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This lentil soup recipe is a hearty twist on traditional vegetable soup, with a rich broth, loads of flavor, and tender lentils! It’s perfect for meatless Monday’s, and even the kids will enjoy it!
I did a thing last week. A thing that was new to my family.
I made us all participate in Meatless Monday. Woah. The teenage son in my house was like, dude. No.
But I was like, child, yes.
And we all survived. It helped a lot that I had made a big pot of my new favorite lentil soup recipe to keep everyone’s belly’s full. We honestly didn’t even miss the meat – this soup is hearty and filling!
I’ve been kinda obsessed with making yummy pinto bean recipes – drunken beans and green chili pulled pork and pintos, to name a couple – but I decided to mix it up this time around with some lentils.
I love lentils because they tend to cook relatively quickly compared to other types of dried beans. I’m going to experiment with lentil tacos here shortly!
Do you have any other types of bean recipes you’d like to see from me? I’m really enjoying coming up with these recipes. I’ve always got a stockpile of dried beans in my pantry and I love to put them to good use! Especially with the Instant Pot…did you guys see my pressure cooker pinto beans? Full of Tex-Mex flavor and they’re ready in less than 2 hours!
You should try my Tuscan white bean soup too!
Lentil Soup Ingredients:
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Dried Lentils – We like brown lentils, because they hold their shape well in the soup.
Veggies – We’re going to load this soup up with lots of good fresh veggies like onion, carrots, celery, green beans, and canned tomatoes. We like these fire-roasted tomatoes!
Broth – The lentils and other veggies will slowly simmer in the chicken broth and absorb all those wonderful flavors! You can use veggie broth to keep this vegetarian.
Herbs – Some dried oregano, basil, and bay leaves will add even more flavor to this lentil soup recipe!
Lemon Juice – Just a little bit of lemon juice brightens up the dish!
Make it Vegan!
This lentil soup is easy to make vegan – just swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth and the butter for coconut oil.
What We Love About This Recipe!
It’s nice to have a go to meatless recipe that the whole family can enjoy, and this soup is just that! It’s packed full of tasty yet healthy veggies and is loaded with flavor from the broth, herbs, lemon juice and seasoning!
How to Make Lentil Soup:
Heat: Start by melting the butter in the pot over medium heat and then add in the chopped onions, carrots, celery.
You’ll want to let those cook in the butter for about five minutes before stirring in the garlic and the fresh cut green beans. Allow those to cook for another minute or so before moving on to the next step.
My Favorite Thermometer!
We use our Dutch Oven for making soups, stews, and more! It’s heavy duty and can go on the stove or in the oven. Plus, it looks gorgeous sitting on the stove.
Simmer: This next step is real simple! Just add in the chicken broth along with the herbs (oregano, basil, bay leaves, or whatever herbs you want!) and bring the soup to a boil.
When it begins boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and allow it to cook partially covered for about 45 minutes or until the lentils are tender but not mushy. Finally you can remove it from the heat, discard the bay leaves, stir in the lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to your taste!
Serve: When you’ve removed the soup from the heat you can go ahead and discard the bay leaves, stir in the lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to your taste! We really love to serve this soup with our sweet cornbread recipe!
Helpful Tip!
If you want a thicker soup, try transferring two cups of the finished soup to a blender and puree. Add it back to the pot and stir it well to combine before serving!
Lentil Varieties:
There are a few different types of lentils, including red, green, brown, and black.
Brown lentils are the easiest to find in the US. We like to use them as they soak up the flavors of the spices nicely and hold their shape well.
FAQs:
I’ve only made this lentil soup recipe with fresh or canned vegetables, but I think you could probably get away with using frozen green beans or carrots. Fresh is best though!
Yes, you can keep it covered in the refrigerator and it’ll taste just as good or even better the next day, and should last for a few days. I have not tried freezing it but I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work too.
MORE SOUP RECIPES!
- Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup
- Keto Vegetable Soup
- Homemade Tomato Soup
- White Bean and Ham Soup
- Low Carb Taco Soup
Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 6 carrots cut into rounds
- 4 stalks celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 ounces fresh green beans cut in half
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound dried brown lentils
- 14 ounces fire-roasted diced tomatoes canned
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and green beans and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the chicken broth, lentils, tomatoes, oregano, basil, and bay leaves to the pot. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and partially cover the pot. Cook for 45 minutes or until lentils are tender but still hold their shape.
- Remove the bay leaves from the soup. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.
averie @ averie cooks says
I love lentils and lentil soup and this looks awesome! So hearty yet healthy at the same time!
Michelle says
My kids all love lentils and they ask for lentil soup for dinner a lot. I’m glad to have another recipe to try!!
Kathi says
Now that is one good looking soup! I would love for you to make a hamburger barley soup with the carrot/celery/onion and tomatoe type base, we get it at our greek diner and it is soo good. I love your recipes!
Kathi
Karly says
That sounds good!! 🙂
Betty says
If I don’t have access to Hurst’s lentil packaging, what seasonings would you suggest to mimic the package?
Karly says
I’d add in extra garlic and some Italian seasoning. 🙂
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says
OMG I lovelovelove lentil soup. To the point that every year for my birthday I chose it for bday dinner. . .my siblings still make fun of me but I maintain it’s delicious! This looks so good Karly! I’m definitely going to try it 🙂
Karly says
It IS delicious! I tend to go for more fattening and unhealthy things for my birthday, but you do you! 😉