Vegan Lentil Brown Rice Soup. Easy 1 pot Lentil Rice Soup with Veggies, Spinach or greens of choice. 20 minutes active time then let everything simmer. Make it in a saucepan or Instant Pot. Serve with crackers, papadum or grilled vegan cheese sandwiches. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Pin this post for later.
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This easy Lentil Brown Rice Soup is a filling meal with carrots, veggies, greens, and spices. Made in 1 pot and takes just 20 minutes active time.
Soak the lentils and rice. Roast up the whole spices, cook onion, ginger and garlic, add in the ground spices, some tomatoes, some veggies, then add in the drained lentils and rice, water, salt and simmer until ready. I used carrots, peppers and some of the broccoflower that was sitting in the fridge. The broccoflower or Romanesco broccoli has an interesting flavor profile. Use any veggies of choice. Fold in some spinach or baby greens towards the end. Serve this hearty soup with peppery crackers or papadum, or some chopped grilled vegan cheese sandwich croutons. Use mung beans or black eyed peas for variation.
More soups from the blog
- Turkish Lentil Soup
- Mushroom Chickpea Soup
- Curried butternut squash soup
- Chard Mushroom Shallot Pasta soup
- Chipotle corn Chowder
- Moroccan lentil soup
- Cream of Mushroom Soup
Video: Subscribe to my youtube Channel for all recipe videos.
Recipe Card
Vegan Lentil Brown Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (96 g) brown lentils
- 1/3 cup (63.33 g) brown rice uncooked rice
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) mustard seeds optional or use 1/2 tsp ground mustard later
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 (0.5) medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 1 green chile chopped
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) turmeric
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) paprika
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) garam masala or curry powder or use other spice blends like taco spice, berbere, cajun etc
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) chipotle pepper
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black pepper
- 1.5 cups (223.5 g) diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp ketchup optional
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 cups (364 g) of veggies I used bell pepper, carrots, broccoflower(Romanesco broccoli)
- 3.5 cups (875 ml) water for pressure cooker 4 to 4.5 cups for saucepan
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) salt
- 1 cup (30 g) chopped or baby spinach
- lemon juice garam masala and cayenne for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and Soak the lentil and rice if you haven't yet. (Soak for atleast 15 minutes before using).
- Heat oil in a saucepan or a pressure cooker over medium heat. When hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and cook until fragrant or they change color.
- Add bay leaf, onion, garlic ginger, chile and cook until translucent. about 5 mins. Add the spices and mix in. Roast for half a minute
- Add the tomatoes and splash of water and cook until the tomatoes are saucy. mash the larger pieces. Add lemon juice, ketchup, veggies, salt and mix in.
- Drain and add lentils, rice, water/broth and mix in.
- Cover and cook for 40 minutes or longer until tender in the saucepan. If using pressure cooker, use 2 to 2.5 cups water, Pressure cook for 15-17 mins on stove top ( Manual 18-20 minutes in Instant Pot with natural release).
- Fold in the spinach in the last 5 minutes, Or when you open the pressure cooker and the soup is hot.
- Add a sprinkle garam masala, cayenne to taste and more lemon if needed. Serve with crackers or papaddum.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Reading this week.
The good stuff. 4 more Circus elephants were rescued from another circus in India! The precious 4 have only seen a life of abuse, torture and malnutrition and the rescue was very complicated and dangerous but eventually worked out. The elephants are responding well to the love by the Wildlife SOS team inspite of decades of abuse. See their story unfold on the Wildlife SOS facebook page.
The Buddhist Tiger Temple in Thailand is being raided right now and all of the 130 Tigers will be rescued and moved to sanctuaries. After many years of undercover investigations, there is enough proof that the temple was illegally breeding tigers, often inbreeding, trafficking old tigers, and drugging them for people to touch them and take pictures and selfies. Bodies of 40 tiger cubs were found in the freezer in the raid yesterday.
Vegan and eco-friendly clothing store Drizzle and Shine opened in Seattle with items that are kind to the earth and animals and that are made by people who are treated fairly.
Esther, the wonder Pig, the book releases today! Get a copy to read her inspiring story.
Zoos are businesses. Businesses that imprison animals into tiny jails, for people’s entertainment in exchange of money. Contrary to what many people believe, zoos play little role, if any at all, in the conservation of species. The concept of such a for-profit business and entertainment is why Harambe is not with us today.
Who knew that releasing butterflies on events was a thing? Each package holds a butterfly, who had been frozen into a sleep state or forced hibernation. The idea is that as they warmed, they would wake up and released on events. But most butterflies panic and are weak and die. Why would anyone subject those delicate beautiful beings to this.
Tasha
This is delicious. I doubled it and left it in the crockpot on low for 12 hours. It definitely didn’t need 12 hours, it’s very very soft. I’d try maybe 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low next time.
Veronica
This was delicious. I did reduce the coriander by half, I have had to for a few of your recipes, my family doesn’t like that taste too much. It was perfect and so tasty!
Richa
Awesome! Yes, adjust the flavors to preference!
