Have you been looking for a cozy, hug-in-a-bowl recipe now that we’re nearing the end of summer? This incredible curried pumpkin lentil soup recipe has everything you could want in a soup. It’s hearty, filled with warm flavors and delicious with your favorite crackers or a side of garlic naan (yum).
Soup season is probably my favorite time of year and this is truly the perfect recipe to kick it off! You’ll love how easy it is to make with a few pantry staples and spices. Plus, it’s filled with wonderful pumpkin flavor and I know you’re all pumpkin obsessed like I am.
Make a big batch and freeze some for later, or serve it up and watch the kiddos fall in love, too! Lunch & dinner is served.
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Ingredients in vegan pumpkin lentil soup
This nourishing vegan curried pumpkin lentil soup is full of nutrients and cozy flavors that you’ll love all season long. Plus, it packs some veggies and is easy to make! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Veggies: we’re adding onion and carrot for a veggie and texture boost in this lentil soup. You’ll need a bit of olive oil to cook them down.
- Herbs & spices: gotta have savory garlic, plus some freshly grated ginger, yellow curry powder and a kick of heat from cayenne pepper (if you’d like). Round out all of the flavors with salt and pepper to taste!
- For the broth: keep the soup vegan & vegetarian with vegetarian broth or water. You’ll also add light coconut milk for subtle sweetness. So good! The broth will help thin the soup and cook the lentils.
- Lentils: you can use green or brown lentils in this recipe. Just be sure to sort and rinse them.
- Pumpkin puree: gotta have that pumpkin flavor in the pumpkin lentil soup! Feel free to use canned pumpkin puree or make your own with this tutorial.
- To garnish: I like to top my bowl with extra fresh diced cilantro, greek yogurt, salsa (it’s so good!), pita or naan bread for dipping.
Customize your soup
Looking for an ingredient swap or addition in this pumpkin lentil soup? Here’s what I can recommend:
- Swap the pumpkin. I think pureed sweet potato would also be delicious as the base in this recipe.
- Up the protein. While the soup already has almost 10g of protein per serving thanks to the lentils, this soup would also be delicious with cooked, ground turkey or chicken.
- Add a kick of heat. If you like spice, feel free to bump up the cayenne pepper! Cool it off with extra coconut milk on top or even greek yogurt.
How to make pumpkin lentil curry soup
- Cook down the veggies. Start by adding olive oil in a large pot and place over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add in onion, carrot and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add spices. Bring the heat to medium low and add in ginger, curry powder and cayenne. Stir together for 30 seconds.
- Pull it all together. Next stir in water or broth, coconut milk, lentils and pumpkin puree. If you’d like, you can reserve 2 tablespoons of coconut milk for drizzling on top once the soup is done. Season the soup with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Cook & simmer. Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat and simmer over medium low for 30 minutes or until lentils are soft and tender. The soup should thicken up, but if it gets too thick for your liking, then feel free to add an extra ½ cup-1 cup water or broth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary, adding additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Garnish and serve. Serve soup immediately and drizzle in a circle with leftover coconut milk. Garnish with cilantro, yogurt and salsa if you’d like. I love to serve mine with naan or pita bread for dipping.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store this creamy pumpkin lentil soup recipe in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Feel free to reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop!
- To freeze: let the soup completely cool and then transfer it to a freezer-safe container (or multiple containers for meal prep purposes). Freeze for up to 2 months. To reheat, first let the soup thaw in the refrigerator, then heat the soup in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Our fav sides to serve this pumpkin lentil soup
What’s a soup without delicious sides? Here are some of our favorite ones to serve with the soup:
- Naan or garlic naan (SO GOOD)
- The Best Fluffy Moist Cornbread Recipe Ever
- Brussels Sprouts Kale Honeycrisp Apple Salad with Maple Cider Dressing
- The Best Garlic Bread You’ll Ever Eat
- Pat’s 4-Ingredient Paleo Crackers
- Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad
More pumpkin recipes to try
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chicken Soup
- Vegetarian Spinach Pumpkin Lasagna
- Nourishing Yellow Chickpea Pumpkin Curry with Coconut Brown Rice
- Slow Cooker Black Bean Quinoa Pumpkin Chicken Chili
- Mini Paleo Pumpkin Pies with Gingerbread Cookie Crust
Get all of our delicious pumpkin recipes here!
