Savory Red Lentil Soup Recipe

The nice thing about lentils is that they cook up rather quickly, and they don’t need to be pre-soaked; just rinsed and drained.

I have made various bean soups before, and did the pre-soaking thing. Then one day I came across a lentil recipe in The Oh She Glows Cookbook.

The lentils didn’t require any pre-cooking and once the soup came to a boil; it only needed to cook for another 20 – 25 minutes.

The recipe in the cookbook was tomato based and had chili seasonings in it.

I didn’t want to make a chili flavored soup at this time, so I modified it to make it more savory.

I left out about half of the ingredients and added in a few of my own.

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Savory Red Lentil Soup Recipe

Rating  5 from 1 reviews

Prep time:  7 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  27 mins

Serves: 4 - 5

Ingredients

• ½ Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or ¼ - ½ tsp. garlic powder
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 8 ounces baby Bella mushrooms, diced (I remove the stems.)
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp. thyme
• ½ tsp. rosemary
• 32 ounces vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked red lentils, rinsed and drained
• ½ tsp sea salt, iodized
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ⅛ cup destemmed, sliced kale leaves

Instructions

1. In a large pot, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil, for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent.
2. Then stir in the celery and season it with the salt.
3. Let this mixture cook for a couple of minutes, then stir in the mushrooms.
4. Let this cook for a few minutes more.
5. Then stir in the thyme, rosemary, broth, and add the bay leaf.
6. Add the lentils. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook uncovered for 20 – 25 minutes.
7. Add the pepper.
8. Stir in the kale strips and cook for a couple of minutes until the leaves have wilted.
9. Serve.

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If you like your soup more soupy, then you can add some extra broth or water to it. The lentils will cook and break apart, giving the soup a nice texture to it.

I also made up a batch of corn bread to go with it. If you’d like a bit of sweetness to go with this savory soup, then I recommend corn bread.

If you like chili style soups, then I recommend Easy Chunky Vegetarian Chili. 

Cheryl Paton is an artist with a positive attitude that is reflected in her work. She writes about various art subjects and techniques. She enjoys creating art to help celebrate special occasions and events. She also writes about her favorite music, movies and the products she uses and recommends. She is also a specialist in adult literacy and is a published author. See more of her articles here and her art here.