Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Turkish

Mercimek çorbası

Vegetarian

A smooth, golden soup of red lentils, onion, carrot and potato, finished with butter sizzled with chilli and dried mint and a squeeze of lemon. One of Türkiye's most everyday soups.

Mercimek çorbası is a Turkish soup from Türkiye, ready in about 45 minutes and made with red lentils, butter and onion. It serves 6 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking
Bowl of red lentil soup with lemon wedge and toasted bread
Photo: Stolbovsky / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-3.0
Prep
10 min
Cook
35 min
Total
45 min
Serves
6
Level
Easy
Calories
229

Ingredients

6 servings

To finish

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Melt the first portion of butter (opens in a new tab) with the olive oil (opens in a new tab) in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion (opens in a new tab), carrot (opens in a new tab) and potato (opens in a new tab) for 5 minutes until the onion softens.

    Onions frying golden in a pan
    How it looks · Photo: Magda Ehlers on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Stir in the tomato paste (opens in a new tab) and cook for a minute, then add the lentils, cumin (opens in a new tab) and water. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, and simmer partly covered until the lentils have collapsed and the potato (opens in a new tab) is soft.

    • 25 min
    • medium-low heat

  3. Step 3

    Blend until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper (opens in a new tab) and add a splash of hot water if it is too thick — it should pour like thick cream.

    Food safety: Blending hot soup: fill the blender no more than half full and vent the lid, or use a stick blender.

  4. Step 4

    For the topping, melt the second portion of butter (opens in a new tab) until foaming, take it off the heat and stir in the chilli flakes (opens in a new tab) and dried mint (opens in a new tab). Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with the red butter and serve with lemon (opens in a new tab) wedges.

    • 2 min
    • medium heat
    A finished dish being plated
    How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Türkiye · Well documentedMore food from Türkiye
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Breakfast · Soups
Cooking method
Simmered, Blended
Taste
earthy, savoury, mild, buttery
Diet
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No gluten ingredients · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Whole-food focused · No gluten ingredients · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-fat · Carb-conscious
With the listed swaps: Vegan, Plant-based, Ovo-vegetarian, Dairy-freeWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
One-pot · Budget-friendly · Freezer-friendly · Make-ahead · Everyday
Cook more with
Red lentils · Butter · Onion · Carrot · Potato · Tomato paste
Techniques
Boiling · Simmering · Wet grinding · Emulsification · Stock making

Allergens

  • Contains, can be adapted: Milkfrom butter

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

229 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 359 g · recipe makes 6

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 16%
  • Carbohydrate 52%
  • Fat 33%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy229 kcal64 kcal
Protein9.3 g2.6 g
Carbohydrate30.6 g8.5 g
Net carbohydrate25.4 g7.1 g
Sugars——
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre5.2 g1.4 g
Fat8.6 g2.4 g
Saturated fat3.9 g1.1 g
Trans fat0.2 g0.1 g
Cholesterol14 mg4 mg
Sodium645 mg180 mg
Salt equivalent1.6 g0.4 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
469 mg
Calcium
61 mg
Iron
3.3 mg
Magnesium
39 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
139 µg
Vitamin C
10 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0 µg
Folate (DFE)
80 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: lemon.
  • Red chilli flakes: Ground cayenne (FDC 170932) used as a stand-in for dried chilli flakes such as pul biber or Aleppo pepper.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • A squeeze of lemon at the table is not optional for most Turks — it lifts the earthy lentils.

Common mistakes

  • Under-cooking the lentils, which leaves the soup grainy after blending.

Serve with

  • With bread and a lemon wedge; in lokantas it often comes with sliced onion and pickles.

Storage

  • Keeps 4 days in the fridge or 3 months frozen (without the butter topping).

Reheating

  • Reheat gently, thinning with water as it thickens on standing.

Variations

  • Ezogelin çorbası: A related soup with bulgur and rice added to red lentils, seasoned with mint and red pepper paste.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 2

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like