I hope you love this delicious vegan curried pumpkin lentil soup recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Vegan Curried Pumpkin Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon mild yellow curry powder
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon cayenne (only if you like a little heat)
- 3 cups water or vegetarian broth
- 1 cup green or brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk (reserve 2 tablespoons for drizzling on top of soup)
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- To garnish:
- Extra fresh diced cilantro
- Greek yogurt
- Salsa (it’s so good!)
- Pita or naan bread for dipping
Instructions
- Add olive oil in a large pot and place over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add in onion, carrot and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Bring heat to medium low and add in ginger, curry powder and cayenne, stir together for 30 seconds.
- Next stir in water/broth, coconut milk, lentils and pumpkin puree. If you’d like, you can reserve 2 tablespoons of coconut milk for drizzling on top once the soup is done. Season the soup with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat and simmer over medium low for 30 minutes or until lentils are soft and tender. The soup should thicken up. (If it gets too thick for your liking, then feel free to add an extra ½ cup-1 cup water or broth.) Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary, adding additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve soup immediately and drizzle in a circle with leftover coconut milk. Garnish with cilantro, yogurt and salsa if you’d like. I love to serve mine with naan or pita bread for dipping. Serves 4.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on October 8, 2020 and republished on September 20, 2021.
138 comments
This is so easy to make and delicious! Feels perfect for fall. Love your recipes.
Absolutely! So happy to hear that 🙂
Can I also use fresh pumpkin? 🙂 looks delish!
Of course! Enjoy 🙂
Looks delicious and like something else I was going to make. I was wondering how you think red lentils would be in this? Thank you,
I haven’t tried it, sometimes red lentils become too tender and end up becoming paste like.
Awesome, no fuss recipe that is packed with flavor. I threw in some kale I had in hand for a little extra but otherwise followed the recipe and it came out great.
Absolutely! Love that idea 🙂
I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it!!
I followed recipe exactly as suggested and it turned out perfectly! It was the most amazing fall meal; it was wonderfully satiating and comforting with its blend of warmth and spice.
Can’t wait to add this to our fall list of “pumpkin favorites”!!
Amazing! So happy you loved it!
Look forward to making this fir Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.
Dried or canned lentils?
Dried! 🙂
We enjoyed this soup immensely on a cold, rainy night. I followed the recipe as written. Thank you!
So happy to hear that! Comfort in a bowl.
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! My fiance and I both loved it. I added nutritional yeast to the broth (I literally add it to every soup I make, its powdered gold haha) and upped the curry powder and ginger a bit for stronger flavor, and added extra pumpkin since I had a bit left over after making your pumpkin bread 🙂 excited to have leftovers for work!
Perfect! This one’s great for adapting to your taste preferences 🙂 Glad you both enjoyed!
Just wanted to follow up to say I just made this soup again with similar rifs to the first time I made it and its just as phenomenal! I love that its so easy to throw together and tastes delicious, plus it doubles as lunch for a few days 🙂
Just made this and it was so delicious and filling! I made a few subs and it still tasted great- oat milk for coconut milk, dried ginger for fresh, and omitted the carrot since I didn’t have one.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
This was excellent! Thick and luscious – no moderations made at all. Would highly recommend for a hearty weeknight meal (did i mention it was so easy!?).
Absolutely! Perfect for fall (and meal prepping!)
This soup is so good!
Omitted the cayenne pepper. Used full fat coconut milk, chicken broth, 2 carrots instead of just one. We are meat people, so I added 8oz. of italian ground sausage right in.
Will definitely add this to our favorites list!
Perfect! So glad you loved it!
Do you think this could be made in a slow cooker?
Definitely! Cook on high for 3-4 hours or until lentils are tender or on low for 6-8 hours!
Was delicious! Subbed chickpeas and added rice. So good.
Delicious!
Glad you liked it!
This was so delicious! So flavorful and creamy. My husband isn’t a huge fan of lentils and was bragging to his coworkers about this soup!
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
Yummy and easy recipe! I love lentils and this is the perfect way to add some fall spirit, flavor, and heartiness to them. Another amazing recipe. Thank you!
Absolutely. Perfect dinner for fall!
This was delicious, so tasty and warming! I added a can of chickpeas at the end but otherwise kept the recipe exactly as is. Can’t wait to make it again!
