Creamy Instant Pot Red Lentil Carrot Ginger Soup (Vegan)

📋 Recipe at a Glance

• 🎯 Difficulty - Easy, mostly hands off
• ⏱ Time - 5 minutes prep, 20 minutes cook time
• 🌿 Diet - Vegan, Gluten-free, dairy-free
• 🥘 Method - Instant Pot, , pressure cooker, or stovetop — all covered
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Servings - 4 generous bowls
• 💪 Protein - 4g protein per serving (plant based)
• ❄️ Meal Prep - Yes, Freezes well
• 🔥 Spice Level - Mild

Have a question about this recipe? Ask AI!

This creamy Instant Pot Red Lentil Carrot Ginger Soup is silky smooth, super comforting and packed with healthy and warm Indian flavors and spices like turmeric, cumin, and fresh ginger that make every bowl feel like it is doing something genuinely good for your body.

Red lentils and carrots cook together in the Instant Pot in just 5 minutes of pressure time, then blend into a smooth, velvety soup that is completely vegan and gluten-free. No soaking required, one pot to clean, and ready to serve in under 30 minutes.

Add a slice of crusty bread or a piece of buttery garlic naan and get ready to be transported into flavor heaven with this one-pot recipe.

✨Why you'll love this soup

• ⏱️ Ready in 30 minutes: Just 5 minutes of pressure cooking — the Instant Pot does all the heavy lifting.
• 🥬 Naturally creamy: no cream needed! Red lentils break down completely, blending into a silky, velvety soup with zero dairy.
• 🌿 Vegan, gluten-free, and packed with nutrients: High in plant-based protein, fiber, iron, and immune-boosting spices.
• 📸 Three cooking methods covered: Instant Pot, stovetop pressure cooker, or Dutch oven, whichever you have, this works.
• ❄️ Perfect for meal prep: Stores for 5 days, freezes for 3 months, and reheats beautifully. Make a double batch every Sunday.
• 🫙 No soaking required: Red lentils cook directly from dry so no overnight soaking, no advance planning needed

📋Recipe ingredients

Carrots and lentils pack the punch in this soup. Aromatics and soup staples like celery, ginger, garlic, and onion take it the next level.

• Lentils - Use red lentils in this recipe. They are also known as football lentils and are easy to find and cook rather quickly. Lentils are versatile, easy to cook and can take up any flavor profile.
• Carrots - Use fresh and firm carrots that are bright orange in color. These carrots along with turmeric give the beautiful orange color to the soup and contribute to our overall healthy immune system.
• Turmeric - ahh that beautiful golden color and so many health benefits. You know I love turmeric and us it a lot specially in this turmeric cauliflower rice.
• Ginger - adds a nice warm spice to the soup and you have to use fresh ginger in this recipe. You need about a 1 inch piece. You can peel it either with a blunt end of a knife or with a spoon and then slice it.

Don't forget to check out the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients along with the quantities.

📖Substitutions and Additions

• Spices - Turmeric and cumin add a great flavor but you can play with spices of your choice. Add some cayenne or chili pepper flakes to make it a bit more spicy. You can also finish the soup with some garam masala.
• Make it more creamy - add coconut milk or cream (that will make it non-vegan) to amp up that luscious finish of this soup.
• Toppings - Though any toppings in this soup are optional, I would recommend adding some fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. Crunchy chickpeas or toasted pepitas work great as well.
• Serving - Serve this soup with a piece of crusty bread (focaccia works great as well) or toasted garlic naan.

👩‍🍳How to make this recipe

This Lentil Carrot soup is a one pot recipe and comes together rather quickly. When cooking lentils and a hearty vegetable like carrot, pressure cooking is a great option that's why I'm using a 6 -qt Instant pot in this recipe. Pressure cooker and stove top instructions are also included below.

Step 1: Peel and wash the carrots, chop the tops and ends off and give a rough chop. Cut the tough end of the celery stalks and discard, roughly chop them. Peel the onion, ginger and garlic and roughly chop them as well (Image 1).

Step 2: Set the instant pot to saute mode and once hot, add oil, ginger, garlic, onion, and celery (Image 2). Cook for 1 minute.

Step 3: Add turmeric and cumin powder followed by lentils and chopped carrots. Stir until the lentils are lightly toasted, about a minute. Add salt and black pepper (Image 3).

Step 4: Add vegetable broth (or water) (Image 4).

Step 5: Close the Instant pot with the lid and press cancel to cancel the "Saute" mode. Set the mode to manual or pressure cook button and set to cook on high pressure for 5 minutes (Image 5). Make sure the pressure valve is in sealing position.

Step 6: It will take 6-7 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and it will stay on for the set time of 5 minutes. After 5 minutes are up, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes (Image 6) and then do a quick pressure release by turning the pressure valve to "venting".

Steps 7 and 8: Once all the steam has escaped, open the lid of the Instant Pot and blend the soup with a hand blender (Image 7) until nice and smooth (Image 8).

🍲What if I don't have an instant pot?

No need to worry. You can make this soup in a pressure cooker or even in an open pot.

• Pressure Cooker: Saute all the ingredients on medium high heat as given in instant pot instructions. Add the broth and close the lid of the pressure cooker and lock it in place. Let the cooker come to full pressure and cook for 5 minutes and then turn the heat off. Set a timer to 5 minutes and release the pressure. Proceed to blending the soup and serve.
• Dutch Oven (or Sauce Pan): Use a heavy bottomed sauce pan with a lid and follow the sautéing instructions as above. After all the ingredients are in, bring to a boil on high heat and turn the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the lentils and carrots are done. Blend and serve.

🫙Storage, freezing, and reheating instructions

If you have leftovers or if you make a double batch recipe (highly recommended), here's how you can store or freeze them:

• Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. The soup will thicken as it sits, soadd a splash of water or broth when reheating, then stir to bring it back together.
• Freezer: This soup freezes beautifully for up to 3 months! Let it cool completely, then transfer to airtight, freezer-safe containers or freezer-safe reusable bags. I love making a double batch specifically to freeze.
• Reheating from the fridge: Heat over medium-low heat on the stovetop with a splash of water or broth, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes. Or microwave covered for 90 seconds, stirring halfway.
• Reheating from frozen: Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat as above. Or place the frozen block directly in a saucepan with a splash of water over medium-low heat. It thaws and heats in about 10 minutes.

💭 What Else Can I Make With These Ingredients?

• 🥕 Leftover carrots: Use them in my Aloo Gajar Matar stir-fry for a completely different Indian flavor profile, or make a batch of my healthy carrot cake granola. And if you're craving a carrot dessert, use leftover carrots to make one of my southern carrot cake loaf, carrot cranberry loaf, or carrot cake cookies!
• 🫘 Red lentils: Try my butternut squash and red lentil soup (kaddu wali dal), or use them in handvo or my lentil walnut hummus recipe.
• 🌿 Fresh ginger: Make a big batch of Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste, it keeps in the fridge for weeks and cuts prep time on every Indian recipe in half. I use ginger in most curries, so you can use it for kala chana curry, Punjabi chicken curry, keema pav, and many other recipes.
• 🧅Vegetable broth: Use the same broth as the base for my Homemade Minestrone Soup or my Spring Risotto with Asparagus and Peas for a completely different direction.

❓FAQs