Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas & Kale

Name: Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas, Kale & Coconut Milk
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp coconut oil; 1 onion (-thinly sliced); 3 cloves garlic (-minced); 1/2 tsp chili flakes; 1 tbsp curry paste (-or curry powder (see note below)); 1/2 tsp salt (-or to taste); 1/4 tsp black pepper; 2 roasted red peppers (-roughly chopped); 4-5 cups vegetable broth (-'unsalted'); 400 ml coconut milk (- I used (and prefer) 'full fat'); 19 oz can chickpeas (-rinsed and drained (preferably 'unsalted' variety)); 1/2 cup dried red lentils (-rinsed, picked over & drained); 3-4 cups kale (-leaves removed from steam and chopped into bite sized pieces (loosely packed)); cilantro (-garnish, optional); chili pepper (-garnish, optional)

January 9, 2017 Updated: April 9, 2019 By Dawn Coombs 46 Comments

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This Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas is filling, nourishing and super easy to prepare. There’s a delicious base flavoured with roasted red pepper, vegetable stock and coconut milk. The fibre rich lentils and chickpeas give it body, along with kale. Plus, this one is vegan, gluten free and dairy free! What’s not to love?

This Curried Red Lentil Lentil Soup recipe was originally posted in January 2017, but has been updated with new pics and more recipe details. The conversational text remains basically the same.

Happy New Year everyone! How was your holiday? Was it food filled to the max? I know mine was. By the time New Year’s Day rolled around, I don’t think I could stuff another bite in my pie hole. For reals. I tried to maintain my exercise routine over the holidays but, like most people, there was some overindulging and no amount of exercise could counterbalance all those cookies. Now I just want to get back into some normal eating habits – you know, veggies, beans and the occasional glass of wine (for antioxidants, of course…hehehe).

I’m determined to make this year a good one! With the start of a new year means breaking out my planner and making more time for reading. Woo hoo! The geek in me is rejoicing! Do you use a planner? I like to rock an old school one. Nothing like putting stuff on paper. Writing it down…holding the planner in my hands…sticking my nose in the middle of it and taking a sniff. What? Did I just say that? What is it about the smell of paper? Especially in a book. Don’t even get me started, lol!

Along with more reading, I’d love to stop swearing (good luck with that) and to reduce food waste. Waste not, want not, right? Anywho, speaking of food….this red lentil chickpea soup!

How to Make Curried Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas

This red curry lentil and chickpea soup is one of my hands down favourite soups. It’s just super relishing and warming to the belly and soul. Deep, I know. But it is really good! To make this red lentil chickpea soup (in one pot, may I add) simply –

Heat some coconut oil in a large pot.
Add onion and cook until softened.
To onion, add garlic and cook for just a minute.
Stir in curry paste, chili flakes, salt and pepper.
To pot, add red peppers, broth and coconut milk. Bliz with an immersion blender until smooth.
Add drained chickpeas, simmer and cook 15 minutes.
To pot, add red lentils and cook 5 minutes.
Next goes kale and cook 5-8 minutes.
Portion, garnish and enjoy!

Do I Need to Soak Red Lentils?

Nope! Red Lentils are so small, no soaking is required. I would, however, recommend picking over and rinsing before using in this soup. Lentils can have ‘rocks’ or foreign bits and you definitely don’t want those floating around in your delicious pot of soup!

How Do You Cook Red Lentils?

Dried red lentils require only a little bit of cooking time. 10 minutes is typically sufficient. When they’re tender, but not totally gone to mush, they’re good to go.

Tips for Making this Vegan Red Lentil Soup with Chickpeas

I like to leave the chickpeas with a little bite. If you like them on the softer side, add a little more stock (1/2 cup or so) and cook a little longer until it’s how you like it before adding the red lentils.
Don’t have curry paste on hand? Use curry powder! You may need to add a little more salt as the curry paste has salt, but curry powder doesn’t.
Like things more spicy? Add in more chili flakes or freshly minced hot pepper. Or, drizzle sriracha over top when serving.
Use baby spinach or swiss chard instead of kale. If using baby spinach, add during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. They take less time to cook that hearty kale leaves.
A squeeze of lime or lemon over top when serving is delish!
I prefer to use ‘full fat’ coconut milk here. It really adds a creaminess and rich coconut flavour to the broth.
‘Unsalted’ vegetable broth was used here. If you use anything otherwise, then taste before adding any additional seasoning.
This curried red lentil soup makes for a lovely meal prep recipe for the week ahead! You can easily double the recipe and freeze some for later too.

Enjoy this Curried Red Lentil Soup? You May Enjoy These Too –

Do you have any resolutions or goals? I know some people don’t like to make resolutions because when they are broke, it leads to disappointment and you end up feeling crappy about it. But, I still make ’em anyway. Hey, I like tradition…what can I say?

Hope you love this super nourishing soup as much as we do!

Until next time, take care and chit chat again soon 🙂

~Dawn

P.S. If you think this (delicious) curried red lentil soup will make your belly happy too, please be sure to hit that little Pin button. Many thanks, you guys! XO