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Is this not the prettiest soup that you ever did see?! This curried coconut lentil soup is so vibrant and is so creamy delicious! It is packed with flavor from the curry and spices. The coconut milk gives it a luxuriously creamy texture.

Such a creamy and delicious soup! Your Instant Pot is going to make this curried lentil soup a breeze to put together!
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The best part?! It’s all put together in the Instant Pot!

Such a creamy and delicious soup! Your Instant Pot is going to make this curried lentil soup a breeze to put together!

I don’t cook with lentils EVER and I don’t know why. They’re so readily available and they’re a great source of protein.

They’re so versatile because you can basically mix anything together with the lentils and it’ll soak up all the flavor.

Such a creamy and delicious soup! Your Instant Pot is going to make this curried lentil soup a breeze to put together!

This soup is my new obsession and I hope it will be yours too. A lot of readers have requested Instant Pot and vegetarian recipes and I think that this combines the best of both worlds!

Such a creamy and delicious soup! Your Instant Pot is going to make this curried lentil soup a breeze to put together!
4.71 from 24 votes

Instant Pot Curried Coconut Lentil Soup

This extremely flavorful and creamy soup will be your new favorite to make in your pressure cooker! Original recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4

Equipment

Ingredients 

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon ginger paste
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • ¾ cup (144 g) dried red split lentils
  • 13.5 ounce (383 ml) can unsweetened full fat coconut milk
  • 1 ¼ cups (296 ml) water
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 14.5 ounce (411 g) can crushed tomatoes

Instructions 

  • Press sauté on the front of your 6-quart Instant Pot. In the insert, add the onion, garlic, ginger paste, curry powder, crushed red pepper flakes, lentils, coconut milk, water, salt, and pepper. Stir to mix then let it come up to a simmer then press cancel. Immediately add the can of crushed tomatoes LAST and on top of everything else and do not stir it in. Pressure cookers seem to not like tomatoes for some reason and you will often times get a BURN notice. If you don’t stir the tomatoes in and just let it sit on top, you should be fine.
  • Close the lid of the pressure cooker and make sure that the vent is set to sealing.
  • Using the manual function, use high pressure and set the cook time to 15 minutes.
  • Once the soup has finished cooking, let sit for 15 minutes before you quick release the pressure. You can choose to either quick release it or let it naturally release, depending on how hungry you are or when dinner is!
  • Divide evenly into bowls and garnish with parsley or cilantro on top.

Notes

Many have mentioned that they get the BURN notice with lentils in pressure cookers. By bringing the mixture up to a simmer, in step 1, prior to closing the lid helps the pressure cooker heat up so it doesn’t have to do as much “heat up work” during the “come to pressure” process. So helping it out before throwing the lid on should help with the burn message.
After about 15 minutes, my lentils were more on the ‘mushy’ side. If you don’t like your lentils like that, I would reduce the cook time to 12 minutes.
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Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 310kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 13g, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 6g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

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Recipe Rating




56 Comments

  1. Kat says:

    This was so delicious!! And love the option to multiply the ingredients. I use 2x. Will definitely be adding this to the menu rotation. Thanks!

  2. Roger says:

    I was giving a bag of red lentils and had no idea what to do with them. So I searched the web and came across this recipe and was surprised that I had all the other ingredients and an instant pot. I can’t believe how good this came out. I couldn’t stop eating it and ended up eating all 4 servings myself.

    1. Julie Chiou says:

      i’m sorry to have come across to you as me authoring this recipe. i would like to clarify that nowhere in this blog post did i say that i authored it. since you read the recipe in its entirety, you surely saw that in the notes section I give him credit for the inspiration. as a sidenote – i love Ottolenghi; I’ve dined at two of his restaurants and have three of his cookbooks. he is definitely one of the best!

    2. Sandy says:

      @Julie Chiou, itโ€™s a great recipe for sure! And I have to agree with the previous commenter, outside of the IP method, itโ€™s really the same recipe. you indicated that you didnโ€™t author it, but in fact you name is shown as the author. With respect, perhaps a quick little edit is in order? Itโ€™s a bit more than inspired by Ottolenghi. That said, I do enjoy your blog and have made a number of dishes from it, Yummers!

      1. Julie Chiou says:

        i am not trying to deceive anyone and i appreciate your feedback. the recipe template doesn’t allow me to change the author per recipe unless i completely create a new template then use it for just this one recipe. the template automatically puts me as the author. i made a note in the headnote to say this is a recipe by Ottolenghi so hopefully that is more satisfactory.

  3. Nkiruka Herche says:

    Is it possible to make this with green lentils? My store doesn’t have red split lentils.

    1. Julie Chiou says:

      yes, definitely. but since yours isn’t split, it might take a bit longer to cook

  4. Aurora says:

    SO FAST, SO DELICIOUS, SO TASTES LIKE OTTOLENGHI SIGNATURE FLAVOR!

  5. Jaime says:

    Would have loved to have made it, but the ads were impossible to see the recipe through. Ridiculous

    1. Julie Chiou says:

      thank you for your opinion. you were able to see through to the comments and type it out so i’m not quite sure what the problem is. ads helps support a website that gives you free content – a free recipe. a free recipe that a real human (hi! i’m julie) developed and wrote. free recipes that you see require money in real life for ingredients. not only that, this website is up because i pay monthly for web hosting (a cool $210 a month). those are just two of the major costs that a food blog has. ads are a free way for someone that visits our websites to give back without really giving back, you know? you just have to scroll, and if the ads or videos bother you, just click the X button. many websites these days have ads and it’s the easiest way to help support a website you enjoy.

    2. Aurora says:

      @Julie Chiou, I love your recipes. And glad youre being paid for them, however it looks like! I have been making this lentil recipe weekly for about 3 years….its a true staple in our family. THANK YOU!

  6. Elaine Marlow says:

    I really love the look of this recipe, but I donโ€™t have a pressure cooker or an instant pot. Do you have any advice for cooking on the stove top?

    1. Julie Chiou says:

      Yep, just add everything and cover and cook until lentils are soft. They might take awhile..I’m not sure how long though since I haven’t actually done it on the stovetop before.

  7. Lori says:

    This is so amazing! Will definitely make again and again. Can you provide rough instructions for regular stove top cooking please?

    1. Julie Wampler says:

      honestly i would probably do everything the same as i would in the IP for this recipe except just cook it on the stove longer at a slow simmer until the lentils are cooked to your liking

  8. Gail says:

    I super LOVE this recipe just as it is. It is perfect for the instant pot. I use a duo mini size. I do double the curry, too. This has become my go-to supper. Everyone loves it:)

    1. Gail says:

      I meant to leave 5 stars in my previous comment:)

  9. Diane Thompson says:

    I LOVE this soup. It is my go to healing receipe for anything that ailes. Thank you!!! Wonderful creamy goodness.