This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.
This hearty Quinoa Soup is loaded with plant-based protein and is the perfect cold weather comfort food. Made with fast-cooking quinoa and red lentils, it’s an easy weeknight meal, or a convenient packed lunch.
Why You’ll Love It
Inspired by a can of Amy’s Quinoa, Kale & Red Lentil Soup, this soup is a complete meal in a bowl. Thanks to the quinoa, it has the 9 essential amino acids that the body can’t make on its own, plus extra fiber to help keep you feeling full.
Paired with red lentils and kale, which are both a good source of iron, this soup also contains prebiotics, which may help to promote a healthy gut. Since we’re adding tomatoes to this recipe, which are a source of vitamin C, the iron found in these plants should be better absorbed, too.
Plus, this recipe makes a huge batch of soup! If you’re into meal prepping, you’ll be covered for several meals when you make this. It’s naturally vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free so it should accommodate a number of special diets.
Have more quinoa to use up? Be sure to try my favorite Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Instant Pot Quinoa Bowls, or Quinoa & Black Bean Salad.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in quinoa soup?
- Quinoa
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Garlic
- Red lentils
- Diced tomatoes
- Kale
- Water or vegetable broth
- Salt and pepper
Feel free to use any other vegetables you have on hand, too. Soups are very flexible and forgiving!
If you don’t have dried lentils on hand, you could used canned beans in their place, but be sure to use less water in that case, since the lentils absorb quite a bit of liquid in this recipe.
Note: Quinoa is coated in saponins, which make it taste bitter and can affect nutrient aborption. For the best tasting soup, be sure to rinse the dry quinoa in a fine mesh strainer under running water for at least 60 seconds, to help remove that.
You can also soak quinoa for up to 1 hour in advance, but be sure to drain and rinse it very well with fresh water before using it in this recipe.
(I never take the time to do this, however, unless I’m making a sweet recipe, like Quinoa Porridge. Rinsing is sufficient for the flavor of this recipe.)
How to Make the Best Vegetable Quinoa Soup
1. Saute the aromatics. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large pot over medium heat, and add in the onion, carrots, and celery. Stir until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add in the garlic, cumin, ginger, and turmeric and stir briefly, about 1 more minute, just until fragrant.
2. Simmer. Add in the red lentils, quinoa, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and water.
I usually start with 4 cups of water for this recipe, but you may want to add additional liquid at the end, to make it more soup-like, rather than a thick stew. The choice is yours!
Bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let the soup cook at a gentle simmer until the quinoa and lentils are both tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Enjoy! When the quinoa is done cooking, remove the lid and add in the kale. Stir well, until the kale is wilted, which should take about 1 to 2 minutes.
Adjust the flavoring to taste, by adding more salt, or more water to thin out the soup, as desired.
This quinoa soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Frequently Asked Questions & Substitutions
Can I cook this in the Instant Pot? Yes! Use the Saute button to cook the onions, carrots, and celery, then add in the spices as directed. When they are fragrant, be sure to deglaze the bottom of the pan by adding a splash of the water, and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon or spatula, until you’re sure there is nothing stuck to the bottom of the pot.
From there, you can add in the tomatoes, lentils, quinoa, water, salt and pepper, and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. (Honestly, 5 to 8 minutes might be sufficient, but this is my go-to timing for most vegetarian soups, so that the flavors have time to meld.) Let the pressure naturally release for at least 15 minutes, so liquid won’t shoot out of the steam release valve.
When the floating valve in the lid has dropped, it’s safe to open the pressure cooker lid. You can add the kale and make adjustments after that.
What if I don’t like kale? You can swap the kale for chopped spinach instead. I find that I prefer the texture of kale much more if it’s very finely chopped, so be sure to try that if you are kale hesitant.
How can I adjust the flavor? If you don’t need a vegetarian recipe, you can use chicken broth instead of the water for a extra flavor. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice at the very end of cooking, to brighten the flavors, or swap the veggies if you have a different preference. Zucchini, red bell pepper, or sweet potatoes would also be a nice addition!
