Comforting Mung Bean Soup

Enjoy the warmth and comfort of a hearty bowl of mung bean soup! This dish offers a feast for your taste buds thanks to its texture and earthy, savory flavors. Plus, it’s so easy to make, you can savor it any time of the week!

Few things are as comforting as soup, and I find mung beans to be highly underrated. Enter this mung bean soup recipe — a flavorful and nutritious dish that leaves you feeling fully satisfied and comforted. Enjoy!

Why You’ll Love This Delicious Soup

• It’s so good and satisfying! The flavors really meld well together.
• It’s a nutritional powerhouse. Mung beans contain plant-based proteins, antioxidants, fiber, and amino acids in every spoonful! 
• This mung bean soup recipe is a one-pot dish, so clean-up is a breeze.
• It’s full of aromatics! 
• It can be enjoyed as an appetizer, entree, main course, or a side dish. 
• Speaking of versatility, you can customize this soup however you want! See our recommendations below for some examples. 
• A gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian twist of the dish “Ginisang Munggo” of the Filipinos, which often features pork rinds and fish sauce.   

Ingredient Notes

• Oil of your choice – What we’ll use to sautee the ingredients.
  • I like to use avocado oil when making this recipe, but extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil works well, too.  

• Red onion – Offers umami and savory flavors to the soup.
  • White or yellow onion can be used as a substitute. 

• Garlic Cloves – Adds a garlicky aroma and flavor to the recipe. 

• Cumin Seeds – Provides an earthy taste and a crunchy texture. 

• Smoked Paprika – Adds a wonderfully smoky flavor to the soup.

• Ground Coriander – Adds earthy nuttiness and a zesty kick. 

• Ground Turmeric – Provides an earthy essence to the dish. 

• Sugar of your choice – Adds a hint of sweetness to the mung bean soup.
  • I use coconut sugar for this recipe, but feel free to omit it or use any other sweetener as a substitute.

• Ground Black Pepper – Gives the soup a bit of heat. 

• Dried Mung Beans – The main ingredient! They don’t have a lot of flavor on their own, but really come alive when other ingredients are incorporated. They provide a wonderful texture and nutrients to the soup.

• Vegetable Broth – Adds complex flavors to the soup and helps in making the mung beans tender.
  • You can also use water as a substitute.

• Lemon Juice – Adds acidity to the dish.
  • You can use apple cider vinegar as a substitute.

• Salt – To add some saltiness and enhance the flavors of the other ingredients. 

How to Make Mung Bean Soup

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion softens.
2. Add the cumin, paprika, coriander, turmeric, sugar, and pepper. Stir frequently and sauté for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Add the mung beans, stir well, and cook for 2 minutes longer.
4. Add the broth or water and turn the heat to high.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
6. Simmer for 50 minutes, or until the mung beans are tender.
7. Turn off the heat, add the lemon juice and salt to taste.
8. Enjoy!

Top Tips

• When adding salt to this mung bean soup, I find around a teaspoon to be perfect, but for best results, you should start at 1/2 teaspoon and go up from there until you are happy with the saltiness.
• Add veggies like carrots, potatoes, leeks, diced tomatoes, and celery to make this dish even heartier. Leafy greens like spinach also work. Adding moringa or “malunggay leaves” to this dish gives it a more authentic Filipino touch. 
• Want to make it spicy? Add red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper to the dish.
• Add crispy roasted chickpeas (as an alternative to pork rinds)—they are fantastic with mung bean soup! These mimic the texture of pork rinds, adding a satisfying crunch.

Ways to Serve Mung Bean Soup

• Topped with fresh cilantro, non-dairy yogurt, or gluten-free croutons.
• With gluten-free naan or toasted gluten-free bread on the side.
• Served over plain white rice, brown rice, or garlic fried rice. 
• With tasty salads on the side like a Mediterranean cucumber salad, grapefruit salad, or mango salad. 
• Alongside roasted vegetables like cabbage Steaks or roasted okra.

Storing and Reheating This Tasty Soup

Any leftover soup should be kept in an airtight container and placed in the fridge. It should be good to eat for up to three days. You can also store it in the freezer since this soup freezes well, even up to three months! 

You can use a microwave to warm smaller servings of soup from the fridge. But if you’re reheating frozen mung bean soup, it’s better to do it on the stovetop. Just place the frozen soup in a pot and put it on low heat until it melts and is warmed all the way through.  

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Sweet Potato Soup

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