Meatless meals are traditional during Lent and soups make excellent meatless dishes. This collection features 40 meatless Lenten soup ideas. The soups range from simple favorites like tomato soup and lentil soup to traditional soups from around the world.
Why Eat Soup during Lent?
The idea of Lent is a time of penance and sacrifice when you embracing self discipline and simplicity. And soups are one of the simplest and easiest to make of all meals.
Soups are also commonly associated with religious monasteries, where they are regularly served for lunch or dinner. Many churches of all different denominations host soup and bread potluck lunches or dinners during Lent to encourage fellowship.
Soups are wonderful for sharing with friends and family. They are easy to make, easy to transport and easy to stretch to serve a few more people. Just throw some extra carrots or potatoes along with some water into the pot and your soup can feed a crowd.
Lenten Meal Variety
If you aren’t used to eating meatless dinners it can be easy to get into a rut with meatless Lenten meals. When I was growing up my mom had two meals she made for dinner on Fridays in Lent – Tuna Sandwiches or Fish Sticks.
She is allergic to shellfish, so she didn’t like to cook with any seafood, and my Dad didn’t appreciate vegetarian meals. So we ate Tuna or Fish Sticks, which were ok, but I try to be a little more creative when feeding my family!
With this list of soups you should find some amazing inspiration for soup dinners. There are traditional favorites, like lentil soup and minestrone soup, along with others inspired by cultures all over the world.
Some of these soups are cooked in the slow cooker, some on the stove top and some in a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot. Whatever your cooking ability you can find one that will work for you.
Many of these soups can be ready in less than 30 minutes too! Add a crusty loaf of bread and dinner will be ready in no time at all.
While soup is simple it is doesn’t have to be boring. Add some variety and culinary excitement to your Lenten journey this year.
This creamy Irish Potato Soup is made from potatoes mixed with cabbage for an Irish inspired meatless soup for Lent. This soup is perfect for serving on St. Patrick's Day!
Vatapa is a Brazilian soup that is traditionally made with shrimp or fish. This recipe uses mussels which are cooked in a broth made from coconut milk and beer. This makes for a rich broth with a distinctive flavor.
Creamy coconut milk flavors this Thai inspired shrimp soup. The soup combines shrimp with cabbage and green curry paste for a tasty seafood dish that is an easy 30 minute dinner.
This Instant Pot Fish Stew is a perfect way to incorporate more fish into your diet! And it only takes 20 minutes to make start to finish in your pressure cooker (but you can make it on your stovetop or slow cooker too!).
Full of vegetables and easily customized for seasoning, this Lentil Soup is a great dish for any meatless meal. Instructions for making it in a crockpot or on the stove.
Adzuki beans are not just for sweet Asian-inspired treats! Instant Pot Adzuki Bean Soup with Miso, Winter Squash, and Kale combines nutrient-rich adzuki beans with a Japanese-style miso broth and hearty fiber-rich vegetables in a soul-warming vegan and gluten free soup.
This simple vegetarian soup is packed with wild rice, white beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and kale. It is both hearty and light, homey and filling without weighing you down.
This Spicy Slow cooker Bean Soup is loaded with warming spices, black-eyed beans and sweetcorn, all in a base of vegetable stock, to give you a comforting meal that your whole family will love.
African peanut stew is a vegan & gluten-free one pot meal. This recipe includes chickpeas for an extra punch of protein. Make a big pot of stew on Sunday for easy meals throughout the week. The flavors only get better with time
This authentic vegetarian Chinese vegetable soup is a light clear soup with a simple onion broth. Tender cabbage and scallions are added at the end. Tofu perfectly balances this soup. Enjoy a small bowl as an appetizer or serve large bowls of this delicate soup with some dumplings for a complete meal.
It’s quick, easy, and super flavorful! The perfect balance of noodles, veggies, and broth. Top it off with as much hot sauce as you can handle. It’s a 30 minute meal you’ll crave!
Thai Coconut Soup is a flavorful, creamy yet tangy soup made with lemongrass, coconut milk, broth, ginger, and lime juice. Add vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and zucchini for a light and refreshing meal! The best part – this recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make!
Soupe au Pistou is a classic vegetarian dish from the south of France featuring the best vegetables of the season in a simple vegetable broth seasoned with Pistou, a close relative of pesto!
The Slow Cooker Minestrone is so delicious! Every bite is filled with vegetables, beans and pasta in this one pot meal. Hearty and filling, it’s a classic Italian Soup!
This Minestrone Soup is a nutritious vegetable soup with fresh veggies, light tomato broth, Italian seasoning, and short cut pasta. It has classic flavors of an Italian Minestrone for its relatively short cooking time. It’s naturally vegan, family-friendly, and can be made in the Instant Pot or on the stove!
This hearty vegan minestrone soup is packed with seasonal vegetables, beans, lentils and whole grains. Perfect comforting vegan winter soup full of flavor and nutrients!
This chickpea and shiitake mushroom soup is hearty and filling, entirely plant-based, oil free, kid friendly (my toddler eats every last spoonful!), and better yet, it can be made both in the Instant Pot or on the stove.
This smooth and creamy, vegan, gluten-free & whole30 friendly Turmeric & Coconut Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque is an antioxidant packed, anti-inflammatory one-pot-wonder the whole family will love.
This recipe for Creamy Asparagus Soup is the best use of fresh asparagus! Silky smooth, rich, and tangy, it is absolutely wonderful and so easy to make!
A Low Carb Cauliflower Curry Soup that can be prepared in 30 minutes and makes for a perfect, healthy weeknight dinner. It’s also vegan, vegetarian, paleo, Whole30, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Perfect for Lent!
This delicious roasted carrot soup recipe is so easy to make. It has a fun bright color and an awesome taste to go with it. Perfect for cold winter nights or work lunch.
Split Pea Soup is power-packed wholesome vegetarian dinner to feed a hungry crowd in about 30 minutes! Each tasty bowl is plant-based protein rich and can easily be made dairy free + vegan.
Roasted red pepper and tomato soup is easy, creamy, and perfect for a vegetarian weeknight dinner or for company. Great with fried croutons, slices of crusty bread, or grilled cheese.
This soup combines traditional Mexican flavors like tomatoes, hominy, and chiles, and adds in bite sized corn dumplings for a soup that is rich and filling without any meat.
I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...
While wine is not usually frozen, except by
those of you who are rare cravers of a port-sicle, left over
wine can be placed in the freezer, and then used as cooking wine.
” I have spent the past 6 years coaching and surveying addicted individuals. A shady spot ensures a leakproof feeder because when the sun heats up the sugar, the air pressure rises, thereby causing leakage.
I’m really new to Lent having left the Baptist denomination for Episcopalian. I’m excited to have some new and interesting options! Thanks for including my adzuki bean soup!
While wine is not usually frozen, except by
those of you who are rare cravers of a port-sicle, left over
wine can be placed in the freezer, and then used as cooking wine.
” I have spent the past 6 years coaching and surveying addicted individuals. A shady spot ensures a leakproof feeder because when the sun heats up the sugar, the air pressure rises, thereby causing leakage.
What a wonderful resource for meat free soups, especially as we head into the Lenten season! Thanks for including my Cullen Skink recipe!
I’m really new to Lent having left the Baptist denomination for Episcopalian. I’m excited to have some new and interesting options! Thanks for including my adzuki bean soup!
What a great collection of soups! These should keep me warm and fed through Lent and beyond.