This Italian sausage lentil soup is hearty, delicious and full of good-for-you ingredients. It’s loaded with lentils, carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, and spinach. Ok sure, it has Italian sausage, but you have to live a little, right?
Add a hearty piece of crusty bread and this soup makes a very satisfying meal. If you can’t get enough soup, try this Tuscan soup, this easy lentil sausage soup, this fully loaded Cuban chicken soup or this amazing navy bean soup. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 lb. Italian Sausage, casings removed and torn into pieces, or use bulk sausage
1 Small Onion, finely diced
1 Carrot, Diced
1 Celery Rib, Diced
3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced
½ tsp. Dried Oregano
12 oz. Dried Lentils, picked through and rinsed
4 cups Chicken Broth
4 cups Water
2 cups Diced Red Potatoes (about 4 medium potatoes)
3-4 oz. Baby Spinach
Salt, to taste
Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
Prep Work
Pick through the lentils and remove any foreign objects (such as tiny rocks). Don’t skip this step, I frequently find small stones in my lentils. They’re large enough to do some serious damage to a tooth. Put them in a large colander and carefully sort through them. Rinse the lentils well and drain.
Remove the sausage from its casings. Use a sharp knife tip and run it along the sausage lengthwise. Remove the casing and tear the sausage into small pieces. This will make it much easier to break up the sausage in the pot.
Dice the onions, carrots, celery and the potatoes. Leave the skin on the potatoes, they add nutrients and it’s easier!
Brown the Italian sausage
Add the olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook for 5 minutes to brown. Stir frequently and break it up using a wooden spoon or spatula.
When the sausage has browned, lower the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot. Cook the vegetables with the Italian sausage for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
This combination of onions, carrots and celery is called a mirepoix. It’s commonly used as a flavor base for soups and stews. It really is worth the effort and the few minutes it takes to get it started.
Add the garlic and oregano, stir to mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Make the soup
Add the lentils, chicken broth and water to the pot and stir. Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook the lentils for 15 minutes or so until they start to soften, stirring occasionally.
Add the potatoes to the pot. Raise the heat and bring the liquid back to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat to medium-low. Cook the soup for another 12-15 minutes, or until the potatoes and the lentils are tender.
Add the spinach to the soup and stir until it wilts.
Season the soup
Taste the Italian sausage lentil soup and add salt and pepper, to taste. We don’t add salt earlier because the Italian sausage and the chicken broth both contain salt.
Plus, boiling the broth will concentrate it further. If we add salt early on it might be too salty; best wait to the end. Just as a guide, I added almost ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ tsp. of fresh ground black pepper. Salt is always a matter of taste.
Serve the Italian sausage lentil soup with a side of crusty bread and enjoy!
Serves 8
Italian Sausage Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
- 1 lb. Italian Sausage casings removed and torn into pieces, or use bulk sausage
- 1 Small Onion finely diced
- 1 Carrot Diced
- 1 Celery Rib Diced
- 3-4 Garlic Cloves minced
- ½ tsp. Dried Oregano
- 12 oz. Dried Lentils picked through and rinsed
- 4 cups Chicken Broth
- 4 cups Water
- 2 cups Diced Red Potatoes about 4 medium potatoes
- 3-4 oz. Baby Spinach
- Salt to taste
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pick through the lentils and remove any foreign objects (such as tiny rocks). Rinse the lentils well and drain.
- Remove the casing from the sausage and tear the sausage into small pieces.
- Add the olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook for 5 minutes to brown. Stir frequently and break it up using a wooden spoon or spatula.
- When the sausage has browned, lower the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the garlic and oregano, stir to mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the lentils, chicken broth and water to the pot and stir. Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook the lentils for 15 minutes or so until they start to soften, stirring occasionally.
- Add the potatoes to the pot. Raise the heat and bring the liquid back to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat to medium-low. Cook the soup for another 12-15 minutes, or until the potatoes and the lentils are tender.
- Add the spinach to the soup and stir until it wilts.
- Taste the Italian sausage lentil soup and add salt and pepper, to taste.
Can you use any type of lentils?
Hi Cathy,
For this recipe it’s best to stick to brown, green or French lentils, they hold their shape better than red/yellow lentils. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!