Instant Pot Lentil Soup

A hearty and delicious meal, this Instant Pot Lentil Soup is simple enough to serve on busy weeknights and fancy enough for a tasty weekend dinner. This healthy, filling, warming, and delicious comfort food comes together quickly in your pressure cooker. 

Adding Instant Pot Lentil Soup has many benefits to your regular rotation of meals. But let’s start with the obvious. This healthy lentil soup recipe is major comfort in a bowl. Tender lentils wrapped in gut-healthy broth and flavorful aromatics, this soup is satisfying, hearty, and delicious.

Best of all, I don’t even have to be around for the actual cooking time. I appreciate how I can set it and forget it using my pressure cooker, freeing my time for other, more important things. With only 15 minutes of active, hands-on time, this soup will become your favorite too!

Lentil soup is also easy on the wallet. Most lentils are affordable and readily accessible in all grocery stores, and you probably have the remaining ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator. Plus, this one-pot wonder is freezer-friendly, making it an ideal candidate for meal prep.

So, let your pressure cooker make dinner tonight. With just a few simple ingredients, you’ll have a delicious hearty soup that’s packed with protein and flavor. The best part is it takes just a few minutes to prepare before letting the Instant Pot take over. 

Ingredients

Check out this simple ingredient list:

• Extra virgin olive oil - a small drizzle of olive oil to saute the veggies will kick start this easy lentil soup recipe
• Yellow onion - one medium-sized yellow onion chopped will yield approximately one cup
• Carrots<span style="font-weight: 400;"> - one small carrot chopped or ½ cup chopped carrot
• Celery - one small celery stalk (or rib) or ½ cup chopped celery
• Garlic - freshly minced garlic or finely sliced garlic will give incredible flavor; the more surface area of your garlic, the more flavor it will impart into the soup.
• Thyme sprigs - another flavorful aromatic with herbal undertones; fresh sprigs are best but you can use 1 ½ teaspoon of dried thyme if you don’t have fresh.
• Ground cumin - pairs well with the rest of the lentil soup flavors
• Green lentils - uncooked and unsoaked green lentils are used in this easy recipe. 
• Chicken stock - also may be called chicken broth; use good quality or homemade bone broth for maximum health benefits.
• Lacinato kale - just a few leaves of thinly sliced lacinato kale for extra fiber and greens.
• Salt and pepper
• Garnish - freshly grated Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs like parsley, or cracked black pepper

How to Make Instant Pot Lentil Soup

This simple soup recipe comes together quickly in your Instant Pot. The printable recipe is in the recipe card for your convenience.

Step 1.

Add olive oil to the inner pot of your Instant Pot and heat it on saute setting. Once the oil is hot, add diced onions, carrots, and celery and stir. Saute for 5-8 minutes, stirring often, until the onions have softened and are translucent.

Add garlic, thyme sprigs, cumin, and salt and pepper, and turn the Instant Pot off.  

Step 2. 

Rinse lentils in a fine mesh sieve under running cold water. Add lentils and chicken stock to the pot and stir. Cover and seal the Instant Pot lid and set it to manual setting to cook for 12 minutes.

After the cooking time has been completed, do a quick pressure release (QPR) by turning the pressure release valve to venting (loosely cover it with a dish towel to protect your hands). Releasing all pressure may take a few minutes.

Step 3.

Open the lid and stir the soup. Add chopped kale and stir. If the soup is too thick, adjust with additional chicken stock until you reach your desired consistency. 

Garnish with a little Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. 

Variations

This delicious recipe can easily be modified to satisfy personal taste preferences and give this healthy soup your own spin on it.

• Make it plant-based: We don’t shy away from healthy animal-based ingredients. However, this Instant Pot recipe can easily be modified into a vegetarian lentil soup by swapping chicken stock with vegetable broth.  
• Make it hearty: Conversely, consider adding sliced sausage, ground beef, or roast chicken to this soup for a hearty meal.
• Change up lentils: This recipe calls for green lentils, but feel free to experiment with any type of lentils. Remember that yellow and red lentils need much shorter cooking time than traditional green or French green ones.
• Add more flavor: Another way to jazz up this Instant Pot lentil soup recipe is to add your favorite spices and veggies. Cumin and thyme complement lentils beautifully, but try adding crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes for some heat, or a bay leaf for an extra earthy flavor. Some fresh lemon juice will really brighten this soup.

