It’s Vegan Soup for the Soul! All of these vegan soup recipes are easy to make with delicious flavors. The best part is that they’re all vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free so they work for a variety of diets!
I’m often asked for my favorite or top vegan soup recipes.
That’s tough, because I love a lot of soups.
A hearty soup is my go-to meal. Always easy to pair with salad and bread, or brown rice or quinoa, maybe some bread with cashew cheese or topped off with avocado. For me, it’s really easy to make a fantastic meal around soup.
Here Are My Top Vegan Soup Recipes
These are cozy soups that scream “comfort food”! But before we dive into the top five, I wanted to give a shoutout to Tomato Lentil Soup, Peanut Thai Vegetable Stew, and Sweet Potato Bisque with White Beans.
1. Mellow Lentil Sniffle Soup:
This is one of my most popular soups, so have to start the list of top vegan soup recipes! I hear from readers so often, how they love it, turning to it year after year through the fall and winter months.
When you’re feeling under the weather, or you just want a piping hot bowl of nourishing soup with pleasing seasonings… this is your pick. This recipe also in Plant-Powered Families.
“Sniffle” Soup
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons plus 3 1/2-4 cups water divided
- 1 1/2 cups diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 cups dried red lentils
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary see note
- 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the water, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, paprika, curry powder, sea salt, thyme, and black pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse the lentils. Add the lentils, the remaining 3 1/2 cups of the water, and stock and stir to combine. Increase heat to bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 12-15 minutes. Add rosemary and simmer for another 8-10 minutes or more, until lentils are completely softened. Stir in vinegar, and add more water to thin the soup if desired. Serve.
Notes
2. French Lentil Soup with Smoked Paprika
I love this soup from LTEV for many reasons. Apparently, you guys do too, because every time I share it on facebook or twitter, it gets a flood of comments and shares.
It has a deep, robust flavor with added umami quality. It tastes like it’s been simmering for hours, when it takes just over a half-hour to cook.
French Lentil Soup with Smoked Paprika
Ingredients
- splash water
- 1½ cups diced onion
- 1 cup carrot that has been cut in disks
- 4 to 5 medium to large cloves garlic minced
- 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1¼ to 1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups French lentils rinsed (see note)
- 2 cups vegan vegetable stock check label for allergens
- 5 cups water
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice optional, but nice
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, combine the water, onion, carrot, garlic, thyme, paprika, mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir, cover, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften. Add the lentils, stir, then add the vegetable stock, water, tomato paste, and bay leaf. Increase the heat to bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or longer if needed, until the lentils are fully cooked through. Remove the bay leaf. Add the lemon juice, if using, stir, and serve, sprinkling with chopped chives, if desired. Serves 4-5.
Notes
- Kid-Friendly Tip: Your little ones might like the smoky flavor, but if you aren’t sure, ease off on the smoked paprika, starting with just 3/4 to 1 teaspoon. You can also add precooked pasta shapes to this soup, for packing in lunches.
- Savvy Subs and Adds: If you can’t find French lentils, brown (green) lentils substitute nicely. Red lentils do not substitute well as they do not have a similar texture.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve with crostini or baguette slices with Truffled Cashew Cheese (also in Let Them Eat Vegan), or a dollop of Spinach Herb Pistachio Pesto (also in LTEV).
3. Smashing Squash Soup
If you aren’t yet a fan of winter squash, or haven’t found a winter squash soup recipe to love – try this one!
First, the squash is oven-roasted, giving it more concentrated flavor, and then all the ingredients are blitzed up in the blender for ease.
The texture is silky, flavors smooth and earthy. All the recipe details (plus a squash prep video) in this post.
4. Lemony Chickpea Lentil Soup
This soup originates from my 3rd cookbook, eat, drink & be vegan. I’ve loved it for years, and our kids do too!
Our middle girl says it’s her all-time favorite soup. I think it’s that punch of lemon. She always likes to add lemon to soups, this one already has it! The base is a blend of red lentils with chickpeas, with a herb-y undertone. It’s balanced, delicious – satisfying. Give it a go!
