Easy Lentil Soup

When the Weather Turns Cold

Easy Lentil Soup really hits the spot when the weather turns fall like, with just a little nip of chill in the air so typical for November.

What I love about any kind of bean soup is they are always so easy to prepare. And the beauty of lentils, unlike other types of beans, is they don’t have to be soaked over night.

For those of us who are time crunched and not great in the meal planning department, lentils are a godsend. A legume-based soup like this Easy Lentil Soup recipe is  perfect for those meatless meals and especially on days when you’re cleaning out the fridge. A big pot of bean soup always is ready to welcome whatever you find lurking in the vegetable drawer. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and in a few hours, served. No fuss, no muss.

Great for Beginner Cooks

I recently made this Easy Lentil Soup recipe with a group of young teens as part of a knife skills class hosted by our local library. The kids had so much fun prepping all the ingredients and learning to chop and dice like the pros. Best part for them, of course, was eating the finished product. They all went for seconds (some even for thirds). Always the sign of a successful dish.  Of course, the class didn’t finish prepping and cooking their dishes until 12:30 p.m., so the teens were “starving.”

They couldn’t wait to take all their chopped ingredients home, which they kept in their own separate Ziploc bags, and create this delicious Vegetarian Lentil Soup on their own.

We served this delicious lentil soup with a veggie tray that they were so excited to prepare–carrot sticks, celery sticks, and broccoli florets served with semi-Homemade Ranch Dressing.

Print Recipe

Easy Lentil Soup

Author: Anita's Table Talk

Ingredients

• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 rib of celery chopped
• ½ small onion chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 cups water
• 1-2 bouillon cubes vegetable flavored or chicken flavored if vegetarian isn’t your thing
• 1 cup brown lentils rinsed
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme or dried oregano
• ½ tsp cider vinegar or red wine vinegar mixed with ⅛ tsp sugar
• ½-1 teaspoon salt taste first
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• ½ bunch of kale washed and chopped (or a couple handfuls of spinach, chopped, can be added about 1 minute before serving)

Instructions

• Put ingredients in the slow cooker. Set it on low and cook for 6 hours. (This can also be made on the stove top and simmering for about 45 minutes until lentils are soft. )
• minutes before serving the soup, add cider vinegar or red wine vinegar mixed with sugar,
• salt (taste first), ground pepper, kale,or spinach (add spinach about 1 minute before serving)
• Variations:
• Tomatoes—If you like a tomato flavored soup, add one 14 ½ ounce can of diced tomatoes at the beginning of cooking . I like to use fire-roasted diced tomatoes.