Recipe: $5.92 | Per Serving: $1.48 | Yield: ~4 | Jump to Recipe

We are kicking off #vegansoupweek with one of my favorite easy lentil dishes – Lemony Lentil Stew! It’s pack with vegetables and flavor, and the lemon really shines!

This dish is really simple, and you can bulk it up with additional vegetables, or add extra broth to make it a little more soupy and a little less stewy. Be sure to use the best quality vegetable broth you can manage (based on time and affordability!), because that will help you get the best flavor. However, the lemon really helps overshadow any not-so-flavorful broths.

I have made this dish several times, and I’m never really sure how many servings it is. It is definitely more than 4 servings, but maybe not quite 5. We’re going with 4, but just know that would be 4 pretty large servings. You could definitely add more veggies to make it 6 servings, but we usually end up either eating 4 large servings, or saving half a serving to pair with some other meal. Like grilled cheese…or some other cold-weather appropriate dish. ;)

As much as I love warm weather, I’m definitely ready for soup season. I’m not ready for the cold draft from my poorly insulated windows (which happen to be the ones closest to the best spot on the couch), nor am I ready for 20-degree morning runs in the dark, but I am totally on board with soup, hot chocolate, golden milk, chai tea, freshly baked cookies and other food-related cold weather things. You’ll find me warming up in the kitchen / entire house for the next 5 months with all of the above.

Before you go, here are a few other vegan lentil soups from around the web. Enjoy! Happy #vegansoupweek!

• Vegan Spiced Easy Lentil Soup (Jessica in the Kitchen)
• Curried Potato and Lentil Soup (Minimalist Baker)
• Glowing Spiced Lentil Soup (Oh She Glows)

Vegetarian: Yes!
Paleo: Sorry friends, lentils aren’t Paleo. You could probably make a delicious lemony soup without the lentils to go alongside your Paleo entree though.

Lemony Lentil Stew With Kale (Vegan)

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• Author: Caitlin
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 30 mins
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• ½ pound uncooked green lentils (about 1.5 cups dry)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 6 cups unsalted vegetable broth
• Zest from 1 lemon (about 1 T)
• Juice from 1 lemon (about 3 T)
• 1 bunch dinosaur kale, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 8-10 cups)
• optional parsley to garnish

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Instructions

1. Warm the oil in a large stock pot. Sauté the onions and carrots for about 5 minutes, or until onions are slightly translucent. Add the garlic, salt, black pepper, turmeric, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute.
2. Add the lentils, tomatoes, vegetable broth, and lemon zest and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer immediately and cook for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are tender. (This will take longer than when lentils are cooked alone as both salt and tomatoes slow down the absorption/cooking process.)
3. Once lentils are at least 90% tender, stir in the kale and the lemon juice and cook just until kale is wilted. Serve immediately!
4. Optional Blanch: If you would like your greens to stay bright and vibrant, you can quickly blanch them before adding them to the soup. To do this, fill a big bowl with ice and 1-2 cups water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the greens into the boiling water and let cook for about 5-30 seconds, then quickly strain / scoop out and place in the bowl of ice water. Stir until greens are cool, then immediately remove and drain before adding to recipe.

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Notes

We often just use parsley as a garnish, but you should know that herbs are generally very nutrient dense. Parsley contains a whole bunch of vitamin K, and pretty solid amounts of vitamin C, as well as a bit of folate and iron, among other micronutrients. Add more herbs to your food!

Nutrition is for 1/4th of the recipe.