Lentil and Sausage Soup is both hearty and delicious. This one pot meal is a snap to make, freezes beautifully, and is packed full of vegetables and protein. It’s definitely comfort in a bowl!
I suspect it would be perfect on a cold winter's day. However, it's 90+ degrees outside, but in the air conditioning, it's pretty perfect on a hot summer's day! Given that we're in the peak hurricane season, the leftovers are going into the freezer for ready to heat meals should we be unfortunate enough to have a hurricane come our way.
Ingredients
The ingredients for this delicious soup include smoked sausage, onion, celery, carrots, zucchini, garlic, chicken broth, petit diced tomatoes, salt, freshly ground black pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, and the star of the show - dry lentils.
Making the Lentil and Sausage Soup
The most time-consuming part of making this soup was cooking the sausage in a Dutch Oven. My sausage of choice is Conecuh Smoked Sausage, but Kielbasa or Italian Sausage could also be used. Unlike other sausages such as Kielbasa, the Conecuh Smoked Sausage needs to be cooked before using it in a dish to get rid of most of the fat.
When the sausage was done, I drained it on paper towels, and then pressed each piece with paper towels to get rid of as much of the grease as possible. I wiped out the Dutch Oven with paper towels, returned the pan to the heat, and added the onions, celery, carrots, and zucchini. I cooked the vegetables over medium heat for about 5 minutes, scraping up as much of the fond on the bottom of the pan as possible. Then, I added the garlic and cooked the mixture for 30 seconds or so until the garlic was fragrant.
I returned the cooked sausage to the pan and stirred the mixture to combine everything. Next, I added the chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and thyme, then gave the mixture a stir.
The lentils were the final ingredient. I brought the mixture to a boil, covered the Dutch Oven, lowered the heat to low, and simmered the soup for about an hour. After an hour the lentils were perfectly cooked and the soup perfectly seasoned.
I served the Lentil and Sausage soup with a freshly made baguette and a glass of chilled Chardonnay. Yum!
If you like this recipe, you should check out some of my other amazing soups:
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup: Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is amazing in its simplicity and taste. As the cooler weather has finally started arriving, a healthy and delicious soup such as Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup will likely become one of your family’s favorites.
- Hearty Minestrone: Hearty Minestrone is a healthy soup that chocked full of delicious vegetables. It’s comfort food at its best in the cold winter months, but equally satisfying when things warm up. Hearty Minestrone is easy to make, freezes well, and makes terrific leftovers.
- Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup: What better way to warm yourself on these cold winter days than with a hearty soup. Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup totally fits the bill. It’s full of healthy ingredients, easy to make, and amazingly delicious!
- Split Pea Soup with Ham: Split Pea Soup with Ham cooked in an Instant Pot is a snap to make, and awesome to serve. In addition, the leftovers are just as good the next day, or frozen for an anytime lunch or dinner.
- Easy Creamy Tomato Soup: Easy Creamy Tomato Soup is a perfect starter to an elegant meal. It is equally perfect for a light dinner when paired with Caesar salad and crusty french bread.
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Recipe
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Lentil and Sausage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into ¼-inch pieces rounds
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1-½ cups)
- 1 to 2 celery stalks, chopped into ¼-inch pieces (about ½ cup)
- 1 large carrot, chopped into ¼-inch pieces (about ½ cup)
- 1 small zucchini, chopped into ¼-inch pieces (about ¾ cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 48 ounces low sodium chicken broth
- 28 ounce can petit diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ½ cups dry lentils rinsed
Instructions
- Cook sausage in Dutch Oven over medium heat. Drain well on paper towels pressing as much grease from the sausage as possible. Pour fat from Dutch Oven, and wipe with paper towels. Return to medium heat.
- Add onions, celery, carrots, and zucchini to Dutch Oven. Cook stirring frequently to loosen the bits from the cooked sausage for about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and thyme; stir to combine ingredients.
- Add lentils. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer for about 1 hour, or until the lentils are tender. Add more water or broth if necessary for desired consistency.
- Correct the seasonings. If desired, sprinkle with parmasean cheese. Serve.
- Yield: 8 servings.
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