Michael Mosley’s red lentil soup recipe promises to leave your “tummy full and taste buds tingling”.

We all know how important it is to eat healthily, but it isn’t always easy to do, especially if you’re tight for time and need to make yourself something to eat that doesn’t take hours to cook. Thankfully though, diet guru Doctor Michael Mosley – who is known for popularising the 5:2 diet and creating the Fast 800 diet – has shared a recipe for a “flavour-packed” soup that is rich in nutrients, will keep you feeling full, and only takes an hour to make from start to finish.

Doctor Mosley shared the recipe for a Turkish red lentil soup on his Fast 800 website, where he said the meal – which was developed by Matt Williamson – is “rich, filling, and nutritious”, and has the added benefit of also being “vegan-friendly”, so most people can try it regardless of the diet they follow.

According to the nutritional information on the website, the soup – which takes 15 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook – contains 411 calories per portion, and the recipe makes 4 servings in total.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated
• 4 sticks celery, finely chopped (30g)
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp unsmoked paprika (hot or sweet as you prefer)
• 160g red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 800ml vegetable stock (or use water)
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 4 tbsp pumpkin or sunflower seeds (or a mix of both)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• pinch dried mint (optional)
• chilli flakes (optional)
• Fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped

Method

To start cooking the soup, your first step should be cooking the finely chopped vegetables (onion, carrot, celery, red pepper, and garlic) in a large pot with half of your olive oil for around 10 minutes, or until the veg has softened. Then, stir in the ground spices and cook for another minute.

Next up, stir in the red lentils, tomatoes, and vegetable stock, and then add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil before reducing the heat to low, covering the pot, and leaving to simmer for around 20-25 minutes. Use a stick blender or countertop blender to partially puree half the soup until it is smooth and creamy. Return the soup to the heat and adjust the seasoning if needed.

In a small dry frying pan, cook the seeds in the remaining olive oil until they become fragrant and lightly browned, and then stir in the lemon juice, dried mint, and chilli flakes if using. Set this mixture aside to cool before ladling the soup into serving bowls and topping with the seed mixture and some fresh mint.

Dr Mosley also noted you can store leftovers of this dish in an “airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days”, or you can batch cook it and freeze it for “up to two months”.

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