Helpful Tips

This pressure cooker lentil soup comes together quickly and easily. But a few helpful tips may help as you make this recipe.

• Thyme sprigs: Fresh thyme sprigs add amazing flavor but fishing it out of the soup can sometimes be annoying. Tie the sprigs together with kitchen twine to make them easy to pull out of the hot soup later.
• Meal prep: Double the recipe for an easy meal on busy weeknights. Make a large pot of lentil soup to serve throughout the week.
• Don’t overcook lentils: This is important to avoid mushy lentil soup. That’s why I don’t recommend using natural pressure release in the Instant Pot. That gives more cooking time for the lentils to break down.
• Adjust soup: If the soup comes out too thick for your liking, feel free to add a little bit of broth or water to thin it out to desired consistency. Press the saute function on the Instant Pot to warm it through.

Storage Instructions

Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To reheat, gently warm soup in a small saucepan on the stovetop over medium-low heat until warmed through. Stir often to avoid burning the bottom.

Lentil soup also freezes beautifully, making meal prep a breeze. Store lentil soup in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating per the directions above.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you keep lentils from getting mushy in soup?

It’s easy to overcook lentils. To avoid the mushy texture, ensure you don’t overcook your lentils, whether the soup or the lentils. Twelve minutes of cooking followed by a quick release of pressure will make lentils perfectly tender but still with a bite. Cut this time by half if using red or yellow lentils.  

Do lentils need to be soaked before making soup?

Lentils do not require soaking as other pulses as beans do. Rinse them well with fresh water before adding them to the soup pot. It’s important to note that soaking lentils may help digestibility and reduce bloating and gas. (source) If you desire to soak lentils, cover them completely with cold water and set them aside to soak for 2 to 6 hours. Drain lentils and rinse once more with fresh water. Add them to the soup pot and reduce cooking time by two minutes. 

Can I make lentil soup on the stovetop?

Yes, you can make this lentil soup easily on the stovetop. Prepare the recipe in a Dutch oven or thick-bottom soup pot and follow the first step in the directions. Then add lentils and broth, bring the soup to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until lentils are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve and enjoy hot.

Serving Suggestions

Serve this soup with grated Parmesan cheese, flavorful, fresh herbs, and crusty bread for easy, comfort food. Or pair it with a light salad for a tasty combination. Try this soup with Brussels Sprout Salad or Arugula Orange Salad.  

Nutrition

Lentils are packed with insoluble fiber at 15 grams per cup which may help control your appetite by stabilizing your blood sugar. (source) Plus, lentils are a great source of plant protein, and combined with chicken stock, a serving of this soup clocks in 12 grams of protein. 

Lastly, adding greens like kale is an easy way to bump up the nutrient profile of any dish. So enjoy this soup and know you’re serving your family a healthy dinner.

Check out these Favorite Instant Pot Soup Recipes to Get You Through The Week:

• Instant Pot Chicken Soup
• Instant Pot Curried Pumpkin Soup
• Gluten Free Instant Pot Beef Stew
• Instant Pot Turkey Quinoa Chili
• Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Instant Pot Lentil Soup

​​​​​​​This Instant Pot Lentil Soup tastes like it's been cooking all day but only takes minutes to prepare.  It's loaded with protein and greens and perfect for those cold winter nights.  {gluten free}

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: instant pot lentil soup

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 192kcal

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• ½ cup chopped carrots
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup uncooked green lentils
• 4 ½ cups chicken stock (gluten free if necessary)
• 1 ½ cups lacinato kale, sliced thin

Instructions

• Turn instant pot to saute and add 1 tablespoon olive oil, onions, carrots, and celery. Saute for 5-8 minutes or until onions start to soften.  Add all spices and turn the instant pot off.
• Rinse lentils in a fine mesh sieve under running cold water.
• Add chicken stock and lentils and stir.  Turn Instant Pot to manual and set timer for 12 minutes.  When the time is up do a quick release.  Using a dish towel turn the release valve to venting a little bit at a time.
• Once it's done venting and releases stir and add kale.  Adjust the thickness to your liking by adding more stock if it's too thick.  Serve with fresh parmesan.

Nutrition

Calories: 192kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 663mg | Potassium: 588mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1870IU | Vitamin C: 6.1mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 3.3mg

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WW Smart Points 6

Adapted from Cooking Light.