Creamy Turkish lentil soup, Mercimek çorbası is a popular soup in Turkish cuisine. This soup can easily be made at home with few ingredients and in less than 30 minutes and it is full of richness and authentic flavor.
Next time, try this Instant pot potato soup.
Vegetables are cooked until fragrant and tender. Water, lentils and seasonings are added and cooked and blended together resulting in a soup bursting with intense flavors and vibrant color. Top the soup off with the incredible taste of a paprika oil (easily made stove top) and lemon wedges.
This easy homemade soup takes less than 30 minutes of cook time and makes for a delicious meatless dinner any night of the week.
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❤️ Why You'll Love It
- Quick and easy soup, ready in only 30 minutes..
- Hearty and loaded with vegetables.
- Soup cooks easily in one pot which makes them great for busy weeknights.
- Vegan friendly and kid friendly dinner.
Turkish lentil soup is packed full of plant-based protein, fiber and folate from the red lentils, fresh vegetables, and seasonings. A creamy soup perfect for any night of the week and a great way to get your kids to eat their vegetables.
📝 Ingredients
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil: Used to sauté the onion and for use as a garnish.
- Red lentils: The preferred lentils for this recipe as they cook quickly in water or broth.
- Onions, carrots, and potato.
- Tomato paste : for color.
- Ground cumin, Salt & pepper.
- Aleppo pepper: adds a touch of heat to the soup.
- Water or vegetable stock.
- Paprika: Used to make the garnishing oil for the soup.
- A squeeze of lemon for the final touch.
🥄 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
- In a pot over medium heat, add oil and sauté onion until it is fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and mix the onions for about 30 seconds.
- Add carrots, potatoes, and lentils, stirring everything together for another minute.
- Pour in boiling water and all the spices and mix everything well.
- Cover the pot and cook on medium for about 20-30 minutes or until everything is well cooked. Using an immersion blender or a normal blender, blend the soup to the consistency you like.
- Make the paprika oil by heating oil in a skillet then add paprika, stir and turn heat off.
💡 Expert Tips
- You can add a couple of tablespoons of flour to the onion-tomato mixture to thicken the soup instead of using the potato.
- If the soup is too thick for your liking, add more boiling water.
- You can use vegetable or chicken stock instead of water too.
- If you can't find Aleppo pepper or don't like the spiciness, then you can use paprika.
- You can use a regular blender if you do not have an immersion blender.
💬 FAQs
Traditional Turkish lentil soup uses red lentils as they cook quickly when added to broth or water without getting mushy.
Nope! The only prep that red lentils need before adding to soup is a quick rinse with water. Red lentils get tender when they cook in the soup so they do not need to be cooked beforehand.
🍽️ Serve With
This lentil soup recipe is hearty enough to serve alone with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. But also goes well with a salad, air fryer garlic bread or crackers.
👩🍳 Variations
- Chopped tomatoes can be added for additional flavor at the same time you are sautéing the onions and garlic.
- Fresh mint goes well with this soup also does red pepper flakes.
- Mix in some red pepper paste.
🧺 Storage
Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days in your refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer. When reheating on your stove top, if the consistency is thicker than when you first made it, try adding a tiny bit of water and stirring until desired thinness is reached.
📣 More Recipes From the Blog
- Try the Egyptian version of this red lentil soup, it is hearty and you can pretty much throw in any vegetable you like.
- Harira is another hearty soup from Morocco featuring lentils, chickpeas, lamb and much more.
- This Lebanese lentil soup is filling, vegan and has a lot of texture in it.
- If you love barley you are going to like this instant pot beef and barley soup, very filling and earthy.
- Creamy chicken and potato soup makes a great 30 minute meal that everyone enjoy.
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Turkish Red Lentil Soup
Equipment
- Medium sized pot with cover
- Immersion blender
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 cups red lentils
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 medium potato peeled and diced
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt or to your liking
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 cups boiling water 2 liters
For the garnishing oil:
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- In a pot over medium heat, add oil and sauté onion until it is fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and mix with the onions for about 30 seconds.
- Add carrots, potatoes, and lentils, stirring everything together for another minute.
- Pour in boiling water and all the spices, mix everything well.
- Cover the pot and cook on medium for about 20-30 minutes or until everything is well cooked.
- Using an immersion blender or normal blender, blend the soup to the consistency you like.
For the garnishing oil
- In a skillet, heat olive oil, then turn off the heat and add the paprika, stir a couple of times.
- Ladle soup in bowls topped with paprika oil.
Notes
- You can add a couple of tablespoons of flour to the onion-tomato mixture to thicken the soup instead of using the potato.
- If the soup is too thick for your liking, add more boiling water.
- You can use vegetable or chicken broth instead of water too.
- If you can't find Aleppo pepper or don't like the spiciness, then you can use paprika.
- You can use a regular blender if you do not have an immersion blender.
- Leftover Turkish lentil soup can be stored in an air tight container for up to 5 days in your refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer. When reheating on your stove top, if the consistency is thicker than when you first made it, try adding a tiny bit of water and stirring until desired thinness is reached.
- Chopped tomatoes can be added for additional flavor at the same time you are sautéing the onions and garlic.
- Fresh mint goes well with this soup.
Debi Brand
I had a Turkish student who lived with me while she attended a local university. She made this for me when I was sick with a bad cold. It was SO soothing. It had the right amount of spice to open up my nose. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is so good!!!!