30-Minute Moroccan Lentil Soup with Brown Lentils (2024)

This Moroccan lentil soup comes together in no time and yields a hearty, comforting soup that is full of warm Moroccan spices. Made with just a few ingredients, the soup is perfect served alongside fresh bread as a stand-alone meal, or as a side to a light dinner.

Lentil Soup Across the Region

Lentils are a popular ingredient within middle eastern cuisine, especially in the form of soup. A hot bowl of lentil soup made with red split lentils is common across the Arab region. In Turkey as well, they have a similar but slightly different Turkish style lentil soup served as an appetizer before meals.

In the North African region, brown lentils are used in soups, like in the very popular Harira soup that Moroccans make throughout Ramadan, as well as in this lentil-only soup.

Brown Lentils vs. Red Split Lentils

This soup uses brown lentils, which are distinctly different from red split lentils. The red lentils will disintegrate and break down as they cook, turning into mush, or... soup! That's why they are used in classic lentil soup recipes.

Brown lentils hold their shape when cooked (but do tend to soften a lot if they are over cooked) and you'll feel their texture when using them in soups and stews. Green lentils can be used as well, although they will take a bit longer to cook than brown lentils and will hold their shape even more.

This is why rice and lentil dishes like koshari and mujaddara use brown lentils and never red lentils, so the lentil texture is still visible and doesn't mush into the rice.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

You will just need a few vegetables and spices along with the lentils to make this soup.

• Brown lentils: you can also substitute green lentils, but you may need to cook them for a bit longer. Do not use red lentils unless you want a mushy / creamy consistency.

• Vegetables and aromatics: onions, carrots, celery and garlic. If you don't have carrots and/or celery, you can skip them!

• Moroccan spices: cinnamon, cumin, paprika, ginger, turmeric, and salt, along with tomato paste.

• Olive oil for softening the vegetables and chicken broth or water for the soup. Chicken broth is of course more flavourful but I tested this soup using just water and it was still so delicious.

How to Make Moroccan Lentil Soup

This soup starts like any other soup: with building flavour!

Start by softening the onions, carrots and celery in the olive oil. Continue to cook and stir them for at least 5-6 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Add the tomato paste and garlic and toast both of them in the oil, stirring for 30 seconds. This step adds a lot of flavour by caramelizing the tomato paste and heating the garlic until its fragrant.

Next, add the lentils in and stir them to coat them in the oil and spices. Pour in the broth or water, stir all the ingredients together, then bring to a boil.

See Also

Alton Brown Lentil Soup Recipe - Delish SidesLentil Tomato Soup RecipeEasy Mediterranean lentil soup recipe (fakes)Alfredo Sauce Alton Brown

Once the soup is boiling, cover it and cook it on medium heat at a rapid simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, just until the lentils are soft.

Taste and adjust for salt and pepper, then add the freshly chopped parsley and cilantro for a final note of freshness. Serve in bowls alongside fresh bread.

Serving & Storage Suggestions

Since the soup is quite hearty and filling from the lentils, I often enjoy it as a stand-alone meal with some bread. Scooping soup in bread is one of life's greatest pleasures. But you can also serve it as an appetizer or side with a light dinner or lunch.

This soup also stores really well in the fridge for 4-5 days, and it freeze well too. Simply allow it to cool, then scoop it into freezer bags, flatten the bags and close them, and place in the freezer for months.

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