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When you’re in need of warming comfort food, but you also want healthy, this Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice is just the soup recipe to make. All made in just ONE pot (or in your instant pot), in less than an hour, and using good for us ingredients like sweet potatoes, red lentils, warming spices, and creamy coconut milk. It’s cozy, a little spicy, and filled with vegetables. Finish each bowl off with steamed rice and you’ll have the perfect healthy bowl of sweet potato soup for lunch or dinner.
When I get stuck creatively, I try to look at flavors and foods just slightly out of my comfort zone. I tend to fall back on cozy foods…pastas, creamy soups, and pretty much anything roasted. Those are my go-to’s and very much in my comfort zone.
This is why, when I get in a recipe rut, I love to step outside my box, and explore flavors I don’t use as often as I should.
Enter this soup.
Lately all I want to cook is the comfort foods I know and love. Which is totally fine, since I whole heartedly believe that you should make what’s inspiring you. With our cold, snowy weather I’m embracing all the comfort foods…after all, I think it’s what I’m best at!
That said, I was ready for a flavor switch up, and decided to explore some Indian inspired recipes.
Instead of googling anything, I text my soon to be sister (because my older brother is gettin’ married this summer!). Lyndsie is one of the more well-rounded eaters I know, and great for recipe ideas. She quickly responded with mulligatawny soup. At first I thought she spelled something wrong. But after some googling I discovered that mulligatawny soup is an East Indian curry soup. It’s traditionally made with veggies, sometimes lentils, sometimes apples, and coconut milk.
Honestly, I saw a ton of different versions online, so I’m not sure what’s really traditional. The point here is that I drew the inspiration for this soup from mulligatawny soup. This is not a mulligatawny soup, but it’s similar…ish, and 100% delicious.
When I set out to make this soup, I knew it needed to include three things: sweet potatoes, lentils, and rice.
I LOVE a rice based soup (have you made my favorite tortilla soup…or my wild rice soup?!). Since I haven’t made one in a bit, I knew using rice for this soup was key. I wanted lentils for protein, and sweet potatoes for, well, just because I love them…and they’re in season!
So those were my three must have ingredients. From here I built up the rest of the soup and it quickly came together.
You’ll start by cooking up some onions, garlic, and lots of ginger. These are major flavor boosters, so don’t skip them. Then toss in your sweet potatoes, yellow curry powder, and a pinch of cayenne for some heat. You could easily add some carrots and celery for extra veggies.
Add broth and red lentils, then simmer until the lentils are extra soft, which only takes about 15 minutes or so. You can also do this all in your instant pot (which I included directions for). But I honestly think it’s just as quick and easy to do this on the stove top.
Once the lentils are soft, stir in the full-fat coconut milk and some spinach, and simmer to warm through. And like that, the soup is done! I don’t like to add the rice directly to the soup. Instead I add the rice to bowls and then pour the soup over. This way the rice doesn’t soak up all the soup’s broth while it sits.
This soup is SO flavorful, SO full of color, and filled with good for us ingredients. Yet it feels totally comforting with the sweet potatoes, creamy coconut milk, and rice. I love serving it with my homemade naan (obviously). It’s our favorite over here.
Best part, well aside from all the deliciousness, this requires only one pot and is ready in less than 45 minutes. Perfect.
If you make this coconut sweet potato lentil soup please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Watch the How to Video:
Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice from Half Baked Harvest on Vimeo.
Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 1813 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more or less to taste
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water
- 3/4 cup dried red lentils
- kosher salt
- 1 can (14 ounce) coconut milk
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 2 cups cooked basmati rice
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for serving
- fresh Naan, for serving
Instructions
Stove-Top
- 1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook 5 minutes until soft. Add the ginger, garlic, and sweet potatoes and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cayenne and cook another minute. 2. Add the broth and lentils. Season generously with salt. Bring the mix to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are soft and the sweet potatoes tender. 3. Stir in the coconut milk and spinach, cook 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cilantro. 4. To serve, divide the rice among bowls and ladle the soup overtop. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with Naan on the side. Enjoy!
