Best lentil soup recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lentil soup tasteless? ›

To avoid a bland lentil soup, use a flavorful broth—whether that's homemade or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth. The other key is building flavor. To do so, use aromatics like onions and garlic, include fresh or dried herbs, and season well with salt and pepper.

The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.

Lentils have plenty of folate, iron and vitamin B1, which also support your heart health. Lentils may be associated with a lower risk of heart disease, by lowering bad cholesterol and blood pressure. One study found that eating lentils led to greater reductions in blood pressure than eating chickpeas, peas or beans.

Think more like you're cooking pasta- you just need significantly more water than lentils. You can also use broth instead of adding an extra layer of flavor. I like adding a bay leaf, an onion cut in half, and a clove of garlic to add flavor to the lentils.

Add aromatics to the water or, even better, use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Follow this tip: Add a few cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, a spring of rosemary, half of an onion, or a combination of these aromatics to the cooking water or stock to help flavor the lentils.

This time, it turned out mushy and there wasn't a whole lentil to be found. Damn it! I figured out later that it spent about 2.5 hours too long in the slow cooker (a little miscalculation on my part). If you're like me and have overcooked Lentil Soup then you're in luck because I'm going to show you how to revive it.

I recommend using green or French green lentils because they hold their shape in the soup, adding satisfying texture. Brown lentils are also a fine option.

Support the digestive system

Lentils are especially rich in prebiotic fibre which promotes digestive function and 'fuels' the beneficial gut bacteria which are so important for our health. A diet rich in fibre is associated with a number of health benefits including a reduced risk of colorectal cancer.

Black Lentils (Beluga lentils)

Best of all, black lentils are the most nutritious variety of lentils, boasting the highest amount of protein, plus high levels of calcium, potassium, and iron.

What to pair lentil soup with? ›

Pair this lentil soup with crusty bread or a hearty salad like my kale salad or sweet potato salad. It would also go well with a vegetable side dish like roasted cauliflower, roasted broccoli, or a baked sweet potato.

Pulse consumption has been shown to confer beneficial effects on blood glucose and insulin levels. Lentil consumption, in particular, consistently lowers acute blood glucose and insulin response when compared to starchy control foods.

the color change you've observed is from oxidation. If you want to prevent this, lay some plastic wrap over the surface of your lentils to prevent air from getting to them, or add some acid, like lime juice, to the recipe.

That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.

Cumin seeds or ground cumin helps with digestion and is perfect in a soup, curry or dal (lentil dish). Carom seeds, fennel seeds, turmeric and peppermint are other great digestive aids. Cooking beans with a large strip of dried kombu, a Japanese dried kelp, may minimise their gas-producing properties too.

Taste and season with more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice until the flavors really sing. For spicier soup, add another pinch or two of red pepper flakes.

Add a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice to your soup to make it taste better. Use a high-quality broth or stock as a base for your soup. Roast or caramelize your vegetables before adding them to your soup to bring out their natural sweetness.

The simple answer: you cooked them too long. Lentils are actually quite difficult to get right.

Use Herbs and Spices

You may also add more spices like turmeric, ground ginger, ground paprika, or nutmeg for a touch of spice and color to your soup broth. Remember that you must add dried herbs and spices early on, while fresh herbs must be added at the end of cooking.