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Lentejas, or Mexican lentil soup, is an easy and affordable meal that doesn’t skimp on flavor. Made with lentils, carrots, potatoes, and staple Mexican spices, this soup is full of nutrients and great for an everyday comforting dinner!
What Are Lentejas?
Lentejas, or lentil soup, is a traditional Mexican soup made from brown or green lentils and is packed with veggies like carrots, onions, potatoes, cilantro, and plenty of spices.
Lentils are an affordable and versatile ingredient, making this traditional recipe so popular. Plus, it’s full of nutrients and naturally vegetarian!
Lentejas Ingredients
- Lentils: I recommend using brown or green lentils for this recipe for their taste and texture. Red lentils tend to get too mushy.
- Roma tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic: These ingredients make up the blended sauce that adds more depth and flavor than only adding broth.
- Carrots and potatoes: Adds color, flavor, and texture to the soup.
- Seasonings: I used a simple blend of kosher salt, black pepper, and Mexican oregano.
- Broth and chicken bouillon: You can use chicken or vegetable broth. For extra flavor, I also added some chicken bouillon, but that’s optional.
- Olive oil: For cooking the carrots. You can use olive oil, avocado oil, or whatever neutral oil you prefer.
- Cilantro: I added cilantro for extra flavor, but you can omit it if you prefer.
How to Make Lentejas
- Start by cooking the carrots in a large Dutch oven with olive oil over medium-high heat.
- While the carrots are cooking, make the tomato mixture by blending tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic, and seasonings until smooth.
- Add the blended tomato mixture, broth, chicken bouillon, dry lentils, potato, and cilantro to the pot. Stir to combine and raise the heat to high.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes until the lentils are soft and tender.
- Remove the pot from the heat and discard the cilantro sprigs before serving.
Helpful Tips
- While the soup is cooking, occasionally check the texture of the lentils to make sure they don’t overcook and get too mushy.
- Dice your potatoes into small cubes so they cook at the same rate as the lentils.
- Add ingredients like cooked and chopped bacon, bell peppers, or a squeeze of fresh lime for even more flavor!
Recommended Tools
- Dutch oven. One of my most used kitchen tools. So versatile and great for one-pot recipes.
- Heat-resistant silicone spatulas. Great to use for everyday cooking and won’t melt under high heat, plus super easy to clean!
Serving Suggestions
A bowl of lentejas pairs beautifully with many Mexican sides and some select toppings. Here are a few suggestions:
- Serve with a side of tortilla chips, bolillo bread, or warm flour tortillas.
- Top with queso fresco, cotija cheese, or some sliced avocado.
Storing and Reheating
To store, place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
To reheat, pour the soup into a medium pot over high heat until warmed through. The lentils will have absorbed some liquid, so you may need to add more broth or water.
Lentejas (Mexican Lentil Soup)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 2 Roma tomatoes, halved
- ½ medium onion (white or yellow)
- 1 jalapeño pepper (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 5 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
- ½ teaspoon chicken bouillon (about 1 small cube, optional)
- 1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and cleaned
- 1 large russet potato, diced
- 12 cilantro sprigs
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the carrots are cooking, add the tomatoes, onion, jalapeño (if using), garlic, salt, black pepper, and Mexican oregano to a large blender. Blend for 2 minutes until completely smooth.
- Add the blended tomato mixture, broth, chicken bouillon, dry lentils, potato, and cilantro to the pot. Stir to combine and raise the heat to high.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 28 to 30 minutes until the lentils are soft and tender.
- Remove the pot from the heat and discard the cilantro sprigs before serving.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really good hearty and healthy soup! I love the method of pureeing the veggies to make the broth- I have done this with other soups and it’s great. I used about 2/3 of a jalapeño with seeds and it had a very nice kick to it.
The lentas recipe was great!
This soup is light, but hearty, and delicious. I love making a batch to eat for lunch all week! It’s easy to add any kind of meat to it for an extra boost of protein as well.
Absolutely delicious! Great flavor and easy to make! I used some of the leftover bean broth from your refried bean recipe (our favorite!) and it turned out great! Will be making again soon. Thank you so much!
These are absolutely delicious! I’ve been looking for a solid go-to lentils recipe for a while now, and this one is perfect. It’s super-easy to make, and very tasty, especially topped with chopped onion, cilantro, and a little crema.
so quick and easy and very satisfying. I had a Japanese sweet potato on hand, so I used that. I didn’t have any avocado or cotija to top it with but that would be really good. The blended tomato, jalapeno, onion and spices gives a great flavor to the soup. I served with toasted garlic flatbread.
I made this soup as part of the challenge and it was so delicious and hearty. My family loved it so much, I have made it twice! It is so perfect for a cold day and very easy to make.
Very tasty. Easy. For some reason I don’t like to process food in a blender. So I just made the soup without blending any of the ingredients. I know lentils are good for me, so that’s why I thought I would make this recipe. And I liked it. Comfort food for this wintry week in January.
This was a delicious and easy soup! Thanks for a great recipe.
The flavor of this is so incredible. Hubby and I absolutely loved it!