Our spiced carrot and lentil soup recipe is so easy to make. It's a hearty filling bowl of soup the whole family will enjoy. It is super easy to make and uses minimal low cost ingredients. No need to buy and store all those 'curry spices' when you can use this one simple family friendly recipe.
Our easy mildly spiced carrot and lentil soup recipe uses minimal low cost ingredients. Carrots are cheap and can often be found in the reduced to clear section of your local supermarket making this recipe even more lower cost and budget friendly.
Lentils of any type are also a great source of protein and red split lentils can also be sourced very cheaply from any supermarket. Lentils are great for bulking out soups and casseroles and are a very easy addition to a pan full of soup or a slow cooked casserole.
Our carrot and lentil soup recipe uses liquidising techniques such as using a handheld blending stick or blending in a traditional blender. We personally invested in a Kenwood food processor (Prime Day Deal!) and have never looked back. 10 years later I can honestly say it's the best thing I've ever bought! Cheaper food processors are available.
That said, if you can't afford a food processor, to liquidise your soups, you can use a regular blender or a blending stick. And if you don't have those either, just push your cooked soup mixture through a sieve using the back of a large spoon. The sieve technique works just as well, it just takes a little longer! Or if you would rather something more basic and affordable than a food processor for chopping up your veggies, we can highly recommend a fruit and vegetable chopper. They come in various sizes and with different chopping and slicing attachments. I often use my food chopper for chopping a small onion or a small amount of veg rather than using the food processor as it's quicker and easier to wash.
Here is our low cost easy to make mildly spiced carrot and lentil soup recipe. We have also listed some variation ideas should you want to make a vegan version of this recipe or by creating a spicier or 'unspiced' version.
We aimed at serving a family of 4 but actually this made way more than expected, there was plenty leftover so we have adjusted the servings to 'Makes 5' as both adults had a huge bowl each for lunch the following day.
Spiced Carrot & Red Lentil Soup Recipe
Makes: 5 servings
Cost to make: Approx. £2.13
Cost per serving: Approx. 43p
Ingredients
600g carrots, peeled and finely chopped (approx. 60p)
1 small onion finely chopped (approx. 30p)
1 tsp chopped garlic (optional)
1 tsp mild curry powder (approx. 22p)
1 litre hot vegetable or chicken stock (stock cubes are fine) (approx. 20p per cube)
125ml milk (approx. 22p)
140g split red lentils (approx. 39p)
sunflower or vegetable oil for cooking
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic (if using) and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened. Sprinkle over the curry powder and cook for 30 seconds more stirring continuously.
Add the carrots and season with salt and pepper. Stir well. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally until the carrots have softened.
Add 1 litre of stock (we used 2 stock cubes), lentils and milk to the saucepan and bring to the boil then simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until the lentils have swollen and softened.
Whizz up the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor until smooth (or leave chunky if you prefer).
Serve with crusty bread or naan bread (optional).
Substitutions
Vegetables – This is a great recipe for using up what you already have. Just throw in whatever vegetables you need using up. A ‘carrot soup’ can easily been turned into a ‘vegetable soup’
Curry Powder – instead of curry powder you can use dried, fresh or frozen chilli flakes. Or if you want to eliminate spice altogether, add coriander instead.
Milk – Go dairy free simply by switching to a non-dairy milk. Coconut milk works well.
Variations
Spicier – For a spicier soup, you can use a medium curry powder instead of mild, or just add an extra half spoonful of mild. You can also add paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, or chili flakes. Just use what you already have.
Kid friendly – This recipe is already extremely mild, but you can of course reduce the quantity of curry powder or omit altogether if necessary.
You may find useful...
These are some basic kitchen aids that you may find useful, although none are essential! Note a food processor will chop and blend, so no need to stock all of these items!
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