I love easy dinners and this lentil soup is just that. The prepped chicken is always on hand in my freezer and pulling it out in the morning sets me up for and easy one pot dinner made in 30 minutes. Even easier when I make it vegan. (Not really a favourite for my meat eating family but totally an option!) The large yield feeds the family for dinner with enough left overs for weekday lunches.
Yields 6-10 servings
(Varies depending on appetizer or entrée portion size)
Ingredients:
- Chicken breast, 2 cups, cooked and shredded (optional)
- Chicken broth from cooked chicken, 12 cups (option to substitute for veg broth)
- Onion, 1 pc, diced
- Carrot, 1 pc, diced
- Celery, 1 pc, diced
- Mushroom, 5oz., quartered
- Spinach, 1 cup, frozen or fresh
- Cauliflower, 1 head, cut in small florets
- Garlic, 4-6 cloves, purée
- Lentils, 2 cups
- Butter, 2 tbsp. (option to substitute for vegan butter)
- Ground turmeric, 1 tsp
- Paprika, 1 tsp
- Bay leaf, 1 large pc.
- Salt and pepper to taste
What you’ll need:
- Knife and cutting board
- Veg peeler
- Zester
- Soup pot
- Wooden spoon
- Ladle
What to do:
Prep Ahead
The shredded chicken and chicken broth are usually prepped ahead of time to make this a quick and easy weeknight meal. Follow these steps for chicken and broth prep. Easily modify this into a vegan meal by omitting the shredded chicken and substituting vegetable broth for the liquid.
Once this prep is complete, we are ready to make the soup.
Preparing the Soup
Prep the ingredients as follows. Clean and cut the onion, celery and carrot into a uniform dice. Wipe the mushrooms clean and slice into wedges. Wash the spinach and remove the stems, or thaw and drain if using frozen spinach. Rinse the cauliflower, remove the core and cut into bite-sized florets. Peel the skin of the garlic off each clove and purée using a zester or the blade of your knife. Pour out 2 cups of lentils onto a tray and go through them removing any bad ones. Rinse the remaining lentils under cold water, drain and set aside.
Heat the soup pot and melt the butter. Once bubbling, add the onions, celery, carrot and mushroom. Sweat the veg a couple minutes then add in turmeric, paprika, garlic and bay leaf. Heat the spices but careful not to burn, then pour in the lentils and stir to coat with the flavours in the pot. Add in warm stock or broth. Bring everything to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Add in the cauliflower florets and cooked chicken a few minutes into the simmering process. Continue cooking for roughly 10 minutes before adding the spinach. Continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes, until lentils are tender. Remove the lentil soup from the heat and serve (or great to store for meal prep).