Lemony Chickpea Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- splash or water
- 2 cups onion diced
- 1 1/2 cups celercy diced
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 – 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup dried red lentils
- 3 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 2 cups zucchini or tomatoes chopped (I used tomatoes)
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large soup pot on medium heat, add water, onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, mustard seed, cumin seeds, paprika, oregano, and thyme and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 6–7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse lentils. Add lentils and 21⁄2 cups chickpeas (reserve remaining 1 cup), zucchini or tomatoes, stock, water, and bay leaves and stir to com- bine. Increase heat to bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20–25 minutes until lentils are completely softened. Remove bay leaves. Stir in 1⁄4 cup lemon juice, then using a hand blender, purée the soup, keeping some texture. Stir in remaining 1 cup chickpeas. Season with additional sea salt, pepper, and lemon juice if desired, and serve.
Clueing up the top vegan soup recipes with a new one for you! At least new to the blog. If you have Let Them Eat Vegan, you may have already tried it – and probably love it!
When readers connect with me about LTEV recipes, they often say “I didn’t notice this recipe right away, but wow it’s amazing”. I’ve mentioned before that I’d love to do that book over, because it lacks the photos and production quality that it deserves. I digress.
Back to the soup. This is your ultimate bowl of goodness. Beans ‘n greens, baby! You’ll make Dr. Greger proud every time you eat it. 😉 Beyond the beans ‘n greens, the broth is simply delicious!
image credit: Jessica Eagle
Beans ‘n Greens Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp water or more as needed, to saute
- 1 ½ cups onion diced
- 2 ½ – 3 cups red or yukon gold potatoes cut in chunks about 1 ½ – 2” thick
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 1 cup carrots diced (or 1 cup red pepper, chopped in small chunks, added later, see note)
- 4-5 medium-large cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ tsp dried rosemary leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp dried marjoram leaves or dried oregano leaves
- 1 ½ tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg see note
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup brown green lentils, rinsed (see note)
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 5 cups water
- 1 tbsp red miso
- 1 1/2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 14/15 oz can cannellini beans (or other white beans), drained and rinsed
- 6-7 cups loosely packed fresh kale leaves, roughly chopped or torn (roughly 1 smallish bunch of kale, can use curly kale or dinosaur kale) (keep fairly large pieces, they will wilt significantly)
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, add the water, onion, potatoes, celery, carrots (if using), garlic, dried herbs and spices, salt, and pepper. Stir through, cover, and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. If veggies are sticking, add another splash of water. Add the lentils, stir through, cover and cook for another few minutes, and then add the vegetable stock, water, miso, molasses, bay leaves and stir through. Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook for 30- 40 minutes, until the lentils are very soft and fully cooked. (If using the chopped red pepper, add after first 25-30 minutes of cooking lentils, see note). Turn off heat, add the cannellini beans (see note), kale, stir through, cover, and let wilt in soup for about 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves to serve, and taste to add additional salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
- Spice Note: Nutmeg seems an odd addition to this soup, I know. However, it actually works nicely with bitter greens, and adds a subtle flavor to the soup that is very pleasant. Give it a try!
- Red Pepper Note: I add the red pepper a little later, just to preserve a little more of the freshness of the pepper. You can add it earlier if you prefer, or use carrot in place of red pepper – though I prefer the red pepper variation.
- Beans Note: Adding the cannellini beans later in the cooking helps preserve the white color of the beans. You can certainly add them earlier, with the lentils, if you want, but they will absorb the broth and turn a brownish color. Just for visual appeal, I prefer to add them later.
- Savvy Subs and Adds: Mung beans would make a good substitution for the green lentils if you have those handy. You can substitute other greens in place of the kale if you like, such as collard greens, swiss chard, or spinach. If using swiss chard or spinach, you won’t need to cook them through, just stir through for a minute and serve.
Hope you enjoy these selections. What are your favorite vegan soups? x Dreena
Dorrie says
Hi Dreena – The link for the sweet potato bisque is not working. Thank you for your recipes – Love Sniffle Soup!
Sue says
Hi Dreena,
I have made your delicious beans and greens soup many times. It makes a lot and I was wondering if it freezes well.
