Easy Lentil Soup with Minimal Prep Work

⭐️ Get Recipe: https://theplantbasedschool.com/lentil-soup/

This lentil soup combines nourishing lentils with seasonal vegetables and aromatic herbs, creating a comforting dish that’s as easy to make as it is satisfying.

Lentil soup is ideal for busy weeknight dinners and lazy weekends. It’s the culinary equivalent of a cozy blanket on a chilly day.

⭐️ Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 rib celery chopped
3 medium carrots chopped
3 cloves garlic pressed
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
220 grams (1 cup) dried lentils brown or green – or 3 cups cooked lentils; in this case you’ll need half the vegetable broth and half simmering time
2 medium (12 ounces) potatoes diced
1½ liters (6 cups) vegetable stock or more as required to finish cooking the lentils
400 grams (1 can (15 ounces)) crushed tomatoes
170 grams (6 cups (6 ounces)) spinach
1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
⅛ teaspoon black pepper + ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional

0:00 Flavor base
1:05 Main ingredients for lentil soup
1:45 Simmer
2:47 Serving suggestions

❤️ Nico & Louise
#soup #lentils #dinnerideas

today, we’re making an easy, 
healthy, delicious lentil soup. We start by doing a flavor base; today, we’re 
going Italian, so we are using carrots, celery, onion, garlic bay leaves, and rosemary.
A flavor base is essential when making soup because it builds flavor from the ground up.
To make it, we’re going to chop the carrot onion. Do some horizontal cuts and vertical cuts and chop 
down. Celery into small pieces. Now heat the olive oil or extra virgin olive oil that’s also fine 
for a flavor base. In a large pot or Dutch oven, make sure the oil doesn’t smoke that’s 
not good for the oil not good for you. When the oil is hot you can add the vegetables 
and sautèe for about 4 minutes or until they start to get tender, but make sure they 
don’t burn. Now after 4 minutes you can add the garlic. We add it later cause garlic 
tends to burn. Some dried rosemary not too much cause it’s quite strong. And a couple of bay 
leaves. Stir for another minute you’re going to smell the fragrance of the garlic. Now you 
can add the vegetable broth. The dried lentils; we are using brown lentils but you can 
also use green lentils, black lentils. Make sure you rinse the lentils first to remove 
dirt and look out for stones. Add the lentils to the broth. 2 potatoes; they make the soup 
creamier and just more fulfilling really. If your potatoes are organic you can keep the peel 
on. Next is crushed or diced tomatoes. As always, clean the can with a little bit of water, then 
season with salt and black pepper. Stir well then cover with a lid, bring it to a boil, then crack 
the top open let it simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. That depends on the lentils; until the lentils are 
tender and also the potatoes are fork tender. We are adding spinach, but these spinach leaves are 
huge if you can find baby spinach is a lot easier. I have to chop them before I add them to the soup. 
You can also add kale or bok choy or cabbage. I like spinach cuz they cook fast. It looks like 
a lot but they’re going to wilt in a second. So it took literally 1 minute for the spinach to 
wilt so the last step is to add some balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is a great way to 
add umami to a soup, it adds a sweet ,savory and acidic flavor without adding extra 
sodium. Give it a final stir then when you’re happy with the consistency you can 
add more broth if you want a thinner soup, or you can let it simmer one a few more minutes 
if you want a thicker soup. Remember to taste just and adjust for salt. You’re ready to serve! 
We like to serve this simple, in a bowl with some toasted bread rubbed with garlic, a drizzle of 
extra virgin olive oil, some freshly cracked pepper.
Easy right? [Music]