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A soul-warming Moroccan sweet potato lentil soup recipe. This soup is made in the slow cooker and requires hardly any work at all. Plus, it makes the whole house smell warm and cozy!
SOUP TIME.
Which, in my very humble opinion is the best kind of time there is. Unless it’s Chocolate Chip Cookie time, which, goes without saying, is obviously better.
And which obviously this is NOT. Ahem, what? Where were we? Detoxing.
That’s right.
Today, I’m bringing you this Moroccan-style detox lentil soup loaded with all the goodness straight from your refrigerator plus pantry with tons of soul-warming spices to brighten up these cold, cold winter days.
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
This Moroccan-inspired sweet potato and lentil soup is WARMING. Warming in a very pleasant way. We aren’t talking spicy – I mean spiced. To perfection. Along with an abundance of vegetables, we’ve got ground coriander, cumin, curry powder, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, and nutmeg in the mix. So there’s plenty of flavor that the lentils and sweet potatoes will soak up.
Did I mention it also happens to be freezer-friendly since we don’t have a noodle situation here. It’s also budget-friendly because lentils are a great way to pack in fiber and protein without breaking the bank.
And it just happens to be around 250 calories a serving. So the leftovers can go into portions in the freezer for meal prep when you need a quick lunch with tons of veggies.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Lentil Soup
- Sweet Potatoes: we’ll use about 1 pound of sweet potatoes to the ¾-1 pound of lentils in this recipe. Peel and cube the potatoes into small pieces so that they cook up in roughly the same amount of time as the brown lentils.
- Carrots, Onions, and Celery: The trinity for a good bowl of soup! Feel free to use a store-bought mirepoix mix if you’d like as this recipe calls for equal parts of each.
- Red Bell Pepper: Adds natural sweetness to the pot of soup along with the ground cinnamon.
- Garlic: you’ll need a handful of cloves for this recipe. I opt to add fresh pressed garlic as it has a more potent flavor. Jar-lic works too but you’ll probably need a little over 2 tablespoons to give it that same taste.
- Lentils: You’ll need brown or green lentils for this recipe. I typically use red lentils for my Turkish Red Lentil Soup recipe or my Indian Style Red Lentil Dal Soup along with some coconut milk, but since we’re loading this into the slow cooker and letting it simmer away, the texture would become too mushy. With the longer cooking time, brown or green lentils work better for this particular recipe.
- Spices: You’ll need some ground coriander, cumin, curry powder, smoked paprika, ground cinnamon, ground turmeric, and nutmeg. Feel free to swap the paprika or chili powder, or add both if you want the smoke and the heat.
- Broth: feel free to use vegetable broth or chicken broth depending on whether you need this recipe to be vegan-friendly or not.
- Baby Spinach: I personally love baby spinach for this recipe, but feel free to swap it with kale if that’s what you like or if that’s what you have on hand.
- Lemons: Fresh lemon wedges really brighten up the soup. Finish he soup with the lemon or squeeze into individual bowls if you’d like.
I made this tonight and it turned out fantastic! I will definitely be putting this in my soup rotation.
Making Sweet Potato Soup
- Load it all up. Seriously, add everything but the baby spinach and lemon juice to the slow cooker. You can cook tis on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Keep in mind that all slow cookers are different, so yours may take more or less time than what is listed. Check for doneness after the first 2-3 hours and then adjust as needed.
- Blend it up. Check to see if the soup is done my piercing the sweet potatoes with a sharp knife. The knife should go through easily without needing much force. Press the lentils down using a spoon to see if they mash easily. When done, transfer half of the soup mixture to a blend and pulse until smooth-ish. Stir this backing the soup pot and then add the baby spinach and lemon juice. Cover and let the soup hand out for 30 minutes or until the spinach wilts down.
- Adjust and serve. Taste and adjust the soup to your liking. You might need additional salt, black pepper, or more curry powder to your liking. You might also need another splash of broth depending on how much liquid the ingredient absorbed while cooking. Serve with whipped yogurt, fried bread, and fresh herbs on top. Enjoy!
Other vegetarian-friendly soup recipes
- Secret Ingredient Tomato Basil Soup
- Luxurious Turkish Lentil Soup
- Cheesy Rice and Black Bean Soup
- Roasted Honeynut Squash Soup
- Roasted Garlic Potato Soup
- Chipotle Butternut Squash Chili
Moroccan Sweet Potato Lentil Soup (Slow Cooker)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and cubed into small pieces
- 1 cup carrots chopped
- 1 cup onions chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 ½ cups green or brown lentils rinsed and picked over
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon curry powder or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 6-7 cups low sodium stock vegetable or chicken
- 2 ½ cups baby spinach roughly chopped
- ¼ cup lemon juice or lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Place the sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, red bell pepper, garlic, lentils, spices, and 6 cups of broth into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
- Check the lentils for doneness. If you're lentils have been in the pantry for a while, note that they'll take a bit longer to cook through.
- Place half the soup into a blender along with a little additional broth (½ cup or so) and blend till smoothish. Alternately, you can use an immersion blender directly in the slow cooker but be sure to not blend all of the soup if you want it to have a chunkier texture.
