Fall Lentil Soup

Back in the day when I was in grade school we lived in a town called Naperville, Illinois. Halloween was always cold and rainy every year and we would prance around the wet streets with my dad going door to door asking for sweet treats. My Mom’s job every Halloween was to make hot chicken noodle soup for us to eat before we trekked in the cold in our costumes. It became a tradition in our family and of course I had to keep it going.

Flash forward…

Instead of chicken noodle soup, I had tweaked a lentil soup years ago when my daughter Anniston was a baby. I invited over our neighborhood families to gather at our house as a meeting spot. I then served the kiddos delivery pizza (cause they didn’t want soup) while the adults slurped my hot soup, even though some years it was a hot 75 degrees outside. I don’t care how hot it is outside, I’m serving my chicken sausage lentil soup.

I also served the soup with salad and yummy crusty bread. It was always a hit!

Every time I serve this soup, I always get asked “what’s the recipe?”

The good news is, it’s so simple. You just throw everything in a pot and let it simmer. The flavors melt into a yummy pot of deliciousness.

Recipe (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 carton of Mirepoix (Trader Joes)
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 package of cooked lentils (Trader Joes)
• 1 package of chicken/pork sausage, casing off
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of salt and pepper
• 1 can of crushed red tomatoes
• 3 32 oz cartons of chicken or bone broth (use less if you want a thicker soup)
• 3 sprigs of fresh Thyme (take off the sprigs)
• Grated Parmesan (garnish for soup)
• 1 cup of cooked rice or pasta noodles

Instructions

1. Place olive oil in a big stew pot and throw in your carton of mirepoix, minced garlic, and salt and pepper.
2. Sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes until it’s translucent. Then, brown your sausage in the pot and crumble it with a spoon. Make sure the sausage is completely cooked.
3. Next, mix in your cooked lentils and can of crushed tomatoes. Once that is cooking, pour your chicken broth in the pot and add your fresh sprigs of Thyme. The key to good soup is to bring it to a boil and then put it on low and cook for an hour. Soup tastes so good when it’s cooked slowly.
4. While it’s cooking, cook either your rice or pasta noodles. If you’re short on time, you can warm up bags of rice from the frozen section at Trader Joes or your local grocery store.
5. Once served, scoop either rice or cooked noodles into the bowl. Then, pour soup on top and garnish with fresh grated Parmesan.

This soup is great for family gatherings and is the best when you have leftovers for the next day!

Enjoy!

Pin this post for later: