Curried Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Lentils

This Curried Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Lentils is silky smooth, perfectly spiced, filled with aromatics, and it’s topped with pan-fried crispy black lentils for a little texture! A squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro brighten up this cozy, healthy, plant-based soup!

In keeping with my tradition of posting a soup recipe for Halloween, I’m sharing this dreamy curried cauliflower soup today! For as long as I can remember, my mom has always made soup for us on Halloween night, and it’s a tradition I’ve always loved so much! She usually made her carrot and potato soup, which I shared a version of a couple years ago! It’s so incredibly simple and SO good. Last year I shared this sweet potato soup with bacon and maple pecan crunch which is insanely delicious. The flavor combination is out of this world.

And now for this year, the dreamiest curried cauliflower soup with crispy lentils on top! It’s also super festive – not quite orange and black for Halloween, but close! The combination of the creamy, spiced soup, the crispy lentils, bright lime, and cilantro is SO delicious and just what I want on a chilly night passing out candy.

Followed up with autumn blondies, of course!

This soup just happens to be vegan too, so it’s perfect for just about anyone.

It gets its creaminess from coconut milk, and the soup gets puréed in the blender which makes it even more creamy! There’s something about a creamy, puréed soup in the fall that’s just hard to beat.

Don’t even get me started on the flavor – we’ve got grated ginger, garlic, and yellow curry powder that make up most of the flavor in this soup, as well as onions, carrots, and cauliflower!

The crispy lentils might sound complicated, but you’re literally just crisping up cooked lentils in a pan with a little olive oil! They are SO good and they make an amazing addition to salads too! I love lentils so much and I think they’re so underrated.

Also! If you don’t feel like cooking lentils, I sometimes buy the pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joe’s, and those will work here just fine!

Don’t skip them though. They are SO good and the much needed texture contrast on top of this soup!

The inspiration for this soup came from a random dinner I made a month or so ago. I was in the mood for roasted cauliflower, and decided to chop it up, toss it in olive oil, salt, and yellow curry powder, and then roast it at a high temperature until it was golden, crispy, and super caramelized. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. I know I’ve roasted cauliflower with curry powder before, but there was something SO good about how I made it that night. So much so, I ate the whole giant head of cauliflower by myself. And I knew I had to re-create those flavors somehow!

This is so festive, and exactly what I want when I’m craving something healthy, but still comforting. It would be a great side too, if you wanted to serve it with a big salad!

Those colors.

5 from 1 vote

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Curried Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Lentils

This Curried Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Lentils is silky smooth, perfectly spiced, filled with aromatics, and it's topped with pan-fried crispy black lentils for a little texture! A squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro brighten up this cozy, healthy, plant-based soup!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Side, Soup

Keyword coconut curried cauliflower soup, curried cauliflower, curried cauliflower and carrots, curried cauliflower soup, curried cauliflower with coconut milk, easy cauliflower soup, healthy cauliflower soup, vegan cauliflower soup

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the soup

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 large head cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 can (15 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, plus extra for drizzling
• juice of 1 lime
• chopped cilantro for serving
• lime wedges for serving

For the crispy lentils

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cups cooked black lentils
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

For the soup

1. Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the coconut oil. Once melted and hot, add the garlic and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds - 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the onion, carrot, cauliflower, curry powder, salt, and a couple turns of freshly cracked black pepper, and sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add the vegetable broth, and increase heat to high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Once soup has finished simmering, remove the lid. Let soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a blender, and blend until smooth. Be super careful when blending hot liquids and leave space in the blender for the soup and steam to expand! Pour soup back into the pot and stir in coconut milk, lime juice, and reamining 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired.

3. To serve, top the soup with a scoop of crispy lentils, and a handful of chopped cilantro. Finish with a drizzle of coconut milk, and serve with lime wedges!

For the crispy lentils

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Once hot, add the lentils and press down with the back of a rubber spatula or wooden spoon into a flat, even layer. Cook for 4-5 minutes (don't stir!), then stir, press the lentils down again, and let the other side crisp up for another 3-4 minutes. At this point, they should be crispy, but you can repeat this process until they are crispy enough for your liking! Season to taste with salt and pepper.