Pressure Cooked Red Lentil Soup

There’s nothing better than a bowl of soup on a cold day! Especially if it’s as easy to make as this 2-minute Pressure Cooked Red Lentil Soup. Middle Eastern-inspired, made with red lentils, turmeric, spinach, carrots, and lemon. Delicious, filling, healthy, and leftovers are freezer-friendly.

Lentils similar to other legumes contain lectins, but they can be easily eliminated by pressure cooking. Red lentil doesn’t have to be soaked in advance and it boils very quickly. In fact, lectin content in red lentils is low, opposed to red kidney beans, where lectin content is high. Taking digestive enzymes 20-30 minutes before a meal will also help you with uncomfortable bloating after eating legumes. Start with a small portion of legumes regularly and slowly increase the amount. The tolerance will build up over time. The benefits of eating legumes are great and once your gut is healed they should be reintroduced back to your diet. Let me know how it worked for you.

Did you know that longest living people in blue zones live on beans?

So let’s get cooking!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp avocado oil
1 medium onion (diced)
2 medium carrots (diced), optional add diced ginger and celery
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 cups of red lentils
8 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp turmeric or curry powder
1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin (omit if you use curry powder)
1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley (or 1 Tbsp dry)
2 cups baby spinach
Juice of half a lemon

Instant Pot Instructions

Note: If you don’t own a Pressure Cooker and want to make this soup on the stove, the cooking time takes about 30 minutes.

Directions

Press the sauté function and add the oil to the insert, add the onions and carrots, and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chopped garlic, turmeric, and cumin. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Press cancel.
Add the lentils and broth, cover, and cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. Natural or quick release.
Toss in parsley, spinach, and stir in lemon juice. Season with salt. Serve.

Note: The soup tends to thicken a lot. If you have some leftovers for the next day, you have to add some more water or broth before reheating.

To make the soup even more nutritious and flavorful, you can also add diced celery, or celeriac root, and diced ginger and sauté together with carrot.

For more protein contents serve with boiled pastured or omega-3 egg.