- Add the puree back into the slow cooker. Stir in the baby spinach and lemon juice. Cover the slow cooker, unplug it, and allow the ingredients to just hang out for 30 minutes or so until the spinach wilts down.
- Season with salt, pepper and curry powder to taste as desired. Thin with additional broth to desired consistency.
- Serve warm with whipped greek yogurt, fried pita bread, and tons of fresh herbs (parsley or cilantro) on top!
Notes
- Add more protein: You can sauté 1 pound of ground lamb, beef, chicken, or turkey and add it in with all the other ingredients to the slow cooker for a more protein-filled meal – note that you may need a little bit more of each of the seasonings to balance flavors when adding protein.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I made it this tonight, my partner love it xx this is delicious recipe… ! Thank you for share the recipe !! I can’t wait for next cooking
This is one of my favorite soup recipes and I’ve made it half a dozen times, it always comes great! The blend of spices is what does it for me I think 🙂
I make it stovetop, sauteeing the veggies (minus potato) until tender, then adding garlic and spices, sautee another minute or so, then add everything else (except spinach). I usually cook about 40 minutes.
I also like to add a generous dash of sriracha for heat! If I don’t have a red pepper available I have made without and it’s still great. Butternut squash works well in place of sweet potato.
Thanks for this gem!!
So glad! Appreciate you sharing your stovetop process, Emily 🙂
This looks so rich and wholesome, you’ve totally inspired me for today’s dinner!
Hi there…sorry if this is a silly question, but are you starting with dried lentils or are they already cooked? I’m assuming dried since they will be in the crockpot. Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Yup, you’re right, they’re dried lentils!
Delish! Made it for a church soup supper and it was a big hit. Made it on the stove. Sautéed the veggies and seasoning til crisp tender. Cooked lentils in broth and added to the sautéed veggies. Cooked a few minutes til veggies were tender. Used immersion blender but left a fair amount chunky. Forgot to add the spinach! Oh well. Next time. It was really tasty the following day.
This was an excellent recipe! I love how it is so flexible to meet your mood, guest preferences or what you have on hand. I added ground turkey, doubled the spices (we like strong flavors) and used my Instant Pot. We added dollops of greek yogurt, jalapeno and cilantro on top. Next time I think I’ll add some garbanzo beans as well. This is definitely going into our cold-weather rotation. Thank you!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Cassandra! Garbanzo beans sound like a great addition! Thank you for letting me know that the recipe works in the instant pot too 🙂
How long did you put it in the instant pot for? Thanks!
I made this pretty much verbatim, but left the spinach out, added more parsley, some cayenne pepper, and lots of sliced okra. Lovely, interesting!
This is a great recipe but I think next time I would leave out the lemon juice. Just a personal preference.
Awesome I cooked it on the stove top and used red lentils came out delicious
What should I do if I have canned lentils? Should I not use as much broth?
I LOVE this recipe. I have made it dozens of times. It is so satisfying and delicious.
I just made this soup on the stove and it’s delicious! I sauteed.the onion, celery and carrots first for about 10min the added garlic for a min and then everything else except the spinach and lemon juice. About 30min later i used my immersion blender to puree and then added the spinach and lemon juice. Amazing soup!!
My whole family (three teen boys, one husband, and me) loved this! I swapped brown lentils for orange and added some Rasam Powder (an Indian spice blend). I am making it again tonight with Sweet Potato Tater tots and a nice salad topped with cinnamon apple chips. Autumn on our plates!
Have no broth… going to make stuffed grape leaves first & use the broth from that…
Love this! I switched the sweet potatoes for pre-cut butternut squash (to save time). As per the suggestion at the bottom for more protein, I sautéd ground chicken and added to the ingredients. Fantastic! For the topping, I whipped plain Greek yogurt with lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic. Also used cilantro for topping as per recipe. Will make again for sure!
What size are the serving , only thing missing from the nutrition chart.
Unfortunately, the nutrition information doesn’t allow me to write the number of servings. However, the information is for 8 (roughly 2-cupish) servings.
Yes. I did .. was ??. Didn’t have celery so used leeks instead , added a tin of chickpeas , added more smoked paprika. Tasted good ?
This soup is delicious! I have made it a couple of times now, and absolutely love it. The best part is that I often have these ingredients on hand, and my whole family enjoyed it (score!)
I made this soup tonight. YUM! I didn’t have any red bell pepper or green bell pepper. I did have some poblano peppers, so I threw one of those in it. Also, I used a lentil blend (red/green/black) and they all cooked great. At the end of cooking, I did add another teaspoon of Maharajah Curry (Penzey’s) and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika when I added the spinach. Love the lemon in it. It really did brighten the flavor. Next time I make this, I’m going to pressure cook it in my Instant Pot. It’s a repeat recipe for me!
Can you let me know if you tried this recipe in them pressure cooker – if so info would be greatly appreciated
I tried really hard to make this soup taste right including adding chickpeas. The actual spice mixture just didn’t have a morrocan feel or taste. Maybe I will have another go at it! I really want to like this soup!