalks celery (diced (about 1/2 cup))
  • 1 large carrots (diced (about 1/2 cup))
  • 1 small red bell pepper (diced (about 1/2 cup))
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed black pepper (to taste)
  • 3 cups vegetable broth ((or water))
  • 1/2 cup thick coconut milk ((optional))
  • 2-3 cups baby spinach
  • 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Dry Spices:

  • 1-2 teaspoons garam masala powder ((or curry powder))
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin (jeera)

Method

Instant Pot Method:

  1. Firstly Wash and rinse the lentil, keep aside—Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil and once it’s hot, add minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
  2. Next, add onions and saute until they soften.
  3. Add celery, red bell pepper, carrot, tomato, green lentils into the pot.
  4. Then add dry spices like turmeric, ground cumin, red chili powder, curry, or garam masala powder into the pot. Finally, pour vegetable stock (or water) into the Instant pot along with some salt and black pepper.
  5. Close the lid on the pot. Set the instant pot to SOUP mode for 15 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, Quick Release(QR). Open the lid.
  6. Add in the lemon juice, baby spinach. Stir it all up until spinach wilts. Green Lentil Soup is ready to enjoy! **This Soup usually becomes thick during cooking or storing, hence thin it out with a bit of water or vegetable stock.

Stovetop Pot Method:

  1. You can follow the same steps as the Instant pot in a pot and cook covered for about 35-40 minutes until lentils are cooked well.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.