Lentil soup: I see you, the hungry reader whose life is crazy right now, who finds it hard to find time to cook even though you love food, who opens the fridge to grab a quick lunch to take to work in the morning rush only to find NOTHING seems good enough for those who value big bowls of comfort food pasta above all else, who want nothing more than GOOD FOOD that is made for REAL LIFE.
So because I see you and understand you, because I feel the same way you do, today I’m going to honor you (us?) with this super cozy, nutritious, easy soup recipe.
It’s called Detox Crockpot Lentil Soup, which doesn’t mean anything scientifically, because you’ll notice that my bowl of DETOX soup is topped with a few thick chunks of parmesan and served with that addictive crusty bread. Sure, about that. We sneaked a few good foods into this soup (cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots, and olive oil), and anyway, in my book, the best kinds of healthy foods are the ones that ACTUALLY TASTE.
And while this soup tastes good without the toppings, it tastes BETTER with them. Cue bread and cheese.
Ingredients for lentil soup
This lentil soup is packed with lots of healthy and delicious ingredients. Let’s count them, shall we?
- butter pumpkin
- carrots, celery and onions (or mirepoix)
- potatoes
- green lentils and yellow peas (if you can’t find peas, you can use more green lentils)
- garlic
- broth
- Provençal herbs
- cabbage and fresh parsley
- a little olive oil and red wine vinegar at the end
How to make this lentil soup recipe
As is my goal with most of the recipes I make on Pinch of Yum, this lentil soup was made for real life. Because it’s literally for my real life.
We start with a solid foundation: onions, garlic, carrots, celery, spices, salt and broth.
Then we’re awesome by adding butternut squash that partially melts into a creamy textured wonder, lentils (always lentils) and yellow peas because it’s a WOW color.
After all your delectable vegetables are bursting with the best homemade aromas, we do a magical thing to top it off: puree some of the soup with olive oil to create a silky emulsion, which is then added back into the soup. YES PLZ 4EVR.
I finished mine off with a dash of sherry and red wine vinegar because I’m having a spicy food moment at the moment.
What to serve with lentil soup
There’s a lot to this soup, but if you want to round it out into a full meal, I’d recommend a few additions:
- Without kneaded bread (YES)
- No Kneaded Cheese Bread (DOUBLE YES)
- One-ingredient Socca (wonderful gluten-free bread for dipping)
- A simple green salad (like this one!)
And it is done. It’s soup. SO EASY. Prepping the veggies requires a bit of front chopping, but I’d estimate it took me 30-45 minutes to chop everything up and put it in the pot, and in return I got 8 Tbsp servings of this nutritious + cozy yummy food. NOT A BAD DEAL.
