Vegetable Lentil Soup

This vegetable lentil soup recipe is one of my favorite soups to make during the winter. This soup comes together in about an hour and is packed with flavor. If you are looking for something warm and delicious to eat, this is the soup for you!

I like that I can make this soup with about 20 minutes of prep time. The rest of the time simply involves occasionally stirring the soup and letting it cook on the stove. The ingredients are basic and normally found in most pantry’s like carrots, onions, celery, lentils and seasoning like oregano and basil.

How would you describe the flavor of the soup?

Umami is how I would describe the flavor of this soup! It has a umami flavor because it is not too strong or sweet but has a richness to it.  The lentils, herbs, onions, garlic, carrots and the potatoes bring that flavor together.

A side note and some feed back from my family included my husband saying, “This soup tastes really good. Normally soup taste better the next day but this is already really good.” 

The ingredients are every day items you have in your kitchen. The Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes might be something new but they add great flavor to the soup. If you don’t have them on hand, you can substitute with a can of diced tomatoes.

For this lentil vegetable soup, I chose green lentils. The green lentils hold up well in the soup and do not become mushy. They also cook quickly. Lentils are great for protein and fiber and to help you feel full longer. They are also inexpensive and are a great replacement for a meaty texture.

Ingredients in this soup.

• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery
• Garlic
• Red Potatoes
• Fire Roasted Tomatoes
• Green Lentils
• Dried Oregano, Dried Basil & Dried Bay Leaf
• Vegetable Broth
• Tamari

 

This soup has a lot depth to the flavor profile with oregano, basil and tamari mixed with the fire roasted tomatoes and the carrots with the lentils all comes together. The chunky potatoes in the soup almost turns it into a stew.

I love a soup that comes with most of the ingredients I typically have in my kitchen and pantry. This soup comes together pretty quickly within an hour.

Steps for making Lentil Vegetable Soup:

1. Prepare the vegetables, onion, carrots and celery (wash & dice)
2. Next… sauté the onions, carrots and celery using no oil but a little water instead, to start the soup.
3. Once everything is dice and chopped. Heat up a soup pot to a medium heat. Add in the onions, celery, and carrots. You can add in a splash of water and stir the ingredients for about 5 minutes until soften.
4. Add in the minced garlic and stir. Next add in the oregano and basil and stir.
5. Add in the fire roasted diced tomatoes, vegetable broth and tamari and bring to a simmer
6. Next… add in diced potatoes, lentils, basil and salt and pepper to taste.
7. Bring the soup to a simmer, add the soup lid and turn down the soup to a medium low. Let cook for about 45-60 minutes until potatoes and the lentil are cooked. Stirring occasionally.

The soup is finished when the potatoes and the lentils fork tender. This takes about 45- 60 minutes of cooking on a low simmer. All the flavors will come together.

Can you freeze the soup?

Yes, you can! It freezes and reheats well.

What about the Vegetable Stock?

In this soup, I used a store bought vegetable stock. It depends what I have on hand at the time and how much time I have to prepare, and what I am making if its store bought or homemade.

Quick tip on store bought vegetable stock…

• Do you buy vegetable stock vs vegetable broth? Go with the vegetable stock.  Vegetable stock is typically a milder flavor with less ingredients vs vegetable broth is more of a finished soup. Vegetable broth flavor may dominate the rest of the dish or soup that you are making.
• When in doubt, taste the stock before you add it to your soup or dish. Once you add it to the dish, its hard to remove the flavor. (I’ve made the mistake before)
• I typically purchase organic when I purchase vegetable stock and always look at the ingredients.

You can also make your own vegetable stock. Here is a link to Vegetable Stock Recipe!

P.S. If you make this recipe, leave comment below and share your picture on Instagram mention me @plantbasedfoodylife or #plantbasedfoodylife …. I’d love to see what you make!!!