This Instant Pot Spiced Red Lentil Sweet Potato Soup is one of my favorite easy recipes, and it’s one that you all like so much too!
It’s a creamy and thick spiced soup that gets its natural creaminess from red lentils and sweet potatoes. No coconut milk needed to thicken it up because red lentils get mushy when cooked, plus the Instant Pot melts the sweet potatoes into the soup.
For a visual on how to make this recipe, check out the video on Youtube! It’s the first recipe in the video and starts around the 00:55 mark.
Why you’re going to like this recipe
10 main ingredients. Okay, I’m not counting oil, salt and pepper. But yeah, 10 main ingredients, yay!
Weeknight-friendly. It requires just 5 minutes of hands-on cooking, so it’s definitely an easy option for those busy weeknights.
Hearty yet wholesome. This recipe is hearty and comforting, the kind of soup that’s more stew than soup and that’s super satisfying, thanks to its creamy texture, the protein-packed lentils, and the complex carbs from the sweet potatoes. This makes it a great meal for the whole family!
Perfectly spiced. If you’re tired of the same old meals, this is a recipe to try! It features Indian spices but it’s still very accessible and doable, even for novice cooks. The Indian spices pair perfectly with the red lentils (a classic combo), and are balanced nicely by the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.
This recipe is super easy to make so there’s not much to say, but keep in mind that this soup is quite thick and creamy, almost like a stew or dal. If you prefer a soupy texture, just add more vegetable broth or water.
You can add the extra broth/water before pressure cooking (in step 3), or after pressure cooking once you see the finished texture so you can add as much liquid as needed.
More delicious vegan soups
Hungry for even more delicious vegan soups, stews, and curries? Give these a try:
- Vegan Red Lentil Curry
- Instant Pot Thai Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup
- Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Soup with Sausage and Kale
- Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale and Gremolata
If you give this Instant Pot Spiced Red Lentil Sweet Potato Soup a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please comment with your feedback below!
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Instant Pot Spiced Red Lentil Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or oil of choice)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated or minced ginger
- 1 serrano pepper, diced (optional, adds some heat)
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon curry powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into a large dice
- 1 cup red lentils, rinsed until the water runs clear
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth*
- 1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt + more to taste
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup (optional)
- For serving (optional): coconut yogurt, fresh cilantro, and flatbread or rice
Instructions
- Select the Sauté setting on your Instant Pot and heat up the coconut oil. Once it’s shimmering, add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened.
- Add the garlic, ginger, serrano pepper (if using), garam masala, curry powder (if using), cumin, and turmeric and stir until aromatic, about 30 seconds.
- Pour in the vegetable broth to deglaze the pot, using a wooden spoon or scraper to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the lentils, sweet potatoes, sea salt, and pepper. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Select the Cancel setting.
- Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and seal. Select the Pressure Cook (or Manual, depending on your model) setting and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Once the 10 minutes is up, allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes before switching the pressure release valve from Sealing to Venting. Open the Instant Pot and give the soup a stir. Taste for seasonings. You may want to add more salt, or to balance the acidity, you may want to add a teaspoon or two of maple syrup or sugar.
- Once the soup has slightly cooled, top with coconut yogurt and fresh cilantro. If desired, serve with flatbread or rice.
Notes
I don’t normally like sweet potato, but I gave this a try while on a soft food diet. I loved it! The texture, the flavor, the nutrition, even the color were all wonderful.
Thanks for the lovely review, Mary!
soup was delicious! is this freezer friendly?
That’s lovely to hear, Sydney! And yes, it is! We like freezing our soups in individual portions in these souper cubes for easy defrosting of single portions later. Cheers!
I had made this several times before and loved it. So recently I decided to try it for our backpacking trip. I made it without the oil because you can not dehydrate food with alot of oil in it. So I sweated the onions in some water, then followed the directions as written. When it was finished I let it cool completely, lined my dehydrator with parchment paper and spread it out on 4 trays to make 4 servings. After dehydrating, it was easy to put in 4 ziploc bags to pack on our backpacking trip. I added 1 1/4 cup boiling water to each serving and 1 T. olive oil that I had brought along. It was light weight to pack, and delicious after a day of hiking!
Lovely to hear this soup came in handy for your backpacking trip, Julie! We hope you had a wonderful time on that trip!
Do you have instructions to make this in a crockpot or on the stove top?
This is amazing !
I make it on repeat :-)
We’re delighted to hear it, Cynthia :)
Loved this recipe, I omitted the vegetable broth and used water instead and it still had so much flavour from the spices.
I also blended the soup at the end which gave it a lovely smooth texture.
It’s so great to hear you enjoyed the soup, Priyanka! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
This is delicious! Used a jalapeno because I had it and I added a bunch of chopped kale. It is sooooooo good.
My new favorite recipe and so easy to put together. Guests love it!
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Dorothy. Thanks for your kind words!
We got a crockpot for Christmas and this is the first recipe we tried. Amazing. The sweet potatoes were soooo good!
Lovely to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Mariann!
This came out amazing! I made it on Sunday so I have soup for the week at work. Monday when I warmed it up I had a several people say it smelled amazing and now they were hungry! LOL
We’re so happy that the soup turned out well for you, Shannon. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for trying out the recipe!