Spicy Red Lentil and Swede Soup
Swede glorious swede. It’s one of poor root vegetables that nobody seems to know what to do with. But swede is delicious when used in the right way. This flavoursome and hot soup is a great way to enjoy the mighty root vegetable.
Adding red lentils to the swede soup provides an added nutritional benefit, but it also helps to give the soup a “meatier” texture.
If you’re looking for more swede recipes you’re in luck, I have tons on the site. I’ve compiled them into a list of my favourites. Some highlights are the Swede and Lentil Jungle Curry or the Creamy Swede Vegan Mac and Cheese. It’s my mission to make swede celebrated as the versatile and delicious vegetable it is!
When to eat
I recommend eating this soup from September to May, but you’ll get the best of the carrots and swede in the late summer to early winter months.
Spicy Red Lentil and Swede Soup
This meal is around 90% less polluting than the average UK meal.
Eating this recipe will save around 2.65 KG CO2e per person.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 21.90 KM in a modern car.
How do I calculate this?Ingredients
- 800 g Swede (peeled and chopped into rough 1cm cubes)
- 2 Large Carrots (peeled and chopped into rough 1cm slices)
- 1 Medium Onion (peeled and finely diced)
- 3 Cloves Garlic (peeled and finely diced)
- 200 g Red Lentils
- 1 Litre Vegetable Stock
- 1-2 Teaspoons Chilli Flakes (increase or decrease the amount of chilli flakes depending on how spicy you want your soup)
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 Teaspoon Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Sunflower Oil
- 15 g Fresh Parsley (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Heat the sunflower in a deep saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft.
- Tip in the spices – the coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, chilli flakes and sugar. Stir the contents to evenly cover the onion.
- Add the swede, carrot and lentils to the pan. Pour over the stock and bring the soup to the boil. Then reduce the heat of the pan, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the swede, carrot and lentils are nicely soft.
- Once the vegetables have cooked, blend about 1/2 of the soup using a hand blender or food processor. Combine the blended portion with the rest of the soup and heat through for a few minutes.
- Remove the soup from the heat stir the chopped parsley into the soup. Then season to taste with a good helping of kosher salt.
41 Comments
Michelle
June 3, 2021 at 1:30 pm
I made this soup last week and it was really delicious! I’ve just taken the second batch out of the freezer for dinner tonight!
hugo
June 3, 2021 at 1:37 pm
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Michelle!
Melody
June 22, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Do you know how many calories are in each serving?
hugo
June 27, 2021 at 7:24 am
Hi Melody – it’s 333kcal per serving
Vik
February 10, 2022 at 4:15 pm
Thank you so much for this receipe. It is so delicious, all the vegetables and spices goes perfectly together. And as I’m vegan with my partner and we care deeply about the environment ….I cooked it first time and I think it is my favourite soup now. So very grateful
hugo
February 10, 2022 at 4:17 pm
No problem vik, so nice to hear you enjoyed it!
Lynne
March 13, 2022 at 5:05 pm
I’m a “soup maker” so always looking for new recipes to try (plus experimenting myself). The blend of ingredients in Hugo’s recipe is just fantastic and has already become one of my “go to” soup recipes.
Thank you so much! Have subscribed (of course).
hugo
March 13, 2022 at 5:07 pm
So lovely to hear Lynne. I’m really glad you enjoyed the soup!
Lucy Mason
April 12, 2022 at 12:08 pm
Hello. I love swede and have been looking for recipes to use them in. Thank you for this fabulous soup and I’m going to try the others as well. I love the environment information as well, a brilliant idea.
hugo
April 12, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Thanks Lucy, so glad you enjoyed it.
Maria
April 21, 2022 at 10:44 am
I made this yesterday without the turmeric (as I didn’t have any) and it was absolutely delicious. My husband loved it too.
hugo
April 22, 2022 at 3:40 pm
Thanks Maria, It’s great to hear you and your husband enjoyed this soup!
Beryl
April 28, 2022 at 4:28 pm
Could you add a print version of the recipe as it is in large print and takes lots of ink and paper
hugo
June 27, 2022 at 9:36 am
Done! You can find the “print recipe” button at the top of the recipe.
Mel
June 14, 2022 at 5:36 am
This soup was beautiful and so easy to make. I’m not vegan but looking to reduce the amount of meat in my diet. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
hugo
June 18, 2022 at 5:40 pm
Great news Mel, glad you enjoyed the soup.
amy
June 21, 2022 at 12:39 pm
Hi, would you be able to make this in a slow cooker?
hugo
June 27, 2022 at 9:34 am
Hey Amy, I don’t see why not!