Super easy and delicious I added cauliflower since I had one in the fridge and topped it with roasted pumpkin seeds.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Delicious, and family approved! Will make again this fall for sure
Amazing! Love that 🙂
I made half the recipe since that’s what I had on hand and it turned out delicious! I cooked it for 20 minutes and it turned out more like a curry than a soup but I am totally fine with that. Also made my apartment small ahhhhmmazing!
Perfect! So cozy and delicious 🙂
I love this soup! It’s delicious, easy, and VEGAN! Also, the pumpkin taste isn’t overwhelming at all – it just adds a slight sweetness. Soo good!
Absolutely! Such a great dinner 🙂
Ok this soup is a-freakin-MAZING. It’s got that creamy comfort of pumpkin and coconut milk with a tiny kick of heat from the cayenne. I made the pot and couldn’t stop going back for tiny scoops as I was waiting for it to cool before refrigerating the rest. YUM!!!
Absolutely! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
Delicious! This dish was easy to make and so tasty! Perfect dinner on a cold fall night!
Absolutely! Perfect lunch or dinner 🙂
SO yummy and SO easy to make! I serve it with Trader Joe’s naan and a side salad. This makes an appearance weekly!
Love those sides! So delicious 🙂
I used canned pureed butternut squash instead of pumpkin cuz it was what I had and it was delicious! I served it with brown rice. Was super easy to make too, will definitely make this again!
Perfect! Great idea 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
Wondering if I can use other types of winter squash for this soup? I have a carnival squash which is a little less sweet thank pumpkin but similar texture…?
That should be fine!
I have made this soup several times over the past few months. It’s super simple and delicious. A perfect cold weather meal. Definitely a keeper!
So great for winter! Glad you love it 🙂
I loved this soup! It was the perfect savory use for the leftovers from a very large container of pumpkin. Reheated wonderfully!
Delicious! Have made this twice. It freezes well too.
So happy to hear that!
Absolutely delicious! The perfect lunch.
So glad you enjoyed!
So good and super simple to make! Perfect for a light meal or easy snack
Pumpkin never tasted yummy until I found your pumpkin lentil recipe. Sop, many thanks.
Yay!! Glad to hear you’re enjoying it in this soup 🙂
LET ME TELL YOU my roomie and I made this every. damn. week. from August of 2020 through April of 2021, I am telling you the truth. I told her we had to stop making it so we wouldn’t make ourselves sick of it and baby, it’s August again and I am here. for it. This will be resuming it’s weekly rotation at our place. We are obsessed with it. We eat it with pita bread, we eat it over rice, we eat it plain… it’s the easiest thing ever, cheap, and so delicious. You gotta make it!
OMG that is amazing, I’m so impressed haha! So happy you guys are obsessed. Thanks for spreading the love!
Perfect timing, I have homemade chicken stock unthawing in my fridge to make a triple batch of lentil soup (will freeze most of it up). Going to try it with pumpkin and oat milk, thanks for the great idea!
Oh that’s PERFECT! So excited for you to try it 🙂
This soup was incredible. Very easy to make, and everyone in my house loved it! My 1 year old had 2 bowls! I will be making this on heavy rotation this winter – another winner from AK!
Oh yay!! I’m so happy that you guys all loved it 🙂 Thanks, Katie!
Woke up and it felt like fall outside, so my planned lunch salad went out the window and I threw this in the crockpot. Been on all morning and I can’t help going in and “taste testing’ the soup every few minutes while the lentils cook, because it’s that GOOD. I keep all these ingredients on hand so this will definitely enter the winter rotation. Because I’m not vegetarian/vegan, I used chicken bone broth to add some extra protein and collagen. I can’t wait until those lentils are cooked and I can dive head-first into a bowl.
Oh yes this one is SO perfect for fall! Happy you’re loving it so much! And great idea to add the bone broth 🙂
This is a great, nourishing and straight forward recipe to keep in your rotation, especially over the fall and winter. I doubled it! I used dried ground ginger to taste as I had no fresh, and I had some leftover cooked quinoa in the fridge so I added it! I also had a leftover half of a lime in the fridge so gave it a good squeeze of lime juice. Delicious! We served with garlic naan. The spice level is great and my one year old enjoyed this also. Will totally make this again and be freezing some for lunches.
