Turkish Red Lentil Soup with Mint Butter (Mercimek Çorbası)

Steps

1. Step 1

   Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 6 minutes.

   6 min

   • 3 tbsp olive oil
   • 1 yellow onion
   • 1 carrot
2. Step 2

   Add the garlic, tomato paste and cumin and stir for 1 minute, until the paste darkens slightly and smells toasty.

   1 min

   • 2 cloves garlic
   • 2 tbsp tomato paste
   • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3. Step 3

   Add the potato, rinsed lentils, broth and salt. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat.

   5 min

   • 1 medium russet potato
   • 1 1/2 cups red lentils
   • 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
   • 1 1/4 tsp salt
4. Step 4

   Lower the heat to a gentle simmer, cover partly, and cook until the lentils have fallen apart and the potato is very soft, about 25 minutes. Stir once or twice so nothing sticks to the bottom.

   25 min, hands-off

5. Step 5

   Blend the soup until completely smooth with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender (fill it only halfway and vent the lid). Thin with a splash of water or broth if it is thicker than heavy cream, then taste and add salt and black pepper.

   5 min

   • black pepper
6. Step 6

   Make the mint butter: melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. When it foams, take it off the heat and stir in the dried mint and paprika. It should sizzle and turn deep red; don't let it smoke or the paprika will taste bitter.

   3 min

   • 3 tbsp butter
   • 1 tsp dried mint
   • 1 tsp sweet paprika
7. Step 7

   Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle the mint butter over each, and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze in at the table.

   • 1 lemon

Where it’s from

Written by AI from an idea

Version 1, saved Oct 5, 2026