Nourish yourself with this healthy, immune-supportive vegetable lentil soup. A family-sized, budget-friendly meal with readily accessible ingredients. This is a great freezer meal to have on hand during winter.
If you’re after a great recipe for vegetable lentil soup, look no further – this is a super heathy, super nourishing, family-sized meal made with readily accessible ingredients.
Given the current climate, I thought some immune-supportive recipes you can batch cook and freeze would be supper helpful - who can be bothered cooking from scratch when you're sick!
This recipe is made with ingredients you can very easily source from a supermarket, nothing fancy pants. Cost effective – a bit of prep time chopping all those vegetables, but only 30 minutes on the stovetop.
Health and nutrition highlights
- A whopping 24.5g of dietary fibre per serve – that’s pretty much your RDI met for the day ladies [1]
- Almost 20g protein per serve – providing your body with amino acids needed to build and repair body tissue, and create antibodies to fight infection
- Packed full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds – not only from the range of vegetables, but from the powerhouse spices – cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and paprika
- Contains immune-modulating beta-glucans courtesy of the shiitake mushrooms. Beta-glucans are well known to activate immune cells, increase antibody production, increase viral-inhibiting proteins called interferons, reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins [2]
Vegetable lentil soup, step by step
Start by prepping all your vegetables – peel and dice the onions, thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms – removing the tough stalks, then cut celery, carrot, capsicum/bell pepper and potatoes into small cubes.
Heat a good quality extra virgin olive oil in a stock pot – you’ll need at least a 6 litre/quart capacity here.
Add your prepared vegetables and cook for a few minutes until they’ve softened [pic 1].
Now we loosen up the vegetables by adding a quality vegetables stock/broth – see if you can source an organic and low sodium brand, or better yet – make and use your own! [pic 2].
Time to add the spices – cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and paprika [pic 3].
Pop the lentils in a sieve and rinse them under running water for a minute or so, then add to the stock pot with a tablespoon of tomato paste [pic 4]. Stir well.
And now we cook. Cover the pot with a lid – though slightly ajar [pic 5]. Bring it to a boil then reduce to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes or until the lentils are done.
Once cooked, remove the lid and add washed and drained spinach leaves – or your leafy green of choice [pic 6]. Trim the long stalks off first though. Just another minute or two more to wilt the greens and we’re done!
Right – almost there peeps – how’s the consistency? I like it thick and chunky – but if you prefer a thinner soup, now is the time to add a small amount more of water or stock/broth.
To serve, a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of coriander is yum.
This vegetable lentil soup is also great topped with a handful of croutons – cut a few slices of gluten free bread into cubes, transfer to a bowl, dress with a tablespoon of EVOO, add a clove of minced garlic, toss, then bake until toasty.
So incredibly healing, nourishing, delicious.
What to cook this recipe in
This is a larger sized soup than I typically make and share here – it will give you 6 very generous soup bowls’ worth, or 8 smaller, ‘starter’ bowls.
A regular saucepan won’t be big enough – you could use it at a pinch I guess, but the volume of this recipe is large - you'll be in for a spluttering mess.
I recommend using a stock pot. Stock pots are larger in size, ranging from 6-12 litres/quarts in capacity. I’ve used a 6 litre/quart stock pot with a nice heavy base, to prevent the ingredients burning – absolutely perfect!
Recipe tips and tricks
- Shiitake mushrooms are optional but add immune-modulating polysaccharides, if you can’t source any, just leave them out
- I recommend using a low-sodium liquid vegetable stock/broth if you can source it
- Fresh spinach can be substituted for other leafy greens – collard greens, kale, beet leaves
- You can skip the red lentils and use 2 cups of brown lentils if you prefer, but I would avoid using entirely red lentils – they’re far mushier in texture and will give you a totally different end result. I love the combo and texture of the two
- Towards the end of the cooking time – take a look at the consistency of your soup – if it’s a little on the thick side, thin it out by adding more water or stock
Storing leftovers
- Keep leftovers in an airtight glass container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days
- This recipe is a great freezer meal – divide into portions and store either in glass/Pyrex containers, or the fabulous new silicon food grade pouches
- To re-heat once thawed – transfer to a saucepan, add a little water or stock, and warm up on the stove
More healthy vegan lentil soup recipes
Cozy soups and stews are my thang – a few of my faves...
- Lemony Turkish Lentil Soup
- Nourishing Red Lentil Soup with Rosemary
- Cozy Creamy Mushroom Lentil Stew
- Kitchari – an Ayurvedic Healing Meal
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Vegetable lentil soup
Equipment
- Large stock pot – 6 litre/quart capacity
Ingredients
- 2 onions brown
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
- 3 large celery stalks
- 4 carrots
- 1 green capsicum/bell pepper
- 2 red skin potatoes about 150g
- 100 g shiitake mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 litre/quart vegetable stock
- 3 cups water 750ml
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika powder not smoked
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 cups spinach washed with large stems removed, about 120g
To serve:
- fresh coriander
- lemon juice
Instructions
- Peel and dice the onions, thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms, removing stalks, then cut celery, carrot, capsicum/bell pepper and potatoes into small cubes.
- Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a stock pot (at least 6 litre/quart capacity), then add onions, prepared vegetables and sliced garlic. Cook, stirring frequently for a couple of minutes or more to soften.
- Add vegetable stock to the pot to loosen, then add all spices, stir well.
- Rinse and drain lentils and add to the pot along with tomato paste, stir well.
- Cover the stock pot with a lid, slightly ajar. Bring to a boil (approx. 5 mins), then reduce to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every so often to prevent burning.
- Remove the lid and add washed spinach, cook a further minute or so to wilt.
- If the consistency of the soup looks to your liking – squeeze over the juice of one lemon and add a sprinkle of freshly chopped coriander. If the soup is looking a little on the thicker side, add a further half cup or more of water and let simmer a further minute or two to thin it down. Enjoy!
Notes
- Shiitake mushrooms are optional but add immune-modulating polysaccharides, if you can’t source any, just leave them out
- I recommend using a low-sodium liquid vegetable stock/broth
- Fresh spinach can be substituted for other leafy greens – collard greens, kale, beet leaves
- You can skip the red lentils and use 2 cups of brown lentils if you prefer, but I would avoid using entirely red lentils – they’re far mushier in texture and will give you a totally different end result
- If the soup is too thick, thin it out by adding more water or stock towards the end of cooking. Stir frequently to avoid burning
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days
- Freezes well, when re-heating, add a little more water/stock then heat in a saucepan on the stove
- Nutrition panel is an estimate only, and is for 1 very generous bowl as a stand-alone meal. Recipe yields 6 large bowls or 8 smaller bowls.
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