What if I don’t have quinoa? You can swap white rice for quinoa, as it has a similar cooking time. (It just won’t have as much fiber or protein in that case.)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 3 carrots , peeled and chopped
- 3 celery ribs , chopped
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 cup dry red lentils
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt , plus more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- 4 cups water
- 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes , with juices
- 2 cups chopped kale
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the onions, carrots, and celery until they start to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the minced garlic, cumin, ginger, and turmeric, and stir for another minute, just until fragrant.
- Add in the lentils, quinoa, water, salt, several grinds of black pepper, and tomatoes, with their juices, and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover the pot to let everything simmer until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Once the lentils and vegetables are very tender, stir in the chopped kale and cook until it's wilted, just a few minutes. Season with additional salt, if desired, and serve warm. For a thinner soup, you can also add more water and season to taste.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this quinoa soup recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it!
Do you rinse your quinoa before using? It seems to have a bitter undertone when it is not rinsed…
Also, I will be adding some black pepper to pair with the turmeric… I put turmeric in EVERYthing, and the black pepper helps in the absorption of the turmeric.
Quinoa should always be rinsed to remove the bitter saponins from the surface.
Hi! can I use red quinoa with regular lentils? don’t have the red ones. also I have tons of tomato but not boxed. can I just chop those up? sorry I am a newbie to cooking. 🙂
Red lentils are the fastest type of lentil to cook– if you use any other variety, I’d plan on doubling the cooking time. The recipe should work just fine, you’ll just need to wait longer! 😉
wow I honestly didn’t expect much flavor from this but I am shocked! This is soooo good and I can’t stop eating it. This is a definite keeper. One of the best soups I have ever had.
Fantastic, hearty dish. Made this for the family dinner last night, but added a cinnamon stick and loads of cilantro. It was a real winner thanks for sharing.
I was wondering if it’s possible to add some meat in there? What would go best with it?
Delish! I used a red onion instead of a yellow onion, and didn’t have the large box of Pomi tomatoes, so used a can of chopped tomatoes. It’s sSOOOO hardy especially here in Chicago which is still cold and just had some more snow fall. Keep up the great and always tasty recipes!
I recently had Amy’s soup and liked it so much I went back to the store to hunt down more of it. Oddly it reminds me of a soup my mother used to make which uses very different ingredients. She made what is known in the Caribbean as “asopao” a chicken, rice and tomato based soupy stew. As I’ve become a vegetarian that is no longer an option and so I was happy to find Amy’s delicious soup but it can be costly to buy in quantity.. Glad to find a version online that may match or surpass the canned version. Thank you for providing a recipe!! Like another person mentioned I will add cilantro, and preferably “culantro” (otherwise called “recao”) another very flavorful herb found in Hispanic supermarkets that I detected in Amy’s canned soup much to my surprise. It is used as part of a base for flavoring many dishes. Like cilantro it has a distinctive flavor, but grows as a spear shaped leaf with a strong central rib on the underside. It adds a dimension to this already very good soup that will take it over the top. A little goes a long way for those curious enough to try it one day.
I thought I would let you know that the EXCELLENT Kale, Quinoa and Lentil Stew is missing, in the directions, when to add the kale. I thus forgot to put it in. I am having the stew again tomorrow and will add kale this time!
Thank you for letting me know!
Actually, I just checked and it’s in step #4. 😉 Hope you enjoy it with kale the next time around!
I added this recipe to my “try it someday soon” list when you first posted and finally got around to cooking it up last night. My family was so surprised how tasty and satisfying it was! (They don’t even know how inexpensive and nutritious it is, and I’ll leave it that way.) Satisfied with another great recipe — am certainly adding this one to my recipe box.
I made this tonight, so beautiful and nourishing. My 2 year old enjoyed it too! I’ve been following and making your recipes for years but this is my first time commenting. I can honestly say I’ve had great results and really enjoyed everything I’ve made. My friends are always asking for the recipes I use and it’s always the same answer… Detoxinista?.
That’s so nice to hear! Thank you for letting me know. 😉