Turkish 🇹🇷 📅 2026-02-10 ⏱️ 40 min total ⭐ Easy

Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbası)

The soup that every Turkish household makes from memory. Velvety smooth, deeply warming, and ready in 40 minutes. The paprika butter drizzle at the end makes it.

Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbası)
🥄
Prep Time
10 min
🔥
Cook Time
30 min
⏱️
Total Time
40 min
🍽️
Servings
4

🛒 Ingredients

Serves 4
  • 300 gred lentils, rinsed
  • 1large onion, diced
  • 2medium carrots, diced
  • 2cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbspolive oil
  • 1 tbsptomato paste
  • 1 tspground cumin
  • ½ tspturmeric
  • 1.5 Lvegetable stock or water
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • - Paprika butter
  • 2 tbspbutter
  • 1 tspsweet paprika
  • ½ tspdried mint
🌿 Vegan, Gluten-Free

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and carrots and cook for 5-6 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute.
2
Add the tomato paste, cumin, and turmeric. Stir for 1 minute until fragrant, the paste should darken slightly and stick to the bottom. This step is key for flavor depth.
3
Add the rinsed lentils and pour in the stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer for 20-25 minutes until lentils are completely soft and falling apart.
4
Remove from heat. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup completely smooth. (Alternatively, blend in batches in a regular blender, carefully, as it's hot.) Adjust consistency with a splash of water if too thick. Season generously with salt and pepper.
5
For the paprika butter: melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add paprika and dried mint, swirl for 30 seconds until fragrant and vibrant red. Remove from heat.
6
Ladle soup into bowls, drizzle the paprika butter over the top, and serve with a wedge of lemon and crusty bread.

💡 Chef's Tips

Lentil tip: Red lentils don't need soaking but rinse them until the water runs clear to remove starch. They cook much faster than green or brown lentils.

Make it richer: Replace 250ml of stock with coconut milk for a creamier, slightly sweeter version. Add a squeeze of lemon juice just before serving to brighten all the flavors.

Storage: Keeps in the fridge for 5 days and freezes beautifully for up to 3 months.

📜 A Short History

Mercimek çorbası is one of the most common everyday soups in Turkey, closer to a household staple than a special dish, and red lentils themselves have been a core Anatolian pantry ingredient for centuries thanks to how well they store and how quickly they cook compared to other legumes. The paprika butter poured over the top just before serving is a distinctly Turkish finishing technique used across many soups in this cuisine, not unique to this one.

🍽️ Nutrition (per serving)

434
Calories
20g
Protein
15g
Fat
58g
Carbs
11.2g
Fiber
48mg
Sodium

Estimated from standard ingredient nutrition data for this recipe as written, serves 4. Sodium is genuinely low here unless your stock or bouillon adds significant salt, check the label if you're using store-bought stock.