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A Classic Lentil Soup recipe to warm your soul! Hearty and filling, this lentil soup is pure comfort in a bowl! Only 2 fat grams per serve! Naturally thick and loaded with veggies, this lentil soup is so simple to make! Just dump ingredients into a pot and let the stove do the cooking for you!
Well, here we are again. Another new year, another resolution, and a warm and filling recipe to help us on our way. Because sometimes a classic recipe is all we need to fulfil our hearts and take us back to when things were simple and life was less complicated.
LENTIL SOUP
This is THE lentil soup I grew up with. My mother would make this for us at least once a week, and she would add anything to it: pork, chicken or beef. Personally, the pork version is the one I crave til today, but for now, I’m keeping this lentil soup simple and leaving the meat/chicken/pork part up to you! And I’m not kidding when I say this soup is filling. I mean, FILLING. Fully loaded, you don’t need to serve this with anything else!
HOW TO MAKE LENTIL SOUP
One of the easiest soups you will ever make, guaranteed!
Cook your onion, garlic, carrot and celery.
Throw in lentils.
Add in tomatoes and potatoes.
Mix through remaining ingredients.
Simmer.
ADDING MEAT
You can most certainly add it in, like we did here in this Warm Chicken and Pumpkin Lentil Stew! When it comes to poultry in this soup, I prefer the darker meats such as thighs, as breasts tend to dry out. You can of course use breasts if you prefer!
These are my suggestions only, using 1 pound (or 500 grams) for boneless, and 2 pounds (1 kilo) for bone in meats:
- Skinless bone-in chicken thighs
- Diced chicken thigh fillets
- Skinless chicken drumsticks or drumettes (you can either leave bones in once they have cooked in the soup, or remove them and shred the meat back into the soup).
- Pork chops (bone-in ) — my favourite. Once they are cooked in the soup, remove the bones and shred the pork, then mix the meat through the soup. DELICIOUS.
- Pulled pork (use this crispy slow cooker carnitas recipe, once the pork is cooked, just add it into the soup.)
- Bacon
- Ground beef
- Chuck steak cut into 1-inch pieces
All of these options can be added after step 1 in this recipe. Allow the meat to brown, then add in the lentils and continue the recipe from there!
DO I HAVE TO SOAK LENTILS?
NO! Personally, I love the texture of this soup made from scratch. Lentil soup is delicious when the lentils are simmered from scratch in all of those flavours and develop a nice, creamy texture from the beans into the soup. You don’t need to pre soak them!
However, like this 10-Minute White Bean Parmesan Spinach Soup where we use canned beans as a time saving solution, you can use canned lentils if that’s all you have on hand. If using canned, add them in during the last 5 minutes of cooking. They don’t need long as they are pre-cooked.
Then of course, dip some bread into it like there’s no tomorrow. I made a batch of these Individual Garlic Breads to serve with ours!
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Best Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped, just over 1/2 cup
- 2 cups dried green lentils or brown lentils
- 3 large tomatoes diced, or 4 small tomatoes
- 2 potatoes medium diced into 1-inch pieces, Yukon gold if possible
- 2 litres low sodium chicken stock or broth, divided
- 2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder such as Vegeta, or beef/chicken bullion powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika sweet or mild, or 1 teaspoon smoky
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped, optional
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley plus extra to garnish
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1 pinch pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan or pot over low-medium heat. Cook onion until transparent. Then add the garlic and cook until fragrant (one minute). Add the carrot and celery and cook until softened (about 8 minutes).(If adding any meats, do so now and brown before continuing next step.)
- Mix the lentils through the flavours in the pot, allowing them to cook for a couple of minutes, while stirring occasionally (add in 1 tablespoon of extra oil if needed).
- Add in the tomatoes and cook until soft, then add the potatoes and allow them to cook for further 4-5 minutes.
- Mix through all remaining ingredients except the salt and pepper. Increase heat; bring to a simmer while stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom.
- When the soup has been simmering for 2-3 minutes, reduce heat down to low, cover with a lid allow simmer for 40-50 minutes, while occasionally stirring, until lentils and potatoes are soft.
- To thicken soup, use a potato masher, pressing down 3 or 4 times through the soup until reaching your desired thickness or consistency. (You can also use a stick blender: 2-3 quick pulses.)
- Season with salt and pepper, to your tastes. Garnish with a little extra parsley (if you wish) and serve with garlic bread!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow. This recipe sounds forgiving considering everyone’s alterations.
I personally added meat bones to it not only for extra flavour but I can’t eat soup without some kind of meat in it. 😉 The meat was so tender
Not to mention the bone marrow … yum!
Hi Will, it sounds like you made some delightful additions to the soup by incorporating meat bones for extra flavour and tender meat. The bone marrow must have added a rich and savory element to the dish. I’m glad you found the recipe forgiving and were able to customize it to your taste!
One of the best soups I’ve ever made – and I cook a lot! Made some modifications. I added 3 carrots and 2 celery stalks (I love a lot of carrots in my soups!). When the mirepoix was tender I added about 2 tbsp of tomato paste along with the garlic. Instead of fresh tomatoes, added one 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes, and little cayenne along with the other spices. After the lentils had simmered for 45 mins, I took about 3 cups, put in the blender and added back in to make this more creamy. Finished it with about 2 cups of chopped kale that I had on hand. I am going to make this again and again.
Oops, also subbed the yukon potatoes for 1 large sweet potato because its what I had!
I love your version will make mind that way
Best, best, soup ever! Used tomato paste instead of tomatoes, and added pork! I couldn’t believe how good, fast, and easy this amazing soup turned out!
Love! I did use canned diced tomatoes and I added frozen corn. The fresh parsley added at the end makes it spectacular! Made it 3 x already in 3 months.
Loved this! Just added half a tube of double strength tomato paste and seasoned the veggies while sautéing. I made it with the pork chops which I seasoned when I browned, it was delicious and hearty! My husband loved it even more the next day once it had thickened over rice.
I just made the soup it it has turned out amazing, I highly recommend this receipt. I did add a little twist in the end by adding apple cider vinegar and it gives it that cutting boast.
Amateur cook here,
When do you add the chicken broth?
It doesn’t say in the directions
Number 4 I would assume
Step #4, when it says.. Mix through all remaining ingredients except the salt and pepper.
This recipe is so delicious! I made it for dinner tonight and it’s so simple to follow. Thanks for sharing.
I adore this recipe , only change instead of fresh tomatoes I use fire roasted canned tomatoes from Aldis.
how many cans did you use????
I made this tonight, pretty much the way the recipe was written.. . It sounded so incredible and I had everything in my pantry so I thought “why not”?… I was so happy with the result that this is an instant classic in my kitchen! Thank you for the recipe. I look forward to making it again, maybe some tweaks the next time…. maybe ?