Easy potato lentil soup with kale (Instant pot & stove top)

This potato lentil soup with kale is a wholesome and comforting meal on any day. With simple pantry ingredients and detailed instant pot and stove top instructions, you can make a delicious meal easily at home. This vegan and gluten-free soup will satisfy your taste buds for sure.

Ingredients

Brown lentils: This soup recipe uses brown lentils, and we need not soak them. As we are using potatoes also, brown or green lentils work perfectly in this recipe. You can also use a combination of red, brown, and green lentils to make this lentil kale soup. 

Veggies: I used only potatoes and kale in this lentil soup. Other veggies like carrots, beetroot, bell peppers, corn go well in this soup. 

Spices: This soup is mildly spiced, and even kids can enjoy it. Instead of red chili powder, you can also use ground black pepper, curry powder, or red pepper flakes to make this soup. And if you can get fresh thyme, you that instead of dried thyme. Other herbs like oregano, basil will also go well with this soup.

Prep work

• Wash the lentils once or twice with clean water. Drain and keep it aside.
• Finely chop the onions, tomatoes, and other veggies if you use them.
• Wash, peel, and chop the potatoes into 1 to 1.5-inch cubes.

Instant pot Instructions

• Start Instant pot in saute mode.
• Once it is hot, add oil, chopped ginger, garlic, onions, and bay leaves.

• Saute the onions for a couple of minutes and add chopped tomatoes.

• Let the tomatoes soften a bit and add spice powders - turmeric powder, red chili powder, dried thyme, ground cumin, coriander powder, and salt. Stir everything well.

•  Now add potato cubes, lentils and mix them once.

• To this potato lentils mixture, add water and give a good stir. You can check the salt at this stage and adjust it as required.

• Stop the Instant pot saute mode and close it with its lid. Then, seal the vent and start the instant pot again in manual or pressure cook mode. Cook it for 10 minutes on high pressure. 
• Once the instant pot finishes cooking, wait for 10 minutes and manually release the pressure. 

• To this lentil soup, add chopped kale and stir it well.

• Close the instant pot with its lid and let it sit for ten more minutes. The residual heat will cook the kale. Or you can start instant pot in saute mode and let it cook for a couple of more minutes.
• Absolutely delicious Instant pot lentil soup is ready to serve! Enjoy it warm with a dash of olive oil and some seeds and nuts for added crunch.

Stovetop Instructions

• Heat a thick-bottomed pot or Dutch oven.
• Add oil, bay leaf, finely chopped garlic, ginger, onions, and saute them for 3 to 4 minutes.
• To this sauteed onions, add finely chopped tomatoes and let them soften a bit.
• Add spice powders - ground cumin, coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, dried thyme, and salt to the tomato mixture and mix it well.
• Then goes the potato cubes, lentils and stir it well.
• Add water and cook the lentils over medium heat for around 30 to 35 minutes. Stir the soup in between for even cooking every 10 minutes or so.
• By this time, potatoes will also cook thoroughly. If not, you can simmer for a few more minutes.
• Now add chopped kale and simmer for a couple of more minutes. The hearty kale lentil potato soup is ready to serve!

Recipe Notes & Variations

• This soup is mildly spiced and can be enjoyed by adults and kids. If you want to make the soup spicier, you can use half teaspoon of curry powder or freshly ground black pepper.
• Don't like kale? Skip it or use other leafy greens like spinach, collard greens, bok choy.
• Instead of potatoes, you can use sweet potatoes to make this soup. If using sweet potatoes, I prefer to reduce the Instant pot cooking time to 6 minutes and soak the brown lentils for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  
• Do you love creamy soup? Then replace a cup of water with coconut milk. Or you can add half a cup of thick coconut milk before you serve the soup.
• I used plain water to make this lentil potato soup, but you can use vegetable broth or chicken broth to make the soup more flavorful.
• Instead of fresh diced tomatoes, you can use canned tomatoes or tomato puree.

Serving suggestions

As this lentil soup has potatoes, it is a complete meal by itself. So you can serve this as it is with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and some pumpkin seeds for a crunch.

To make this soup more filling, serve it along with some toasted bread. And I usually serve the leftover soup as a side dish for rice, quinoa, or millet.

Storage

This lentil soup keeps well for 8 to 10 hours at room temperature. And you can refrigerate it for around two days and freeze it for a couple of months.

It is good to freeze this soup in portion sizes and thaw the required amount. And do not freeze the thawed soup again. It's better to consume it immediately.

FAQs

As you are here, you will like my other lentils and beans recipes.

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Chickpea coconut curry

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