Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Tomatoes

Delicious Red Lentil soup with lemon and tomatoes is one of my favorite soups to cook. The red lentils are so delicious with the chopped tomatoes, homemade chicken broth and a squeeze of bright lemon juice adds so much flavor to the soup! It’s filling and warming enough for the colder weather months but so delicious and light for the warmer months as well!

Serve this Tomato Red Lentil soup with Rosemary Polenta cornbread or Skillet Cornbread for an easy and delicious meal. 

Recipe Ingredients

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Red Lentils – Red lentils are very different from green lentils used in this Vegetable Lentil Soup. Red lentils aren’t as hearty as the green ones and because they fall apart during the cooking process they help to naturally thicken the soup.

Tomato Sauce – You can use 3 – 4 fresh chopped tomatoes or a can of tomato sauce. The fresh tomatoes will give a lighter tomato flavor to this lentil soup and the canned tomatoes a stronger tomato flavor. Use whichever you like!

Homemade Chicken Broth – Most of the flavor of this soup comes from using a broth of some sort. I love to use my homemade chicken broth, but use veggie broth to make this lentil soup vegan!

Spices – I used organic dried thyme, dried oregano, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper for this recipe.

Lemon – Once you are ready to serve stir in a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. it really takes the flavors of the soup to the next level.

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Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

Delicious Red Lentil soup with lemon and tomatoes is one of my favorite soups to cook. The red lentils are so delicious with the chopped tomatoes, homemade chicken broth and a squeeze of bright lemon juice adds so much flavor to the soup! It's filling and warming enough for the colder weather months but so delicious and light for the warmer months as well!

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Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 4

Author: Tonya | The Midwest Kitchen Blog

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 medium carrot diced
• 1 medium celery stalk diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup organic red lentils dry
• 1 large tomato chopped
• ½ cup - 1 cup water if soup is too thick
• Salt and ground back pepper to taste
• Juice from half a lemon

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Instructions 

• In a medium-sized pot, start by satueing the diced onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil, until they are soft. Next, add the celery and carrots- cook until they are soft as well.
• Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and dried oregano. Cook for 30 seconds - to 1 minute to cook the garlic and lightly toast the spices.
• Next, add the can of tomato sauce. Cook covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to cook out the bitter taste of canned tomato sauce. Then add the chicken broth and bay leaf. Cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.
• Rinse the red lentils. Red lentils are really starchy and the water won't run clear while you are rinsing them, so just give them a good rinse then add them to the pot with the chopped tomatoes.
• Cook the lentils until they are soft, 20 - 25 minutes. If the soup is a little too thick add 1/2 cup - 1 cup of water.
• Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste then stir in the lemon juice. Serve with cornbread and enjoy!

Notes

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. 

All nutrition information is automatically generated and should be only used as a rough estimate. This recipe card may contain affiliate links.