Serves 6 to 8
Total time: 1 hour || Active time: 15 minutes
I’m not one of those people who freezes soup, although I do occasionally try to be one of those people, and then find the poor victim in the back of the freezer way too late. To avoid that tragedy, I’m usually simmering up a pot a few times a week, and there is almost always a lentil variety in the mix. It’s flexible and easy and takes to new flavors like a champ, so I’m always tinkering.
I rendevous with all manner of lentil; de puy, black lentils, red, you name it. But I always come back to the basic, dependable and oh-so-flavorful brown lentil. It’s my little black dress. And they’re like, what, $1.50 a pound, even for organic? That’s lentils for weeks, my friends.
This week, I had a windfall of smoked paprika. It’s one of those spices I love, but they don’t sell it where I usually do my shopping, and if I don’t make a special spice trip, the jar can languish empty for months. So when I picked up a beautiful fragrant baggy, I wanted to make up for lost time and use it in copious amounts. Add to that the scrumptious kalamata olives I had leftover, and some baby spinach that was dying to be used, and there you have it! A lush, flavorful, healthful soup that was just amazing served with a crusty baguette smeared with homemade hummus.
Notes
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
1 cup dried brown lentils (or green lentils)
5 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
1 24 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
4 cups fresh baby spinach (or chopped spinach)
3/4 cup roughly chopped kalamata olives
Directions
Taste for salt, and let sit for 10 minutes or so for flavors to marry, then serve!
I can’t do olives! I wish I could, I even love the smell of them, but they just taste like pure poison to me. I was considering making this without the olives- but does anyone have a suggestion for a substitution that can still add some of that meatiness or brininess?
Capers
I made this tonight for the first time and I loved it. I read a comment that said it was not flavorful – they must have made a different recipe. Really delicious and flavorful lentil soup. Can’t wait to try other of your recipes and I am not a vegetarian. Chickpea piccatta coming up soon!
Forgot to add that I am going to try it in a pressure cooker to cut down on the cooking time. I think the favors will meld perfectly in a PC.
Sounds lovely … Do you soak the lentils first?
Delicious!!! I made last night and it was such a hit for my and my husband.
I always come back to this recipe, using Sainsburys taste the difference cherry tomato tins instead because I can’t find fire roasted in the UK – always delicious. Thank you 🙂
I must admit, I was skeptical when I read this recipe (I’ve never cooked with lentils before), but WOW!!! I made a few adjustments — added a dash of white wine vinegar, used red lentils, and only cooked for 30 min total — and it was absolute delicious. That smokey, sweet paprika is really amazing. Thank you so much!!
Girl, this was such a delicious recipe. Thank you so much. My husband and I both loved it!
Saved this recipe in a bookmark to make and now I go and it’s disappeared? Is it just for me?
This is one of my favorite soup recipes! Thank you so much for sharing this. The only change I make is to use regular paprika (not a huge fan of smoked paprika in general). I’ve planning to make this tonight for about the 10th time and figured it was about time to leave a reply 🙂 THANK YOU!
Restaurant quality!
I made this for dinner tonight but used 4 cups of broth rather than 5 cups, simmered it to reduce it then served it over rice. Everybody loved it!!!
This is fantastic. I love the sweet smoked paprika. It gives it such a different/wonderful flavour that I’m not used to. This one is going in the rotation because that’s how much I love it! My husband and child also loved it!
Made this last night as we are about to get hit with some awful, super cold weather. I doubled the spices, but it is absolutely delicious and the perfect dish to knock away winter’s chill. I also added crushed red pepper for some heat and served with a little bit of vegan Parmesan. Loved it!
Ok I’m joining the club – this soup is AMAZEBALLS! I just made my second batch, and made it a double 😉 I decided to rinse and soak the lentils prior to cooking (to clean and for digestion) and countered it by using 4 cups of stock. We don’t have fire roasted tomatoes that I could find around here (Fremantle, Australia), so using tinned chopped tomatoes instead with smoked sweet paprika. I didn’t add liquid smoke as I was happy with the taste, but perhaps for my next bowl… I’ll try it “to see”.
I’m (kinda) doing the 5:2 fast diet and ~400mL of this soup makes a tasty and filling lunch, that is actually the envy of the office.
Thanks for such a yummy and simple recipe. I’ve recently bought your Appetite for Reduction book and have poured over the recipes, bookmarking a many. I really like your writing style.
Big ups from down under, Catty
Dang, it was tough to find fire roasted tomatos. I accidentally bought Fire Roasted Tomato Pasta sauce with crazy poor label design… but I used crushed canned tomatoes and it turned out super good. What a good one pot recipe! Delicious and I can be super lazy.
I love everything in this. I am omitting the olives for mushrooms, as my husband does not like olives. But the whole house smells so good and cannot wait to taste this!!
Silly phines, my name is Tracy.
So good! Made last night with urad dahl (small Indian black lentils – that’s what I had on hand) soaked for 5 hours before following the recipe, but with 4 cups broth instead of 5 since the lentils were pre-soaked. My can of fire roasted tomatoes was 28 oz and I used a bag of frozen spinach, so a little more of those ingredients than in the recipe, and that worked great. Definitely making this again! (And not just because we’re all sheltering in place and relying on dry goods and frozen foods .)
Delicious! I can always rely on Isa’s recipes. Super comforting and yummy.
This soup is THE BOMB!
Made it – easy.
Ate it – deeelicious.
Revommend it – without reservations.
Highly successful constellation of ingredients. Greater than its parts and all that.