Instant Pot
- 1. Set Instant pot to sauté. Add the olive oil and onion and cook 5 minutes until soft. Add the ginger, garlic, and sweet potatoes and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cayenne and cook another minute. 2. Add the broth and lentils. Season generously with salt. Cover, select the manual setting, and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.3. Once done cooking, use the quick release function and release the steam. Set the Instant pot to sauté. Stir in the coconut milk and spinach, and cook 5 minutes. Turn the instant pot off. Stir in the cilantro.4. To serve, divide the rice among bowls and ladle the soup overtop. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with Naan on the side. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on October 11, 2018
Can you use coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
Hey Jenna,
Yes that would be fine to use. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions!
Such a good recipe!
Thank you Danielle! xTieghan
Wow! Amazing dish for fall/winter. I love the spicy curry flavor. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Thank you so much Amber! xTieghan
Made this tonight and it is soooo good! Loved it, and a nice vegan weeknight option. Next time I may throw some corn in too to add some sweetness. Highly recommend!
Yes! So glad this turned out so well for you, Kara! Thank you! xTieghan
At what point do you involve the rice, as a side? Or added to soup?
Hey Talia,
I just serve the soup over rice as stated in step 4:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Such a great spin on a thai/indian dish! Will def be making again!
Love to hear that! Thank you Kaitlyn! xTieghan
Made this last night after you featured it in your instagram stories the other day, and we loved it! Super simple, quick, and delicious. Will definitely be making this again!
Thank you Kait! xTieghan
This soup feels like a bowl full of warm hugs with every new bite that you take! Thank you so much for such a delicious recipe, all of my family loved the soup especially my fifteen months old baby 🙂 .
P.s. I was out of spinach, so instead of spinach once everything was cooked I put a handful of fresh arugula in each bowl. Delicious ?!
Hi Aleksandra! I am so happy you have been enjoying this recipe! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Made this for my in-laws tonight and I was SO impressed (as were they!) Super simple to make, and it was easy to modify to make slightly less spicy (just a bit less curry and cayenne), it turned out just as flavourful too. Overall a big hit, thanks Tieghan!
I am so glad this turned out so well for you, Katie! Thank you for trying this! xTieghan
This was DELICIOUS and SO EASY to make. I made the soup and my husband made the naan, we both kept commenting how delicious it was while we were eating it. We added the full teaspoon of cayenne pepper because we like a little spice and served it over quinoa. So flavorful and tasty. Each bite is as good as the last. This recipe will become a new staple for us!
I am so happy to hear that, Eliza! Thank you so much for trying this one! xTieghan
Hi, I have been making a lot of your recipes and have really enjoyed them. You use a lot of coconut milk and I feel like it is not healthy to have this much saturated fat multiple times a week but I would really like to make this soup, any suggestions for substitute for the coconut milk?
Thanks so much for all of the delicious recipes!
Hey Eileen,
You could use low fat coconut milk or fat free milk. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Just made and the flavor is great but I feel like my lentils kind of burst. I cooked per instructions in the IP. Is this normal?
Hey Polly,
So sorry about this, can I ask if you adjusted the recipe at all? Were you using dried lentils? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan
What the hell, this is too good!! Another amazing recipe. Btw- if anyone cares- I double the amount of spice (I’m one of those weird spicy people) and added a little harissa, labne and lime juice at the end. Perfection!
Haha yes! I am really happy this recipe turned out so well for you, Anna! Thank you! xTieghan
Toddler approved! I adjusted the spice level to accommodate him (no cayenne) and didn’t have traditional curry powder so I used one of my masala spice blends from my husbands stash of masalas. The sweet potato is so nice with it and the coconut milk makes it super heart warming!
Amazing! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
Made this tonight. So yummy!
Thank you Catherine! xTieghan