Savory lentils are gently spiced and blended into a creamy base, and then topped with caramelized onions and generous amounts of fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil for a delightful simple soup. We make and enjoy this soup on an almost weekly basis (which is very often for us!). Our kids love this meal, it takes 35-45 minutes to make the whole thing, and it is so frugal too!
This recipe is from my soup cookbook, Ladled: Nourishing Soups for All Seasons. (You can read reviews or buy it from my affiliate Amazon here). One of my goals for the book was to have a wide variety of recipes to meet different needs. I wanted to have hearty winter soups, fresh spring soups, special occasion soups, and simple everyday soups. I felt for it to be a practical book – something that was very important to me as a busy mother in the real world – that it should be a mix of soups suitable for all sorts of dining needs. Such as having a recipe for Chinese Egg Drop soup to go along with your favorite Chinese meal, or Mussels in Tomato Garlic broth for a romantic dish for two, Pho Ga for that craving we get once in a while, and hearty Mexican Black Bean soup for a cold winter night.
However, I think that I was especially interested in making this soup cookbook full of practical, easy recipes as seen in my sections for Simple Soups with Eggs, Creamy Vegetable Soups, and Family Favorite Soups. I wanted people to have recipes that they could use on a regular basis!
This specific recipe is one of those everyday soups that we love! It is so important to have recipes that are good last minute recipes. For those of you who soak grains and legumes, red lentils don’t require a soaking period and cook up very quickly. (But you can soak them if you prefer.)
You may also enjoy a few other sample recipes from my cookbook: Simple Thai Broth, Miso Brown Rice Congee, and go here to get a PDF sample including the recipes for Mexican Tortilla Soup, Butternut Apple Soup, Spanish Garlic Soup.
Back to this recipe: As we have made this recipe over and over again I have only two notes to add to the original directions. My recipe testers and I had at first agreed that this recipe was best using just water to make it as it allows the lemon and caramelized onion flavors to really shine. But now we’ve found that we like it best when made with a light flavored chicken broth. Either way, you can’t go wrong. My second note is that if you find the soup getting too thick, thin it down with a bit of water or more broth.
This is one of our favorite recipes that we froze for enjoying after Larkin was born. We went through our store of it so quickly that I have already made another huge batch of it to freeze again! For more in depth directions for making caramelized onions, check out this tutorial.
Egyptian Red Lentil Soup with Caramelized Onions
4-6 servings
This gentle, cumin-scented soup is topped with sweet caramelized onions, a drizzle of high-quality olive oil, and a blast of fresh lemon juice. It’s incredibly easy and surprisingly delicious considering how inexpensive it is to make. You don’t have to soak lentils because they are lower in phytic acid, but you’re welcome to soak your lentils in warm water for 8 to 18 hours.
Ingredients:
2½ cups/1 pound/450 grams red lentils (the orange ones, which indicates that they have been hulled)
8 cups/1.9 liters filtered water or broth of your choice (I prefer water to allow other flavors to shine)
1 medium/large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
3–6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced by hand or in a garlic press
2 teaspoons cumin
Caramelized Onions (see below)
Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
2 lemons, cut into wedges
Directions:
1. In a large pot, add the red lentils, broth or water, onion, garlic, and cumin. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils and vegetables are soft.
2. Meanwhile, make the Caramelized Onions.
3. When the soup is done, you can purée it for a super smooth soup or leave it slightly textured (the lentils turn to mush when cooked).
4. Salt to taste and serve each bowl topped with a spoonful of Caramelized Onions, a drizzle of fruity olive oil, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. I allow people to top their own soup as desired.
Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:
2 medium/large yellow or sweet onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fat of your choice (see page 23)
Salt
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, heat the fat of your choice over medium heat. Add the onions and sprinkle them generously with salt. Stir as needed to prevent premature browning, allowing the onions to “sweat” and wilt.
2. Continue to cook until the onions turn a light brown color, are sweet, and are very soft. This process takes about 30 minutes.
- 2½ cups/1 pound/450 grams red lentils (the orange ones, which indicates that they have been hulled)
- 8 cups/1.9 liters filtered water or broth of your choice (I prefer water to allow other flavors to shine)
- 1 medium/large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- 3–6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced by hand or in a garlic press
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- Caramelized Onions (see below)
- Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
- 2 lemons, cut into wedges
- In a large pot, add the red lentils, broth or water,
- onion, garlic, and cumin. Bring the soup to a boil
- over high heat. Turn the heat to low and simmer
- for 30 minutes or until the lentils and vegetables are
- soft.
- Meanwhile, make the Caramelized Onions.
- When the soup is done, you can purée it for a super
- smooth soup or leave it slightly textured (the lentils
- turn to mush when cooked).
- Salt to taste and serve each bowl topped with a
- spoonful of Caramelized Onions, a drizzle of fruity
- olive oil, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. I
- allow people to top their own soup as desired.
- 2 medium/large yellow or sweet onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons fat of your choice (see page 23)
- Salt
- In a large saucepan, heat the fat of your choice over medium heat. Add the onions and sprinkle them generously with salt. Stir as needed to prevent premature browning, allowing the onions to “sweat” and wilt.
- Continue to cook until the onions turn a light brown color, are sweet, and are very soft. This process takes about 30 minutes.
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I make a lentil soup very similar to this; I like one-pot meals so I include kale and sometimes carrots. Caramelized onions are a GENIUS addition that I will be “stealing” from you.
It’s an idea worth stealing. 🙂 We love them!
Love this! Have made it 3 times so far. We caramelize our onions in bulk in a crock pot and frreze them in muffin tins and then store the onion “pucks” in a freezer bag. They thaw easily for dishes like this.
Alisa,
I LOVE the muffin tin idea for the onions! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I see this is linked to your freezer meals, how do you prepare to for freezing?
Carissa,
I freeze the onions separately, and then buy fresh lemons when I am serving it. 🙂
How would you prepare this for a freezer meal?