Italian Riviera Lentil Soup
Fill up with this easy, tasty Italian soup made with lentils and plenty of vegetables. A perfect soup with Foccacia or breadsticks on the side.
Servings: 6
Equipment
- Crockpot or Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 2 cups brown lentils cooked
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2-3 stalks celery sliced or diced
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1-3 tsp granulated garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 2 cups baby spinach packed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, add the carrots, lentils, tomatoes, celery, zucchini, onion and vegetable broth.
- Cook 30-35 minutes on medium-high heat. Cook until carrots are fork-tender.
- Add the baby spinach; stir until the leaves begin to wilt.
- Mix in the seasonings. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make in a Crockpot: Put the 1st 7 ingredients in the crockpot (all the vegetables except for the spinach plus vegetable broth). Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for 8 hours. When the carrots are fork-tender, add the baby spinach and seasonings. Serve hot or keep warm in the crockpot until ready to serve.
- Shortcuts: Cut your cooking time by using canned lentils or make your lentils a day ahead. Lentils are easy to freeze and can be pulled out when you're ready to make some soup. If making them in an Instant Pot, cook 1 cup lentils to 2 cups water for 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes.
- Leftovers: This recipe serves 6 people. If you're cooking for 1 or 2, you can easily freeze the leftovers. Cool the soup to room temperature before packing in a plastic freezer container. When you're ready to warm it up for a meal, remove it from the freezer and place in your fridge overnight. It will take less time to defrost that way since it will be a hard frozen block. But planning ahead makes it quicker to warm up in the microwave the next day or on your stovetop.
- Seasonings: I add the seasonings at the very end rather than cooking them with all the vegetables in the beginning. This retains the natural oils present in the herbs and helps add maximum flavor.
- Variations: What can you do if you don't have any vegetable broth? Make a quickie herb broth instead. Use 3 cups water and add 1 tablespoon of granulated garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of granulated onion powder, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 teaspoon dried thyme and 1 teaspoon salt or salt substitute. Whisk to blend together. Then pour into your pot.