Soup is a wonderful thing and lentils are a superfood. Put those two together to make lentil soup and you’ve got yourself a simply fabulous creation, with limitless boundaries. There’s a lentil soup for when you’re tired and in need of a hearty meal, to help lull you off to sleep, and there’s a lentil soup for when you need some get up and go, to give you a much-needed burst of energy.
These 14 great recipe ideas for lentil soup have something for everyone, but you won’t know which your favorite is until you’ve tried them all. Really cheap to buy, lentils are small put powerful little legumes, packed full of protein and nutrients, making them the ideal staple to build a soup around. Once the lentils are softened, you can add virtually anything to them and be rewarded with a flavorsome, wholesome soup that will keep people coming back to the pot for seconds and more.
1. Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup
By theming your soup as Moroccan, you open up a whole host of dining possibilities. You could host a Moroccan themed evening with lamb tagines and freshly squeezed orange juice. Flavors like that would almost make your guests feel as though they’d been transported to Marrakech.
The key spices to include in your Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea soup are paprika, cinnamon and cumin. This blend is fragrant enough to be enticing, without overpowering anyone. Add the chickpeas as early on as the lentils and allow them to soften together, in a boiling broth with two vegetable stock cubes crumbled in.
Once the chickpeas and the lentils are softened, drain them and coat them in a mixture of the three spices. Quickly add everything back to the broth and allow simmering for a good 45 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. The more water you allow to remain in the pot, the thinner your soup will be, but you can always thicken it up by adding a little more stock if necessary.