This easy lentil potato soup is a delicious way to get a wholesome dinner, even on a weeknight. As a plus, this soup is made with easy-to-find, affordable ingredients and pantry staples.
In this recipe, lentils and potatoes are cooked with onions, carrots, celery, garlic and spices until they’re tender and the broth is rich and flavorful. Then the soup is finished with a generous amount of fresh greens which really ups the nutrition value of this soup.
What type of lentils to use for this soup?
Lentils are small, lens shaped legumes that are packed with protein, fiber, iron and minerals. There are four general categories for lentils: brown, green, red/yellow and specialty. For this soup we recommend using brown or green lentils. They hold their shape with longer cooking times and are easy to find at just about any supermarket.
Looking to add more lentils to your diet? Check out this article all about how to cook lentils including some great recipes to get you started.
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Small Onion, finely diced
- 1-2 Carrots, peeled and diced – depending on the size of the carrot I will use one or two, sometimes they’re so puny – use about ¾-1 cup of diced carrots
- 1 Celery Rib, finely diced
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Dried Thyme
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 12 ounce Package of Lentils, sorted, rinsed and drained
- 8 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 pound Red Potatoes, cut into ½ – 1 inch pieces
- 5-6 ounces Fresh Kale, Chard, Spinach or a combination of greens – washed
- Salt, to season the lentils at the end – if needed
Prep work
We’ll start the prep work for this soup by sorting the lentils. Don’t skip this step! Place them in a large colander, bowl or on a clean, flat surface. Pick through them carefully and remove any foreign objects, such as tiny rocks, twigs, misshaped beans, etc.
Rinse the lentils with cold water and drain.
Dice the onions, carrots and celery. They’re going in the pot at the same time, so keep them in the same bowl. I like using glass nesting bowls to organize all my ingredients. They make prep work a snap!
Next, mince the garlic, measure out the tomato paste, oregano, thyme, cumin and chicken broth.
Cut the potatoes into ½ – 1 inch pieces. Make them roughly the same size so that they cook at the same rate. You can peel them or not, it’s up to you. I leave the skins on, they add visual interest and up the nutrient value. Plus, I don’t have to peel potatoes! Keep cut potatoes in cold water if you’re prepping them in advance. It slows the browning process.
Actually, there’s a window of time while the lentils cook that you can prepare the potatoes. But, I like getting all the prep work out of the way at once. That way I can clean up while dinner cooks.
Wash the greens if not using a prepackaged, washed variety and that’s it prep work is done!
Start the lentil soup
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the onions, carrots and celery. Gently cook the vegetables for 5 minutes, while stirring frequently.
Next, add the garlic, tomato paste, oregano, thyme, cumin and black pepper to the pot. Cook for 1 minute, stirring almost constantly.
Add the lentils and chicken broth to the pot. Stir well. Raise the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil. It will take about 5 minutes for the liquid to come to a boil.
Lower the heat to medium when the broth is at a full boil. Cover the pot and cook the lentils for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
At this point the lentils should be close to al dente, which means that they’ll have a bite in the middle.
Taste the lentils to see if they have almost reached the desired tenderness. If they’re still super hard continue cooking another 10 minutes, then taste again.
Cook’s note: The cooking time for lentils is just an estimate. Actual cooking time will depend on how soft you like them and the freshness of the beans. The fresher the lentils the quicker they will cook. As a reference we cooked our lentils a total of 35 minutes before adding the potatoes.
Finish the lentil potato soup
If the lentils are starting soften, then add the potatoes. If you were keeping them in water, remember to drain them first.
When the liquid comes to a simmer again, lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook the lentils and potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until they are both tender. Stir the soup more often as it thickens to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Finally, add the greens to the pot and stir until they start to wilt. Cover the pot and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the greens are completely wilted.
It’s best to wait until the end to add any salt to this lentil and potato soup. The chicken broth and tomato paste both contain a good amount of salt already. Taste the lentils and add salt if needed. As a reference we didn’t add any extra salt to ours.
Serve the lentil soup alone, with white rice or a generous piece of crusty bread, if desired.
Looking to add more lentils into your dinner rotation? It’s easy with these great recipes:
- Lentil Chorizo Soup
- Chicken Lentil Soup
- Lentil Vegetable Soup
- Lentil Andouille Sausage Soup
- Bacon and Lentil Soup
- Lentil Sausage Soup
- Italian Sausage Lentil Soup
- Lentil Chili
Lentil Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion finely diced
- ¾ – 1 cup Diced Carrot
- 1 Celery Rib finely diced
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Dried Thyme
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 12 ounce Package of Lentils sorted, rinsed and drained
- 8 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 pound Red Potatoes cut into ½ – 1 inch pieces
- 5-6 ounces Fresh Kale, Chard or Spinach or use a combination of greens – washed
- Salt to season the lentils at the end
Instructions
- Sort the lentils and remove any foreign objects, such as tiny rocks, twigs, misshaped beans, etc. Rinse the lentils with cold water and drain.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the onions carrots and celery. Gently cook the vegetables for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the garlic, tomato paste, oregano, thyme, cumin and black pepper to the pot. Cook for 1 minute, stirring almost constantly.
- Add the lentils and chicken broth to the pot. Stir well.
- Raise the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil.
- Lower the heat to medium when the broth is at a full boil. Cover the pot and cook the lentils for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Taste the lentils to see if they have almost reached the desired tenderness. If they’re still super hard continue cooking another 10 minutes, then taste again.
- If the lentils are almost tender, add the potatoes.
- When the liquid comes to a simmer again, lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook the lentils and potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until they are both tender. Stir the soup more often as it thickens.
- Add the greens to the pot and stir until they start to wilt. Cover the pot and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the greens are completely wilted.
- Taste the lentils and add salt if needed. As a reference, didn’t add any extra salt to ours.
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