Soup is one of our favorite ways to incorporate vegetables during the colder months of the year! This lentil and vegetable soup is warming, nourishing, and filling from all the lentils! We hope you enjoy it!

If you can’t (or don’t want to) use up all the soup right away, keep one container on hand for the week and put another container in the freezer for later in the year!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups French green lentils
  • 4 chopped yellow onions (I use organic onions- if not using organic, you might only need 3 because they are larger)
  • 2 chopped leeks, white part only (can save green parts in the freezer for making vegetable broth!)
  • 3 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling on top
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp minced fresh or dried thyme
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin (can omit if you don’t like taste of cumin)
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 8 celery stalks, diced
  • 6 carrots, diced
  • 3 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, (can sub crushed tomatoes)
  • 2 tablespoons red wine or red wine vinegar
  • large handful of fresh spinach (optional)…the picture of our soup shows we obviously didn’t see this as optional 😉

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain.
  2. In a large stockpot on medium heat, sauté the onions, leeks, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, cumin, and oregano for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are translucent and very tender.
  3. Add the celery and carrots and sauté for 10 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato sauce, and lentils. Cover and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 25-45 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through. Check the seasonings. Add the red wine and spinach. Mix until spinach has wilted and serve hot, drizzled with good quality olive oil.

Recipe from Clean Eating Goddess