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- This red lentil soup is the definition of a simple and nourishing comfort food. Made from red lentils, onion, garlic, potato, and a touch of garlic, it is blended until silky smooth and then finished with a warm drizzle of a spiced butter and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. My recipe is inspired by the Turkish red lentil soup Mercimek Corbasi which is a classic soup you'll find across cafes and home kitchens that is naturally gluten free and budget friendly because it's made from just a handful of pantry staples. This is a super easy soup recipe that I am 100% confident you're gonna have on repeat because I certainly have. So let me show you how to make it. To get started, peel and dice two medium carrots.
The carrots add a natural sweetness to the soup, and while I'm not adding celery today to keep it a bit more aligned with the traditional Turkish version, you could always add a few ribs of celery for that classic mirepoix soup base. And your dice here doesn't have to be perfect as we will be blending the soup at the end. So, once you're done, just push the carrots to the side of your cutting board. For a little body and heft to the soup, peel and dice one medium potato. You could use a russet potato or a Yukon Gold potato. The russet potato is starchier and will thicken the soup a bit more while the Yukon Gold has a naturally creamy texture for a smooth and silky finish. So the choice is yours.
And lastly, dice one large yellow onion. The onion helps to build that savory sweet base and just softens and melts into the soup. You could also use a white onion, though I'd probably stay away from a red onion as it can sort of muddy the color of the soup a bit. But once your onion is chopped up, that's it in terms of prep work. See, I told you this was an easy soup. The onion and carrot will be added to the soup at the same time, so go ahead and place them in the same prep bowl and then the potatoes in another prep bowl and take them both over to the stove.
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, and saute the onion and carrot for four to five minutes until they're softened. Then add the diced potato, and stir everything together for another two minutes. (gentle music) Add three garlic cloves, and you can mince those straight into the pot. Then add two tablespoons of tomato paste, one teaspoon of paprika, one teaspoon of ground cumin, one teaspoon of kosher salt, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.
Stir the spices with the veggies for another 30 seconds or so until all that delicious aroma starts wafting through your kitchen. Add one cup of red lentils that you've rinsed and picked through, and, pro tip, I do recommend buying a big jar or a big bag of red lentils because I am pretty confident you're gonna be making this soup again and again this winter. Then add six cups of low-sodium vegetable broth, and for another cost savings, if I don't have extra veggie broth already opened, I'll usually just add four cups of vegetable broth and two cups of water, and that's totally fine.
Give this all a stir, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer the lentils for 20 to 25 minutes or until the lentils and potatoes are very soft. And do stir the pot intermittently so that you don't have any lentils that sort of stick to the bottom of the pot. Once your soup is ready, you can give it a final stir, then use an immersion blender to blend it until it's smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, you could transfer the soup to a regular blender and blend it up that way, though I do think an immersion blender is worth having, and I love my Vitamix one that I have had for several years.
It's incredibly powerful and has silicone on the bottom so it won't scratch my very expensive white Le Creuset pot. So if you're in the market for one, I do recommend this one, and I'll link it for you below. All right, this lentil soup is now done. Look at how smooth yet hearty the soup looks. And while I know we still, in this day and age, don't have a Smell-O-Vision, you'll just have to trust me that it does indeed smell amazing. Ladle the soup into serving bowls, and then just leave that there for a second to make the spiced butter drizzle for the top. And to make that, add three tablespoons of butter to a small pan along with two teaspoons of Aleppo pepper.
If you'd like to make this a dairy-free lentil soup, just swap the butter for olive oil here. Melt the butter and pepper together over low heat until the butter just starts bubbling and the mixture becomes fragrant. Then grab a spoon, and drizzle that deliciousness on top. The deep red from the Aleppo pepper is such a beautiful topping on the vibrant orange soup. It's almost like a work of art. And then the last finishing touch is a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top for brightness.
I am seriously in love with this soup, not only for its simplicity, but also its budget-friendly nature and deeply layered flavor that tastes so gourmet but is truly a humble everyday kind of soup. I have a lemony lentil soup in my cookbook, a Mediterranean lentil soup on my website, and now this Turkish-inspired red lentil soup that really proves lentils are a winning soup ingredient. I am so excited to dig into this today because even though it is sunny out, which I'm sure you can see from the sunshine coming into my kitchen, it's actually quite cool, and this is a nice warming soup.
(gentle music) For such a simple soup, there is an incredible amount of flavor and warmth, and it just makes you feel all cozy from the inside out. The paprika adds the warmth. There's a little bit of sweetness from the carrots. The lentil and the potatoes give it body. And the Aleppo pepper butter drizzle on top, I mean, it really is the finishing touch. But you also don't want to forget the squeeze of lemon because that adds the brightness to it. So you've got this warmthness.
You've got this warmthness? Is that a word? So you've got warmth, you've got brightness, and, overall, it's just a really nourishing soup that's not gonna weigh you down, but it will fill you up because the lentils have some good protein and fiber. And while Aleppo pepper might not be an ingredient that you have in your spice drawer on a regular basis, if you've made my Turkish eggs, you should have it. I think it is something you should definitely get. It is worth it for this recipe. It's worth it for my Turkish eggs. It just has a different spice flavor than the paprika. And the paprika is best used inside the soup and the Aleppo pepper on top.
And while you could get away with doing a paprika butter drizzle on top, I think the Aleppo pepper butter drizzle really is what makes this soup extra special. So just go buy yourself a jar of Aleppo pepper, and I will link the one that I use in the description box below. This soup is a great meal prep soup. It will last for about four to five days in the fridge or up to three months in the freezer, and, over time, it will thicken a little bit as it sits both due to the lentils and the potatoes. So if it gets a little bit too thick, you can just thin it down with a little bit more water or broth. This is just one of those soups that always hits the spot when you want something quick, easy, comforting, and cozy
and light and warming, all over the things. I think that you guys are gonna love it. And as I mentioned on my Turkish eggs video several months ago, I am going to Turkey in just a couple of months, so I cannot wait to have this actually in Turkey along with so many other recipes. If you have tips for eating gluten free in Turkey, I would of course love those. I'm sure I'll post a few more things in the future, and I can't wait to share my travels and food explorations with you guys as well. So do make sure to stay tuned for that. If you guys enjoyed today's video, make sure to give it a thumbs up, and if you have any other tips for traveling or eating in Turkey, I will gladly take all of those in the comments below.
And, with that, I will see you guys in the next video. (gentle music)