Thank you,
Sue
Dreena says
Hi Sue, so glad you’re enjoying that soup! Yes, it freezes pretty well. Only thing to note is that depending on the greens you use, they don’t fare so well with freezing/thawing – such as spinach. But you could add greens to your portions, not add to the remainder of the soup and then add the greens when warming through again.
Lyla S. says
I absolutely love the Sniffle soup and now that it’s getting cooler I will definitely be making it soon. I’m excited to try the other recipes also-especially the Beans and Greens soup as I struggle with keeping my iron levels up. I have all of the ingredients with the exception of the red miso. I have white miso-would it change the recipe a lot to substitute with the white one? Thanks so much!
Dreena says
Hi Lyla, thanks so much! So happy you love the Sniffle Soup. And YES, absolutely you can sub in another miso. Enjoy!
Sabrina says
My family and I love the Beans and Greens soup! I would love to see the nutrition facts for the recipe. Just out of curiosity! Is this information posted anywhere? Thanks for sharing these healthy delicious recipes.
Dreena says
Hi Sabrina, thanks, I’m glad your family enjoys that soup! I don’t have it posted, sorry. I would need to hire someone to pick up that task for me for the catalogue of my recipes. If you want to find out yourself, here’s a site where you can enter the recipe information to compute: https://nutritiondata.self.com/ Hope that helps!
freda kinsey says
All recipes look delicious. But I don’t see the Smashing Squash recipe.Unless
Tiffany says
These all sound wonderful! I’d like to make the beans & greens in my instant pot. Do you have an IP/slow cooker version? Thanks!
Lauren Vaught says
Just made the smoky lentil soup and all I can say is “DANG, THAT’S GOOD!” I’ll move on to the lemony chickpea soup after we finish off this batch, cuz’ I love anything lemon! Thanks for all the great recipes, Dreena.
Dreena says
music to my ears, Lauren! Thanks for the note 🙂
Oma of Two says
Does the recipe really say 57 1/2 tbsp water ?
To make things quicker, how much water does that equate to in cups ?
Can’t wait to try this. Guess I’m going shopping in the morning.
Thanks
Oma of Two
Dreena says
I just checked the recipes – I don’t see this. Was this from pinterest, perhaps?
Greta says
Tried the sniffle soup and now I know why it’s called the sniffle soup lol. It was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Dreena says
glad you tried it, thanks Greta!
Cathy says
I just made your Sniffle Soup… WOW!!! That stuff is addictive (and no I never said that about a soup before! lol). Thanks for the awesome recipe, will be making this often! I’m going to try your other soups to warm up my cold Quebec winter! 😉
Dreena says
how wonderful, thanks for sharing that with me Cathy 🙂
Michelle Christine says
I finally made the Sniffle Soup today and loved it. It will be going in my regular soup rotation. (We have a loooong winter in upstate NY). 🙂
Thanks, Dreena.
Dreena says
Wonderful! Hope it was a hit for you, thanks Michelle.
Angela says
Hey Dreena all these soups look so amazing and it’s winter here in Australia so I’m hankering for some warming soups.
Problem: I can’t do beans because of irritable bowel any suggestions.
Also I have loads and (more coming) of parsley in my garden. I love the taste of it (so fresh) but there is so much. Any ideas what to do with it?
freda kinsey says
Hey Angela check out Dr. Greger’s site, NutritionFacts.org about irritable bowel and beans…be loved
Kimberly Baxter says
So many wonderful flavors going on in here!
Joan says
Hi Dreena. We love your sniffle soup but wondered if it freezes well?
Shari says
Would all of these soups be acceptable for a diabetic? I’m trying to stick to only recipes from your cookbook with Dr. Barnard. 🙂 The ingredients appear the same (allowed) but I wanted to check. Thank you!
SFerd says
Hi Dreena–
I wonder if canned tomatoes can be used in the Lemony Chickpea Lentil Soup? Have you tried them previously? Or, maybe I’ll just make the Beans & Greens Soup instead.
Micki says
I figured I’d just go right down the list. The first, the Lentil Sniffle soup, came out really well. I mostly followed the recipe, but added a touch more curry (mine was a little TOO mild), and some hot pepper sauce I made from fermenting honey and jalapenos. It added a little kick. I also used half red lentils and half split mung beans, because I had split mung beans that I needed to use in something. I also let it simmer about 2 hours, bc I really like it cooked to a mush.I’m always looking for recipes that use rosemary, as I have quite a large bush in the front yard. A side benefit of living in my part of AZ…. it’s practically a weed. But I think my next adventure will be #5, the beans and greens. They all look great, thanks!