Sumita Pai
This dish was simply magnificent !! Thank you so much 😊. Tweaked it by replacing rice with millets, brown lentils with moong dal (don’t know what are brown lentils in india!). Veggies added were Sweet Potato, Carrots, Yam, and Green Beans. Onions were replaced with Spring Onions and the stalks were used as greens along with lots of fresh coriander for garnishing and mixing in. Also made a paste of tomatoes, spring onions, ginger, green chilli and garlic instead of adding them in separately. It turned out a tad spicy with the black pepper so added a few shavings of jaggery into the PC and a lil ketchup mixed in water at the end. Definitely making it to our regular menu meals! Much gratitude ! 🙏😊🌱🐾
Vegan Richa Support
that sounds really great – I love spring onions. worth the effort. i”m grateful for your feedback =)
Kristy
This looks amazing and I am planning on making it in my instant pot. Although in the ingredients you list 3.5 c water for instant pot, but the directions say 2.5 cups water. Also, the directions are a little confusing for instant pot, can you please clarify? Thank you so much!
Richa
Main recipe is for sauce pan, IP needs less water.
Jenny
Do you think I could sub out the rice for quinoa?
Richa
yes, you might want to add it midway as quinoa cooks faster
MariannaLia
I cooked this today (and trust me i am not big on cooking!) and it was quite nice. I cooked for myself and my mother and we both enjoyed it. It was spicy and hot and perfect for a cold day. Even my mother approved and she is a great cook!! Thank you for this recipe! I would have never thought of combining these ingridients together.
Jo
Amazing soup, I have just made it for lunch and it is really tasty! Thank you for sharing this recipe 🙂
Brenda J
This one was a big hit with the family. I was curious about how all the different spices would blend but it was amazing! I love the versatility of the recipe. Can’t wait to try it again with the Mexican twist. I really love the ability to change the serving size and the whole recipe converts. I made a larger recipe and put two meals in the freezer!
Richa
Awesome!
Tia
Hi Richa, your soups look delicious! I usually put my slow cooker on in the morning before going to work. How can I modify your pressure cooker recipes, to work in the slow cooker (e.g. frying the spices, stirring, etc.)? Would really like to try them!
Thanks….Tia
Richa
I havent used slow cookers so i wouldnt know.
Susana
In Spain we eat a lot of lentils. I have to try this recipe although different types of peppers are hard to try, especially the hot ones.
I´m glad to read about the good news for the animals. Unfortunately I´ve just read Esther the pig has health issues… I hope she recovers soon. Their parents are setting precedents in order to treat livestock as any other animal or pet.
Thank you Richa
Richa
I have been keeping an eye on Esther’s news as well and hoping its not a big issue and she doesnt have to travel.
Tammy Jones
Can I use ground cumin instead of seeds? Ive never used the seeds, thus none in my pantry. What is the benefit of using seeds vs powder?
Richa
yes use ground cumin, add it later with the other ground spices. Its just a different flavor. toasted cumin seeds are a toasty, smoky and fresher flavor.
Ds
I assume this is all freezable but just wanted to check (shame faced)
Richa
yes totally freezable. Freeze in an airtight container that can be filled with the soup almost fully.
Anna
Thank you for including the oil free tip!
Rishika
Yes. Thanks for including oil free options.
Helen
I opened up fb and your recipe of this wonderful looking soup was the first thing I saw. Will be cooking it for lunch today. Thank you for all your wonderful recipies.
Angela
Can I use green or red lentils? I dont have brown…
Richa
use green lentils. Red lentils will cook up too quickly and mix into the soup.
Leah
Can I cook this using a stove-pot if I don’t have a pressure cooker? ????
Richa
yes, the recipe mentions both the options. The cook time in the saucepan/stove pot would be 40 to 50 minutes.
Cadry
What a delicious looking soup, Richa! I am always fond of lentils in soup, and this looks like a great way to change things up from my usual.
Thank you for sharing my post on butterfly releases. It adds such sadness to what is supposed to be a momentous occasion.
Cassie
Would this go well with forbidden rice, out of curiosity? It looks absolutely amazing!!
Amanda
Such a great recipe. Indian food always seems to have lots of ingredients, but you show how easy it is to keep a range of spices in the kitchen so flavourful meals are never far away. Thanks
Mia
Hi Richa,
Soup looks great!
Good to hear about those rescues 🙂
So sad about the butterflies 🙁
I hope you are well and all is great for you,
Mia xx
Rusty
Just wondering what to eat tonight when my daughter comes home from Uni for the summer 🙂 I have the first small heads of broccoli and the last of the overwintering spinach in the garden so it fits perfectly. I know it will work, because your recipes always do.
Lisa McCave
Hi, Richa.
This looks wonderful. Can’t wait to make this. I LOVE Indian food, and I have your
great cookbook. Is this recipe ‘spicy’ or tame? My Mom isn’t a fan of Indian or spicy food
so I’d probably have to tone it down if it is spicy. Thanks, Richa. I hope you are well. Lisa
Richa
its quite a fusion if you use taco spice or other blend. omit the green chile since sometimes they can come out too hot.
Brenda
This soup is amazing! Delicious and filling. The spices make it extraordinary! Thank you
crunchycompassionista
I’m totally looking forward to trying out the soup, but wanted to thank you right now for talking about the animals!
isobel bruning
OMG looks so yummy!
Izzy xx