Those additions all sound great! Happy you loved this recipe, Ariel 🙂
Love the warm flavor combinations in this dish! So good and perfect for a chilly night. My 11 month old was a huge fan (no cayenne and a little Greek yogurt so it wasn’t too spicy for her).
So glad to hear that, Cara! Happy you both loved it ❤️
I didn’t have lite coconut milk so I used the regular and it came out so thick and creamy. The flavor is delicious. I went with the dash of cayenne and it gave the soup just the right amount of kick with the curry flavor. This soup was perfect comfort food for a cloudy Fall day!
Nice! So happy that you enjoyed it, Caitlin! Such a great one for fall 🙂
YUM. Added an extra carrot and celery. Would be good with spinach or kale wilted in at the end.
YUM to all of that! Happy you loved it 🙂
So easy & delicious! Made the whole house smell warm & comforting – everyone in the family loved it!
Yes, such a cozy smell, right?! Happy you guys enjoyed it!
This was easy and delicious. A new fall favorite for my family. Also, the salsa recommendation was spot on! I served the soup with blue corn tortilla chips.
Yay! Happy you guys loved it. Isn’t it fun with the salsa?!
Fantastic. I felt like i travelled across the globe in about 45 minutes, really enjoyable experience.
Wow!! I’m so happy you loved this one!
Delicious! I left out the cayenne bc my little ones and husband don’t like spice and I also added half a bag of frozen spinach. Served with super buttery naan bread and it was just 👌 perfection in a bowl.
That sounds AMAZING! So happy you loved it, Kimberly!
I absolutely love this soup!! It is so easy to make and full of delicious flavours
Yay! I’m so glad you love it, Jennifer!
So cozy and delish! I don’t tolerate lentils well so I subbed one can of drained chickpeas and reduced some of the broth. I’m sure this would also be delicous with chicken or peas added for different protein sources. 🙂 This is the perfect soup to drag some pita or crusty bread through.
Great call on subbing in the chickpeas! Totally agree that it would be great with lots of different proteins 🙂 Happy you enjoyed it!
Delicious and so filling!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Delicious recipe- I wanted a little extra protein so I browned up 8oz of ground turkey in the pot before adding in the carrots, onion, and garlic. Really flavorful and cozy, as well as freezer friendly (always appreciated, as I’m a batch cooker whenever possible).
Great call! That sounds amazing 🙂 Happy you enjoyed it!
This is soooo good!!! Amazing and super easy to make! I add extra carrots and make it in a slow cooker.
Yum! This is the best soup! I will make it all year long!
Yay! I’m so happy you’re a fan of this, Julie 🙂
This was SO delicious, so warming, and best of all very easy! I appreciate that there was minimal chopping, but packed such a flavor. I used just shy of 1 tablespoon curry powder and added about a teaspoon (or a little more) of garam masala. I have only made it this one time, so can’t say how it compared to the original, but I loved it! Thank you!
Added cauliflower and salt (used water instead of broth). Easy, delicious and healthy!
So yummy! Loved the simplicity and flavor of this soup. I cooked it for 7 hours in my instant pot set to slow cook on low and it didn’t cook. I had to put it on sauté for about 15 minutes to boil it and cook the lentils. Lovely fall dish.
Glad it worked out and that you enjoyed it, Chelsea!
I love this soup! I have made 4 or 5 times and love the depth of flavor and extra spice. Yum!!
Yay!! So happy you’re a fan, Debbie 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! This dish turned out amazing! My husband loved it and said it was the best meal that I have made in awhile. Even my kids (who are picky) gobbled it up! I followed your exact recipe but avoided the cayenne pepper. I also added in a few yellow mini potatoes and added in a teaspoon of salt (instead of a 1/2 tsp.) Just as you suggested, I served the soup with naan and it was delicious! Thanks again for the great recipe!
Aw this makes me so happy! SO glad the whole fam loved it 🙂 And love the idea of adding mini potatoes!!
can I add ground pork to the Vegan Curried Pumpkin Lentil Soup?
Thanks.
Sure, go for it!
This was delicious!! I made a double batch and froze half. The pumpkin and spices make the flavor so good, and it was pretty straightforward to make.
This recipe is easy, makes the house smell divine, and tastes AMAZING! The only thing I changed is to sub veggie broth for the olive oil. This recipe will become a regular in my rotation.
