Green French Lentil Soup

A delicious warming recipe for French Lentil Soup that you can make under 45 minutes.

Green Lentil Soup recipe is a great choice for the day in the week for grain food. We love it that way but if you want you can add some animal protein to the soup. The traditional French Lentil Soup is served with bacon.

How To Make French Lentil Soup for less than a minute:

Everything comes together in one pot and once it is done, it takes 35-40 minutes for it to cook.

As it is hard to find the French du Puy lentils, we use in the recipe here the regular green lentils. Though the product will look different. Perhaps, a little bit mushy as most of the green lentils will burst but the taste is as expected.

Freeze the soup: Make a big batch and freeze some of it for another day. Simply, let the soup come to room temperature, place in airtight containers, and freeze up to 3 months. A day before you are ready to serve, thaw in the fridge overnight.

How Long Will This French Lentil Soup Keep Fresh in The Fridge? If it is kept in an airtight container, this soup will be fresh for 2-3 days. If you are serving the next day, reheat only the amount that you plan to serve instead of reheating the whole soup.

What to serve this French Lentil Soup with? Serve it with a few slices of crusty bread, parsnip chips and a big green salad.

Vegan/Vegetarian Variations Ideas:

Add a cup of your favorite pasta (and even orzo) to the cooking liquid 10 minutes before everything is cooked: Adding a cup of pasta makes this a big one pot meal that is perfect to feed a crowd.

Add 2 cups of baby spinach leaves or chopped fresh kale: You can make this dish even more nutritious by adding some greens. Put them in 3 minutes before the cooking process is over.

Try adding different spices and fresh herbs: If you love spicy hot food, add in some crushed red peppers. You can use also sweet or smoked paprika. Additionally, you can experiment with fresh herbs like sage, rosemary, and dill by adding them into the cooking liquid.

Non-Vegan Animal Protein variation Ideas:

Add a cup of leftover or rotisserie chicken (cut in small cubes): An easy way to add animal protein in this recipe is to add a cup (or more) of shredded or cubed chicken right at the same time you add the stock. Additionally, you can use chicken stock to make it even more flavorful. If you decide to do so, then use 4 cups of chicken stock and 2 cups of water.

Add ground beef: Another great way to add in some animal protein. If you decide to do so, add 250 g ground beef to the pot and cooking it for 5-6 minutes before you add in the onions. Be sure to use a wooden spoon and break the large pieces beef as it cooks. After you cook it for a few minutes, you can follow the recipe as directed. Again, feel free to use chicken or even beef stock to make it even more flavorful.