Meet the BEST lentil soup recipe! Made with dried lentils, recent greens, flavorful spices, and hearty greens, it is easy, nourishing, and scrumptious.
This lentil soup recipe may shock you. Positive, it’s easy. However that doesn’t imply it’s bland or boring.
This lentil soup is full of hearty greens, tender greens, and fiber- and protein-rich lentils. Contemporary herbs and spices fill it with advanced taste, and a splash of vinegar provides a scrumptious tangy kick.
It’s not simply my finest lentil soup recipe—it’s certainly one of my finest recipes, interval. It’s been a staple in my rotation for years. I like that it’s simple to make with principally pantry components and that it’s nourishing, warming, and satisfying. In the event you ask me, it’s the right wholesome dinner for a winter weeknight (save any leftovers for lunch the following day!). I hope you like this basic lentil soup as a lot as I do.
Lentil Soup Components
Right here’s what you’ll have to make this lentil soup recipe:
- Lentils, after all! I like to recommend utilizing inexperienced or French inexperienced lentils as a result of they maintain their form within the soup, including satisfying texture. Brown lentils are additionally a fantastic possibility. Don’t use crimson lentils right here—they’re too mushy for this recipe.
- Additional-virgin olive oil – For richness.
- Onion, garlic, carrot, and celery – They create the soup’s fragrant base.
- Contemporary kale – You’ll use the entire leaves, stems and all!
- Hearth-roasted diced tomatoes – I like the smoky taste that fire-roasted tomatoes add to this soup. In a pinch, common diced tomatoes will work right here too!
- Vegetable broth – Make do-it-yourself vegetable broth, or use store-bought.
- Contemporary thyme – For citrusy, woodsy taste. I wish to bundle complete sprigs along with kitchen twine. Then, I add the bundle to the soup like a bay leaf, eradicating it earlier than serving. Bundling the sprigs like that is SO a lot faster than choosing and measuring the leaves.
- Cumin – The key ingredient! It provides savory, earthy depth of taste.
- White wine vinegar – It offers the soup a vibrant, tangy kick.
- And salt and pepper – To make all of the flavors pop!
Discover the entire recipe with measurements beneath.
Variations
Don’t have these precise components readily available? These swaps work properly:
- Substitute the kale with one other leafy inexperienced like recent spinach or Swiss chard.
- Use 1 teaspoon dried thyme as an alternative of the recent sprigs.
- Substitute the celery with 1 small fennel bulb, diced.
- No vinegar? No downside. End the soup with a squeeze of recent lemon juice!
Easy methods to Make Lentil Soup
This lentil soup recipe is straightforward to make! Right here’s the way it goes:
First, sauté the aromatics. Warmth the olive oil in a big pot or Dutch oven over medium warmth and add the onion, carrots, celery, kale stems, and cumin. Season with salt and a number of other grinds of pepper and prepare dinner, stirring often, till the veggies soften, about 8 minutes.
Subsequent, simmer the soup. Add the garlic, tomatoes, lentils, vinegar, thyme, and broth.
Cowl the soup and prepare dinner till the lentils are tender, 25 to half-hour or so. Regulate the warmth as wanted to take care of a mild simmer.
Lastly, add the greens. Cook dinner till they wilt, about 5 minutes, after which season to style.
Serve the lentil soup in bowls topped with garnishes like recent parsley, grated Parmesan, and/or crimson pepper flakes. Take pleasure in with crusty bread!
Love cooking soup within the Prompt Pot? I’ve an Prompt Pot model of this recipe! Try my Prompt Pot Lentil Soup.
Easy methods to Retailer Lentil Soup
Obtained leftover soup? You’re in luck! It can preserve nicely in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 4 days. Merely reheat within the microwave or on the stovetop.
I truly like this soup higher leftover. The flavour solely improves because it sits within the fridge!
Are you able to freeze lentil soup?
Sure, this vegan lentil soup is freezer-friendly! Enable it to chill to room temperature, after which seal it in hermetic containers or jars, leaving an inch for the soup to develop on the high. Freeze for as much as 3 months.
Extra Favourite Soup Recipes
In the event you love this lentil soup, attempt certainly one of these nourishing soup recipes subsequent:
Finest Lentil Soup
Serves 4 to six
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 medium carrots, chopped (2 cups)
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 6 small or 3 giant kale leaves, stems finely diced, leaves chopped (8 cups)
- Heaping ½ teaspoon floor cumin
- 1½ teaspoons sea salt
- Freshly floor black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- ¾ cup dry inexperienced lentils, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 12 recent thyme sprigs, bundled
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup chopped recent parsley, for garnish
- Crimson pepper flakes
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving, elective
Forestall your display from going darkish
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Warmth the olive oil in a big pot over medium warmth. Add the onion, carrots, celery, kale stems, cumin, salt, and a number of other grinds of pepper, and prepare dinner, stirring often, for 8 minutes, or till the greens start to melt.
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Stir within the garlic, tomatoes, lentils, vinegar, thyme, and broth. Cowl and simmer for 25 to half-hour, or till the lentils are tender. Add the kale leaves and prepare dinner for five minutes, or till wilted.
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Take away the thyme bundle and season to style. Serve topped with the parsley, crimson pepper flakes, and Parmesan, if desired.
Retailer leftover soup within the fridge for as much as 4 days. If it thickens an excessive amount of within the fridge, stir in slightly water whilst you reheat it to succeed in your required soup consistency. This soup additionally freezes nicely.
