Maybe lentil soup is a mainstay of vegetarian cooking in part because it’s so easy, so healthy, and so delicious all at once. It’s delightfully mellow, which makes it a good dish to serve kids and picky adults, and when you’re sick, it just sounds like the most lovely, comforting thing ever.
This blog’s been a snack-lover’s paradise for the last couple of months, and honestly, that’s never really going to change, but I swear I eat, like, actual meals, too. In fact, I’ve been on the most ridiculous soup kick for several weeks. It’s probably partly the weather, partly my seasonal recovery from all the sugar I ingested in December. But soup is just so easy to make and easy to veganize that I usually talk myself out of blogging about it. “Lentil soup” just lacks the excitement of “vegan fried chicken” and the drool factor of “Butterfinger candy.”
Still, I don’t actually want to eat fried food and candy every day, and you probably don’t either. So here’s how I do lentil soup. Two notes before we begin. First, the lentils continue soaking up the liquid as the soup cools, so if you like your broth like I do, you may want to add a little water or stock when you reheat it on day two. Second, this soup freezes beautifully, so please do make extra and have it on hand for those nights when you need a quick meal or are feeling too under the weather to cook.
Stay warm!
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 c onion, chopped
- 1 c carrots, chopped into thin half-moons
- 1 c celery, chopped
- 1 tsp basil
- ½ tsp thyme
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1.5 tsp salt (less if you're using salty stock)
- 2 c dry brown lentils
- 5 c stock
- 4 c water
- 1 c diced tomatoes
- In a thick-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat, cook onion, carrots and celery in oil until onions are translucent.
- Stir in garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
- Stir in spices and salt.
- Add lentils, stock and water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes and continue to simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- Let cool slightly before serving.
13 comments
Jennifer says:
Feb 4, 2013
Looks wonderful!
claryn says:
Feb 5, 2013
Thanks Jennifer!
Emma Goodrum says:
Feb 6, 2013
I would like to make this as i’ve got a big bag of green lentils to use up but I dislike celery, what do you recommend I can sub for it? I like most other veggies.
claryn says:
Feb 7, 2013
If you hate celery, you can leave it out. Obviously it will taste different, but if you hate the taste of celery, y’know, you’re probably going to think it tastes better like that anyway. If you just dislike the texture, you can puree the celery in a blender or food processor instead of chopping it! You can also throw in some celery seed, if you have it on hand (but since you dislike celery, I suspect you probably don’t!).
Emma Goodrum says:
Feb 12, 2013
Thanks Claryn for coming back to me. I made the soup and decided to use the celery anyway, I can tolerate the taste but I don’t like the texture and the fact that I can never use a whole bunch before it goes off. I just chopped it up really small. It was delicious, thank you!
Shaun says:
Mar 13, 2013
The grocery stores I shop at sell celery by the pound. I just take a stalk or two – less waste and cheaper.
susan says:
Jul 20, 2013
If you discard the plastic bag and wrap your celery tightly in aluminum foil it will last much longer in the fridge. Stays crisp and doesn’t turn brown.
claryn says:
Jul 28, 2013
Thanks for the tip, Susan 🙂
Chris says:
Feb 25, 2013
It’s very good, thanks for the recipe. I added an entire bag of spinach near the end of cooking for added veggies (it’s okay if you don’t mind soggy spinach!).
claryn says:
Feb 25, 2013
Good call, Chris. I looove wilted spinach!
Jahelah says:
Jul 30, 2013
To say this soup is wonderful is an understatement. I made this soup twice in one week and both times the pot was empty within a few short hours (eaten by 2 people). A little greedy maybe, but food that tastes as great as this can’t last long. We kept sneaking back for more.
Everything I’ve made from your recipes has been a hit! Thanks for keeping this site up. It is invaluable to people like me.
Gabrielle says:
Oct 20, 2014
I’ve made this recipe so many times I have it memorized. It is an absolutely favorite of mine (and my boyfriend)! I’ve gone and little crazy and now add multiple CUPS of carrots to the mix. I can’t get enough carrots! I’ve also added kale towards the end. After I bring it to a boil and reduce the heat, I let it simmer for 30 minutes before adding ridiculous amounts of kale to the mix. I let all that simmer for 10 minutes and then add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes. The kale is cooked perfectly (in my opinion, obviously) and doesn’t get all wilted like spinach normally would.
Anyway, great recipe! Thanks for sharing! I recommend it to everyone. (: Especially those who I’m trying to convince to go vegan. ;D
Jen says:
Jan 20, 2016
This is my favorite soup! Not only is it easy to prepare, but it freezes well in those rare times I can’t finish the whole pot. Now, when I try other lentil soup it just doesn’t compare to this recipe- it’s that good.
I started using fire roasted tomatoes in it, which add a little different flavor.
Thank you for sharing this one!