This ridiculously easy lentil potato soup is a must-try during the fall! It's packed with hearty vegetables like celery, carrots, and potatoes that taste delicious cooked with nutritious brown or green lentils in chicken broth.
Lentil soup is the perfect healthy vegan meal to make for your family any time of the day!
Contents
🥣 Easy Lentil Potato Soup Recipe
Plant-based meals don't get any better than good old cooked lentils in a hearty vegetable soup that only takes 1 hour to prepare in a single kitchen pot.
Most of the ingredients for this lentil soup are staple pantry ingredients that can easily be substituted for whatever fresh veggies you have at home.
My dad is always a bit skeptical of vegan recipes when I make them, as he likes a bit of meat with his soups like chicken noodle soup or cabbage roll soup with ground beef, but he devoured this comforting vegetable lentil potato soup in a hurry last week.
I always like to use fresh ingredients in the kitchen, and this wonderful recipe allows me to use as many veggies as possible.
Since it is 100% vegetarian and full of fiber, protein, and vitamins, it is suitable for everyone to enjoy!
🍽 Ingredient notes
Lentil potato soup does not require much cooking equipment to prepare this dish, just a large pot for cooking the ingredients and a chopping board.
I always recommend using fresh vegetables to create a richer flavor in soups and whatever veggies are in season.
- 2 large yellow potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups green or brown lentils rinsed and drained
- 8 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
Substitutions
Vegetables
Like all great vegetable recipes, the vegetables you use in the dish are easily substituted with whatever you have in the pantry staples or what's in the season to give it more sweetness with butternut squash, sweet potato, or additional heat with fresh jalapenos.
Tip: you can use canned potatoes if you do not have fresh potatoes. It works great for this soup!
Lentils
It's best to use green or brown lentils for this recipe, as they retain their shape better during cooking, although red lentils and black lentils will work just as well.
🔪 How to make
Learn how to make this absolutely delicious lentil potato soup in an hour with my easy step-by-step instructions and video walkthrough.
Prepare Ingredients
The preparation process is chopping all the veggies into small cubes.
Potatoes.
Carrots.
Celery.
Garlic.
Onion.
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Set a pot or dutch oven over medium heat with the butter inside.
Step 2
Add potatoes, chopped celery, carrots, finely chopped onion, and garlic for several minutes until softened and brown slightly.
Step 3
Next, add the dried lentils
Step 4
Add chicken broth, salt, and crushed black pepper to taste.
Step 5
Turn the heat to medium-low and let the pot simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes until the carrots, lentils, and potatoes have completely softened, and the liquid has thickened slightly. Stirring occasionally, so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Step 6
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Cooking Tips
For a thicker soup, mix 2 tablespoons of cornflour with water and add that to the soup. It will start to thicken instantly as the soup gets hotter.
A good cooking tip for cooking lentils is to soak them in a bowl of water for a minimum of 2 hours before cooking them. Dried lentils are heavy on the stomach, and soaking them eases digestion and reduces cooking time.
🥗 What to serve with
Lentil potato soup is always on the menu in my house. Although it is filling on its own, I usually serve it with some type of bread like homemade Challah bread, garlic bread, or fresh sourdough bread, and sometimes a quick and tasty sautéed cabbage with bacon pieces as a side dish.
📖 Variations
Lentil potato soup is a versatile dish you can make with or without adding meat or vegetables to the recipe.
Whichever way you cook this lentil and potato soup, it will be amazingly delicious!
Green lentils, sausage, and potato soup
Give the lentil potato soup a meaty twist by adding 2 pounds of Italian sausage.
Chop the sausage into small cubes and sauté it with the potatoes and carrots before simmering with the chicken stock. You can also use chopped chicken, turkey, or minced beef.
Red lentil, sweet potato & ham hock Soup
This variation uses sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes to give the lentil soup more sweetness.
The vegetables are sautéed with olive oil and tomato paste for extra layers of flavor before adding the red lentils and stock. Serve with chopped fresh cilantro.
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use canned cooked lentils?
Yes, you can use canned lentils for making lentil potato soup. Just make sure to rinse and drain them before adding them to the pot and check the cooking instructions on the label, as most canned lentils will cook quicker.
Can lentil soup be canned?
Yes, however, you'll need a pressure canner to safely cook and store lentil soup. Due to it's low acidity this is the only way to process and store homemade soup.
What type of lentils is best for lentil soup?
Green or brown lentils are best used for this delicious lentil & potato soup. They hold their shape better during boiling rather than red/yellow lentils that disintegrate after 15 minutes of cooking, which is good for creamy soups, but not so much for hearty vegetable soups.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Soups are great for eating during the week for lunch or dinner, and store ideally refrigerated for several days and even frozen.
In the Fridge
Once the soup has cooled down, you can transfer the leftovers to a smaller airtight container or keep it in the pot to store in the fridge for 5 days.
In the Freezer
Transfer the leftover soup into a freezer container with an airtight lid and place it in the freezer for up to 6 months.
How to Reheat
Reheating soup is easy! Place refrigerated or frozen soup in a sauce pan with adequate space. Reheat on low to medium heat until your soup reaches your desired temperature.
👪 Serving size
This lentil potato soup recipe will give you approximately 6 large bowl servings, but I usually scale up and double the recipe so that I can enjoy a bowl in the evening for the following days. If you have extra potatos you can make some delicious roasted Hasselback potatoes as a side dish.
🎥 Video
Nothing is better than snuggling up near the fire in fall with a bowl of irresistible hot lentil soup! I also recommend you to try my hearty sopa de fideo recipe. The perfect mexican noodle soup to try in a taco tuesday!
📋 Recipe
Lentil Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 large potatoes - peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots - peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery - thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups green lentils - rinsed and drained
- 8 cups chicken stock - or vegetable stock
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat then add the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic and onion and cook until softened, about 5 - 6 minutes.
- Add the lentils and broth, generously salt and pepper, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes - or until the vegetables have softened and the soup has thickened.
Video
Notes
- For a thicker soup, mix 2 tablespoons of cornflour with water and add that to the soup. It will start to thicken instantly as the soup gets hotter.
- A good cooking tip for cooking lentils is to soak them in a bowl of water for a minimum of 2 hours before cooking them. Dried lentils are heavy on the stomach, and soaking them eases digestion and reduces cooking time.
Ellen Fourie
Please explain the 8 cups of stock, how many stock cubes do you use??
Tania Rodríguez
love it!!!!
Simply Delicious Lentil Soup!
[…] The recipe is here: https://comfortablefood.com/delicious-lentil-soup/ […]
Christine
I just made this and it is quite nice. Halving all the ingredients still makes a lot.
Anonymous
Optional add ons might be raw or frozen spinach or kale, low-fat sausage or chicken sausage or turkey...
Anonymous
Loved it! Added some spinach towards the end
Minaz Mohamed
2 cups dry lentils or cooked?
Arya
This soup was a hit with the fam! We substitute zucchini for the celery and it's delicious. It's part of our Ramadan Iftar rotation now!