Christine
September 4, 2022 at 3:09 pm
I thought I’d give this a try as I’m growing swedes for the first time this year, and try to freeze lots of portions of soup from home grown produce to see me through the year. Apart from the spices it is very similar to a lentil soup my mum used to make (non-vege) utilising the water she’d boiled a ham joint in – just the ham stock, lentils, carrots and swede and leeks instead of onions. She used far fewer lentils, and used to grate half the veges to save blending. I tried to make your recipe exactly as written, but fell at the first hurdle as I had no chilli flakes – I used a chilli from the greenhouse instead so it’s not as fiery as it should be. Then I discovered I had no parsley! – but no matter it’s for the freezer so I’ll add a note that it needs parsley when thawed. I also thought 200g lentils was a bit much for 1l stock and it does make a very thick soup (not too thick), but wouldn’t suffer with less lentils or more stock. Otherwise it tastes delicious, thank you for the recipe.
Rachael
November 24, 2022 at 8:31 pm
I prepared my first lentil soup using your recipe. I really enjoyed it. Thank you. Can’t wait to try more recipes.
hugo
February 2, 2023 at 2:28 pm
Thanks Rachael!
EVELYN CALISA
December 6, 2022 at 4:24 pm
Hello there in UK from California (I am originally from the Philippines). Found your site in you tube looking for vegan breakfast ideas and liked your preparations looks delicious. Now i am looking at your recipe here just wanted to know what swede is? Thanks and have a great day.
hugo
February 2, 2023 at 2:27 pm
Hi Evelyn, Swede is what you yanks call Rutabaga!
Hannah Wray
January 11, 2023 at 8:04 pm
Great recipe! Love this soup! So nutritious too! Thank you!
hugo
February 2, 2023 at 2:23 pm
Thanks Hannah, I do love this soup!
Ella
February 12, 2023 at 8:23 pm
Great recipe! Easy to make and so tasty! Thank you :)
Philippa
February 22, 2023 at 10:39 am
I am so pleased to find a recipe to use swede in a soup. We have it often mashed, cubed and boiled etc etc but I always seem to have swede to use up. I’m making this at the weekend!
Philippa_Hampshire
February 26, 2023 at 10:16 am
I have just made this soup – I had half a large swede left over from the local veg box delivery and I couldn’t think what to do with it – one can only have so much boiled or mashed swede! The soup is really lovely – I halved all the quantities as I only had 450 grams of swede and it made a good 4 portions.
Patrice Melrose
April 22, 2023 at 2:44 pm
Hello Hugo
I was given a bag of carrots, onions, 2 x swedes, flat leaf parsley. I’m so glad I found your website. I printed off Red Lentil & Swede Soup. I have just made it. Tastes wonderful.
I made enough for 2 days, and I will make rice tomorrow and have it as a chunky Lentil & Swede Curry, by adding coconut milk to it.
hugo
May 26, 2023 at 11:10 am
Lovely to know Patrice, great tips about making it last longer!
Susan Appleby
April 25, 2023 at 9:48 am
tried this – it was delicious. Now a firm favourite as I grow Swede.
hugo
May 26, 2023 at 11:09 am
Amazing!
Sarah Delvin (Metabolic Health Nutrition)
May 2, 2023 at 8:42 am
Loved this and will use it with clients! Felt really full all afternoon! I did 50:50 red and green lentils as that’s what I had hanging around!
hugo
May 26, 2023 at 11:09 am
Thanks Sarah, glad you enjoyed it
Jana
May 16, 2023 at 2:28 pm
just like to know whether the lentils should be fresh and if so, do they cook in 20 mins???
hugo
May 26, 2023 at 11:11 am
Hi Jana, the lentils are dry weight
Miriam Millard
May 26, 2023 at 10:45 am
This looks absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to make it tomorrow. Thankyou!
Sara
June 30, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Really tasty. I needed a little more stock than listed and added some dried fenugreek. Lovely way to use up a leftover swede
Edina
November 26, 2023 at 2:35 pm
Oh my gosh, this is absolutely amazing! Just discovered you yesterday but already have so many of your recipes on my meal plan for the coming month!
I was looking for swede recipes as I managed to get hold of a few and despite loving them, I don’t really know how to make delicious meals from them without a recipe. So glad I came across this recipe as it rocks!
I used fresh chillies, I just prefer fresh if I have it, and it’s just as fine :) also I’m Hungarian so I don’t blend soups! (I do now sometimes, but I feel like so much of the deliciousness escapes if I reduce veggies to a liquid – this is just personal preference.) I did like the idea of blending just some part, maybe in the future, or maybe the batch that goes to the freezer will be blended, but for now, I’m enjoying the chunks :) with the broth :)
Thank you!
Gavin Davis
December 4, 2023 at 10:43 am
Wow – cooked this yesterday as was struggling to know what to do with the Swede that’s been in the cupboard for a few weeks! It was stunning. Will defo add this one to a favourite soups list.
Elizabeth
December 13, 2023 at 11:45 pm
This suede and lentil soup was one of the best I’ve made!
Thank you