Dreena says
Thanks for the feedback, Micki! I visited Arizona twice and LOVED it there, and remember seeing rosemary growing in areas. Hope you enjoy the other soups you try too!
marilyn says
Beans n greens soup is wonderful. I have never left a comment after trying recipes found on pinterest but my husband and I so enjoyed this soup I just felt compelled to leave a “two thumbs up” for this one. Thanks for a winner.
Dreena says
Wow, well thank you very much, Marilyn. I’m honored to be your first comment! Delighted both you and your husband enjoyed the soup so much. Blessings!
Ttrockwood says
I have made that lentil soup with smoked paprika soooo many times! My very non-vegan nephew literally ate three big bowls of it when i made this for him :))
This winter i have been SO obsessed with making hot and sour soup. I use a combo of white pepper and Szechuan peppercorns for the heat and add in lots of tofu and usually some greens. It’s perfect for cold winter nights with a side of dry fried green beans and some rice
Janelle Humphreys says
Have had both recipe books for a while but never made the soup. It’s quick, easy and delicious. I dad add an extra 1/2 tsp of curry powder and about 1/4 tsp of garam masala, fresh rosemary and blended whole lemon.
Ginger says
And my favorite soup is anything split pea or lemon based! Thank you for all the soup recommendations.
Dreena says
wonderful, thanks Ginger – enjoy!
Cay snow says
I was hoping to try the Beans and Greens Soup recipe also! I tried searching the site but couldn’t find the recipe anywhere. I would love to try it if you have a chance to repost this! Thanks Dreena!
Dreena says
so sorry, that was my slip – now fixed!
Julie Kleinman says
I’m also searching for the Beans ‘n Greens Soup recipe – would love to try it!
Dreena says
My slip, it’s now there, thanks Julie!
Edward says
Me too. Where is the Beans n Greens Soup recipe? Looks delicious…
Dreena says
Now there, sorry for that miss. Thanks!
Jessica Eagle says
I’m also a HUGE fan of soup. Actually, I need at least one bowl of soup everyday…hi hi !!!
I already made all the soup suggested in this post, but they are so good. We can definitely continue to make them on and on. Miammm…!
Thanks for sharing anbd have a nice day.
Dreena says
Hi Jessica! Thanks for your note – and also a big thanks for your beautiful photo!
Ginger says
I don’t see the beans and greens recipe either.
Dreena says
Now there, thanks!
Margaret Harris says
Hi, Dreena. I couldn’t find a live link on the beans and greens soup? I even clicked on the picture — no luck.
Dreena says
Hi Margaret, sorry about that, it’s there now. I didn’t get these comment notifications either (argh!), so bit of a delay. Enjoy!
Sue says
I don’t see a link for the Beans and Greens soup?
Dreena says
There now, hope you enjoy!
Joe SIlberlicht says
Where is the recipe for theBeans ‘n Greens Soup?
Mary EO says
Wonderful recipes – my shopping list is almost complete.
But yes please where’s the recipe for Beans ‘n Green Soup?
Dreena says
It’s now there, sorry about that!
Dreena says
Sorry, it’s there now, thanks Joe.
Stacey says
The recipe for Beans and Green soup seems to be missing from this post. Can you please send it?
Dreena says
It’s there now, thanks Stacey!
nancy says
hey dreena, where can i find the receipe to print for the greens and beans soup. thanks
Dreena says
Whoops, sorry about that, Nancy. It’s there now!
NitNat says
New website is simply beautiful! And I love me some soup! I made the Smoked Paprika Lentil soup this week! And the Chickpea and Rice is also a regular in our home! One that the family requests a lot is African Peanut Stew, but that is more of a stew. I also love a lot of blended soups. We got a bunch of carrots, so I’ll be cooking up a nice ginger carrot soup this weekend for sure!
Dreena says
Aw, thanks so much! A gingered carrot soup sounds beautiful, I’d enjoy that too.