I made this today for lunch, it was delicious! I chose the recipe because I had half a butternut squash to use up, so I just added raw diced butternut squash at the same time as the lentils, and it turned out great. It has a nice hot kick (of course you can leave out the cayenne if you don’t like spice) that was just what the doctor ordered, on a freezing cold day! Thanks a lot Monique. I’ve also got your cinnamon rolls on their 2nd rise right now, so I’ll let you know how those turn out too 🙂
Saw your cinnamon roll review–yay!! And SO happy you loved this one. Such a cozy recipe for the winter, right??
Whoa! this is absolutely delicious! I also added cauliflower florets to get an extra veggie in there, and used my own homemade pumpkin purée. Great meal for a few days!
Love the addition of cauliflower, and that you made your own puree! Thanks so much for the review, I’m glad you enjoyed it so much 🙂
This was delicious. I was out of carrots so didn’t add one in. Also, I used red lentils instead of green or brown, and it was still great. My friend came over for dinner and she loved it too. I served it with Naan and a green salad.
Nice!! Sounds like a great meal 🙂
Holy moly this soup was delicious. I used red lentils and Garam masala curry powder because it’s what I had on hand. Everything else was by the recipe. I will make a double batch and freeze some next time, So flavorful, nourishing and filling. Thank you!
Made this tonight and it’s super tasty! So filling and nourishing. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow as I’m sure it will be even better. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
I have made this dish for dinner several times & it never disappoints! I use canned brown lentils & it turns out phenomenal each time. Plus, I love how it is so easy to make & the flavor combination is out of this world amazing. Thank you for another delicious recipe!
Another family favorite. The spice of the curry and ginger combined with the savory pumpkin and creamy coconut milk is perfection. Really heats you up on a chilly fall day. Plus lentils are always a good idea.
This is a good recipe, and easy to make, although it took around 45 minutes of cooking for the lentils to soften–not 30 minutes. I think it might be better to cook the lentils in the broth and pumpkin first and then add the coconut milk later in the cooking.
Hi! Thanks for sharing! I’m wondering if it was the type/brand of lentils you used — mind sharing?
How many cups in one serving?
Great soup! Second time I’ve made this for my family. I had some grated carrot and red onion in the fridge and used those in the soup…the carrots stayed a bit crunchy and the onions added a little extra color to the soup. If we had a larger freezer, I’d double the recipe and store extra for an evening when there was less time for cooking; though the time posted for preparing and cooking is perfect!
Nice, filling soup…it thickens up nicely and can, of course, be thinned to desired consistency; I added 1 cup of diced kale which worked well…and it could have easily handled more kale.
Yum! Sounds amazing. So glad you you are loving this recipe 🙂
This was so easy to make, and tasty. Unfortunately I discovered at the last minute I only had red lentils, so I subbed those for brown/green. Cooked much more quickly but tastes great.
I’m glad it still worked out well! Just have to watch the cooking time 🙂 Perfect cozy recipe for this season.
Tasty recipe and easy to make or modify. I gave it the full cayenne kick and am glad I did. Perfect for a blustery winter day. However, I’m currently counting calories, and when I submitted this recipe as is to MyFitnessPal, it translated with a calorie count fully DOUBLE what’s indicated here — 525 calories per serving vs. 248 listed. Not sure what’s what, but something to be aware of.
Thanks so much, Suzan. I will check this out! Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Loved it, Super easy to make and it reheats well. I used red lentils but added them only 15 minutes before the end so they didn’t overcook. I’ll do that recipe again anytime I have pumpkin puree.
Amazing! So glad you’re loving this recipe and it turned out great of you!
5 stars! My son says “really good”
Yay! Happy this recipe is a hit 🙂
This is delicious and easy for mediocre cooks like me! I’m trying to meal planner better and thought it’d try this out. My only complaint is that I wish I would have doubled the recipe cause I don’t think this is going to last me through the week because it’s so yummy.
SO GOOD! Glad you found this recipe and it turned out great for you, Caroline!
Hello! Excited to try this. How would you adjust this for a can of lentils vs dry? Thank you!
I haven’t tried subbing canned lentils in the soup, so I am not sure how it would turn out. I think 9.5oz can should be enough.
This soup is absolutely AMAZING! It’s my go-to for fall and is so quick and easy to make. I love it with salsa on top – thank you for sharing!
YUM! Glad you gave this soup a try and are loving it 🙂