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Delicious Tomato Red Lentil soup is one of my favorite soups to cook. The red lentils are so delicious with the chopped tomatoes and the homemade chicken broth adds so much flavor to the soup! I love this soup during the winter, but it is light enough to be eaten during the warm months as well!
I love to pair Tomato Red Lentil soup with my Rosemary Polenta cornbread for an easy and delicious meal.
Key Notes about this recipe
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Red Lentils
Red lentils are very different from green lentils, which surprised me when I first cooked with them. I use green lentils in My Vegetable Lentil Soup. When green lentils are cooked for a while just become softer, they don’t fall apart. However, when I cooked the red for about the same amount of time as the green and they completely fell apart on me! This is not a bad thing in this recipe! They help to naturally thicken the soup.
Another difference between the green and red lentils is that green lentils have a nutty taste to them, but red lentils don't really have a taste and are more starchy. You can rinse and rinse and rinse red lentils and they will still be starchy, which again helps to thicken this soup!
I think that’s one of the fun things about cooking is that two ingredients can be virtually the same but very different! God created so many different foods and I love being able to learn more about them every day!
Tomato Sauce
The first time I made this recipe I used 3 - 4 fresh tomatoes chopped, and it was delicious. In this recipe, I use canned tomatoes because that’s what I usually have on hand in the winter. In the summer I will use more fresh tomatoes. The fresh tomatoes when cooked have a more subtle tomato flavor and the canned tomatoes taste stronger, but both ways are delicious!
Homemade Chicken Broth
Most of the flavor of this soup comes from the addition of my homemade chicken broth. It's so delicious and adds so much to this soup! I try to always have chicken broth on hand and if you haven’t checked out my recipe for Homemade Chicken Broth, I’ll link it here!
Spices
I used organic dried thyme, dried oregano, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper for this recipe.
Compared to my Vegetable Lentil Soup, there aren’t as many spices in this Tomato Red Lentil Soup. However, that doesn’t mean this soup isn’t as flavorful, the chicken broth, red lentils, and tomatoes are really the star of this recipe!
I love to serve Tomato Red Lentil soup with my Rosemary Polenta Cornbread, it’s very delicious and pairs well with the lentils and tomatoes.
I hope you give this recipe a try, let me know how you liked it! Enjoy!
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Tomato Red Lentil Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Course, Soup
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Description
Delicious Tomato Red Lentil soup is one of my favorite soups to cook. It has red lentils, tomatoes, chicken broth and spices to create a delicious soup!
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 1 medium carrot (diced)
- 1 medium celery stalk (diced)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 tsp organic dried thyme
- ½ tsp organic dried oregano
- 1 organic bay leaf
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 cups Homemade Chicken Broth
- 1 cup organic red lentils
- ½ cup - 1 cup water (if soup is too thick)
- 1 tomato (diced)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil/ ghee
Instructions
- In a large pot, start by satueing the diced onions in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil/ ghee, until they are soft. Next, add the celery and carrots- cook until they are soft as well.
- Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and oregano. Cook for 30 seconds - 1 minute to cook the garlic and lightly toast the spices.
- Next, add the can of tomato sauce. Cook 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.
- 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 ½ cup - 1 cup of water.
- Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Homemade Polenta Cornbread and enjoy!
Notes
Store in the fridge for a week.
Keywords: lentil soup, red lentil soup, red lentils, soup, summer, tomato red lentil soup, tomatoes, winter
Tani says
This looks so delicious I've been looking for a good lentil soup recipe I'll be sure to try this one out
Tonya | The Midwest Kitchen Blog says
Thank you, Tani!
Stephanie says
This looks SO good! We are having your Chicken Tikka Masala AGAIN this week because we loved it so much. Will definitely be giving this a try!
Tonya | The Midwest Kitchen Blog says
Aaaw, thank you so much, Stephanie! I'm glad you are enjoying the recipes!
Ada says
Looks delicious and easy to make! Can't wait to try this! Thank you!!!
Tonya | The Midwest Kitchen Blog says
Thank you, Ada!