Lentil soup
A thick, earthy soup of brown lentils, vegetables and tomato, finished with spinach and lemon, that costs almost nothing and fills you right up.
- 65 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $1.99 a serving
- 290 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cups lentils, brown or green, rinsed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1 lemon, juiced
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 290 calories, 14 g protein, 44 g carbs and 8 g fat, and costs about $1.99 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrots and celery and the garlic. the lentils in a strainer and pick out any tiny stones.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring now and then, until soft, about 8 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Stir in the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, thyme and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Add the tomatoes, lentils, broth, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, set the and for 30 to 40 minutes, until the lentils are soft.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 35 min
Dolly’s tip: Taste a few lentils. They should be soft all the way through, not chalky in the middle.For a thicker soup, scoop out 2 cups, mash them well in a bowl with a fork, and stir them back in.
Low heat
Stir in the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until it .
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Turn off the heat, pull out the bay leaves, and stir in the lemon juice. Taste for salt and serve with a of olive oil.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Lentils soak up salt, so this soup usually needs another pinch at the end. The lemon is what makes it taste bright.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Easy vegetable soup
55 min
Red lentil soup with lemon
45 min
West African–style peanut stew with sweet potatoes
45 min
Smoky black bean soup
40 min
One-pan dinners ›Vegetarian dinners ›What to make with canned tomatoes and carrots ›What to make with canned tomatoes and spinach ›What to make with carrots and spinach ›