
I love finding delicious, filling soup recipes! Especially ones that adapt well to a slow cooker. I LOVE being able to just throw ingredients in and walk away and then it’s done a few hours later! Plus, I have been wanting to try a really good curry red lentil soup.
This curry red lentil soup is amazing! I think I ate it almost every single day (sometimes lunch AND dinner) for a week which you can see here on my week 18 daily food journal!
I started saving a few recipes on my Pinterest account before deciding which one to try. I read reviews & checked ingredients – I don’t like anything too complicated or with weird ingredients.
I adapted this slow cooker version of Curry Red Lentil Soup from a recipe by Running on Real Food and if you don’t have a slow cooker & want to do it on the stove check her recipe out here.
However, I did make a few adaptations to make it work for the slow cooker and make it lower sodium.
Lentils are very nutritious – high in fiber, protein, calcium and many other nutrients
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This curry red lentil soup is SO delicious, nutritious, and filling! I love lentils – they are like tiny little beans, but they don’t have to be soaked and cook quickly. I do rinse my beans in a fine mesh colander beforehand and to check for any rocks or dirt since they are a natural product.
One of the things that all the longest lived societies had in common from The Blue Zones research by Dan Buettner was that they ate on average 1 cup of legumes (beans, lentils, or peas) every day. So if you want to live longer eat your legumes!
I love to blend the curry red lentil soup to make it creamy
I like to use my immersion blender to make it a creamy soup (it’s great for hiding vegetables with kids too!), but you can also blend it in batches in your high speed blender or food processor. Or just leave it chunky!

Slow Cooker Curry Red Lentil Soup is GREAT over Brown Basmati Rice
This recipe is high in fiber and protein and goes GREAT over basmati brown rice. Which I’m so glad I discovered brown basmati rice – it has a nuttier flavor & is a longer rice. Basmati brown rice tastes SO much better than regular brown rice and is SUPER fast to cook in an Instant Pot.
Here is the Perfect Instant Pot Brown Basmati Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe – just leave out the cilantro, lime, & corn if you want to make plain basmati rice for to use with this red lentil soup! Although the cilantro lime flavor might be good with it too!

Related Reading –
How to make Slow Cooker Curry Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled & sliced into rounds
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked red lentils, rinsed
- 1 14 ounce can light coconut milk
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, low sodium or no salt added
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup, optional
Throw everything into a slow cooker EXCEPT the soy sauce and maple syrup. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Then blend soup until desired creaminess using an immersion blender. Alternatively, you can just leave the soup chunky if you don’t want to blend it! Add low sodium soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and optional pure maple syrup and mix well.
Make SURE you use CANNED light coconut milk like this one – not the kind in the refrigerated section in a carton. Not the same and I can tell you from experience with making soups, not as good. Shake well before opening.

I do recommend a programmable slow cooker that will turn off automatically and keep it warm. That way you can go to work or about your day and not worry about rushing home to turn it off so it doesn’t burn! I have this one by Crock-Pot and love it!
Slow cooker liners help save on mess & clean up!
Another tip is to use slow cooker liners! They are so cheap and WORTH IT! Zero mess to clean up – just be careful when using the immersion blender with the liner in it – I try not to touch the very bottom with the immersion blender so I don’t catch the liner in the blades. Some stores even sell a generic brand that are just as good and even cheaper.
Supplies needed:
- Programmable slow cooker
- Slow Cooker Liners (for easy clean up!)
- Immersion blender
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do and if you try it please comment below, or if you have ideas on how you changed it up!

Slow Cooker Curry Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled & sliced into rounds
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked red lentils, rinsed
- 1 14 ounce can light coconut milk
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes low sodium or no salt added
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup optional
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker EXCEPT soy sauce & maple syrup.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Stir in soy sauce & maple syrup.
- I like to use an immersion blender to blend the soup so it is smooth and creamy. Or you can leave chunky as is. You can also blend it in small batches in a high powered blender – but be careful because hot soup likes to splatter!
- Delicious served over brown rice!
A very tasty thick soup. Recommend frying up the veg first in a bit of oil. I also added some chopped cilantro.. Will be brilliant over red rice.
Hi, I just stumbled onto this curry red lentil crock pot recipe. I do not use any coconut milk or products as very high Lipoprotein a score and cannot eat it. Will this recipe still come out as good using an oat or almond milk?
Thanks
Robin
The taste may be a little different without using coconut milk, but it should still be creamy and delicious!
Wondering if this freezes well. Thank you.
Yes, you can freeze it.