How to Make Homemade Lentil Soup

Having a large family has its perks, especially when it comes to food. My mom’s immediate family is made up of five. Each person married someone from completely different countries/backgrounds, so we get to experience all kinds of cultures. One of my uncle’s is Chilean and has revised his family’s recipe for Lentil Soup through the years. I was fortunate enough to cook it with him (virtually)! I even did a short video if you’re a visual learner.

It’s actually pretty easy to make Lentil Soup, so let’s start with the ingredients! The size of the dish will depend on how large you want to make it. I did a lot of food so we can eat leftovers for a few days.

• one bag of green or brown lentils (I used organic green lentils)
• 2 medium potatoes (based on your preference)
• 2 large carrots
• 1 green pepper
• 2 small onions or ½ large onion (I used ½ large yellow onion)
• 1 lbs of ground beef
• 2 spoonfuls of vegetable oil (or your choice of cooking oil)
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• cilantro
• choice of seasoning for the ground beef (I used parsley, paprika, onion powder too)
• optional: rice, chick peas

The Pot

This will be a multitasking type of recipe. So you’ll be using two different size pots/pans. They’ll overlap at one point, so just be ready! To clean the lentils, I used a strainer to make life a little easier. Grab a large pot and boil water to the halfway mark of the whole pot. Leave the lentils in the pot at LOW to MEDIUM temperature.

Peel the Potatoes

Grab both potatoes and peel off the skin. Cut them into little squares and add them to the pot of lentils. TIP: Potatoes usually takes long to cook, so it’s a good idea to always do those first and leave it in the pot while you multitask onto the next one. Leave the potatoes with the lentils at a LOW temperature. (Mine was out of 10, so I left it at the 3 mark). Add a spoonful of salt (and mix) before moving onto the next step!

FUTURE TIP: If throughout your cooking session, you see the lentils with the potatoes drying up, you can add half a cup of water. I didn’t add more than that because you’ll end up filling the pot with all the ingredients in your pan. So you don’t want it to overflow.

Adding Veggies and Protein

With the pan on the side, add two spoonfuls of vegetable oil (or your choice of cooking oil). As you chop the carrots, green pepper, and onion- add it to the pan. Peel and cut both carrot sticks. Cut the green pepper and take the seeds out. Chop the onion. You can either chop everything small or leave them to the size you prefer. It’ll taste good either way!

Once you’re done adding the vegetables to the pan, add the ground beef little by little. I added it in two pieces because I didn’t want to overflow my pot/pan. Season your ground beef! Now’s the time to add your flavor to it! I used salt, pepper, parsley, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Cook everything at MEDIUM in the pan until the beef is a soft brown color.

Stir It Up and EAT!

Add the beef, carrots, pepper, and onion to the pot of lentils and potatoes. Stir everything! Add your last touch of cilantro and stir until you think everything is mixed well. Shut the oven off and you’re ready to serve!

TIP: Depending on how you like your soups, you can add more water or not. Some people like the thick taste of the lentils with all other ingredients, while others prefer it more soup-like. BOTH taste amazing! If you want to add more flavor, you can also bring in rice and chick peas.

We love our fresh homemade lentil soup right out of the pot, but I think eating it the next day adds an even richer taste. I add a little water to mix with the texture and more salt- depending on how you adjust to your taste buds. You can serve it with cilantro on top and make it cute!

Enjoy your Homemade Lentil Soup and let me know what you think!! If you’re interested in a short video, I created something for all my visual learners to view too!

I’ve been working on other recipes for the month of April to spice up my recipes page. Here’s It’s Tuna for Me, Making Green Juice, and Zucchini Sliders.