Lentil Soup II

I am giving this a 5 star rating, with the following modifications: added 3 cloves minced garlic to the oil and onions while they cooked; used 2 cans beef broth (14oz. each) and 1 cup water; used the entire 8oz. can of tomato sauce; added about a cup of sliced baby carrots. Also, I did not add the tomato sauce or the Italian seasoning until the lentils were thoroughly cooked...oftentimes lentils do not cook completely when a tomato product is used at the start. And I personally did not add any salt or pepper. Really good, hearty and healthy soup!

This is a wonderful base for lentil soup, but I upped flavor and healthy ingredients as well a the servings to 12 to adjust for the small 1 lb pkg of lentils which contains about 2 cups. I then added 6 cloves garlic with the onion when the onion was half done to avoid burning the garlic, 1 lb Italian sausage, 1 pkg dry Italian dressing seasoning mix, a dash of red wine vinegar, chopped carrots and celery, 4 cups chopped fresh spinach and used my own plain chicken stock I always save in my freezer left over from simmering chicken for other uses. As suggested I added tomatoe sauce to taste after the lentils were cooked to avoid clowing the cooking time. I served with some crusty garlic whole grain bread. Since I increased the amount I planned to freeze leftovers for future meals but the family ate every bite and clammored for more. Its now a family favorite and I have to make two batches if I want to try to freeze some for nights when I don't have the time to cook, putting it from the freezer to low in the crockpot to have it hot and simmering by dinner.

This is one of my new favorites! After reading the reviews, I made the following changes/additions to the recipe. I sauteed garlic with the onion, used basil/garlic/oregano tomato sauce, added some chili powder and also hot italian turkey sausage. The flavor is wonderful and the soup very hearty! I'll be freezing portions as future meals. Thanks so much for sharing.

OK, I took great liberties with this recipe because I didn't feel like going to the store, and it turned out to be ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Instead of the beef broth and onions, I used a can of French onion soup and a can of water, and instead of the tomato sauce, I added a can of "Soup At Hand" (microwavable ready-to-eat) classic tomato soup. I also added a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the standard Italian seasonings and some red pepper flakes for a little spiciness. I also chopped up about 1/2 a cup each of celery and carrots and added it into the mix. The result was amazing--a rich, thick lentil soup with more flavor than most restaurant soups!

I give this 5 stars because it's easy, healthy and my 6 yr old and 13 yr old both liked it enough for "healthy" soup they eat it!! Per other suggestions, I used vegy broth instead of beef, I finely chopped up two carrots and added when I put the lentils in, and I doubled the amount of tomato sauce and didn't add it until the very end. Thank you for the recipe - I am adding to my recipe box!!

This was a very tasty, hearty soup--turned out thicker, more like a stew. I didn't have the full 4 cups of beef broth so I substituted the difference (about 1/3 cup) with red wine, which added a nice richness to the soup. I also added three sliced gourmet chicken sausages at the end to make the soup a little heartier. Will make again--thanks for the recipe!

This is AWESOME! I followed one of the reviewers suggestions and added one clove of garlic to it. I also threw in a little yellow mustard, and used veggie broth. I think you need more broth though, as the lentils soak quite a bit of it in as they cook. I bought a couple of extra cans of broth and added more as the soup thickened too much.

This recipe is great! It's a great low cal recipe as well. I added some low fat kilbasa to the soup to give it a little different flavor as leftovers.

Fabulous base recipe. Even better if you doctor it up. I usually add a couple of chopped carrots, celery, and garlic cloves to saute with the onions. Then add some chopped smoked sausage at the end. I omit the italian seasoning if I add sausage. This has become my new favorite soup. Hearty and delish!

Good flavor. I found that sour cream is an excellent topper.

Excellent lentil soup. I have been looking for a healthy soup like this. I tweaked it like some reviewers did by adding chili powder and cumin to taste. I think next time I will add a can of diced tomatoes instead of the sauce. Great winter soup with cornbread!

It's a snap to make and just right on those cold rainy days

Five star because i used this as a base basically for making up a lentil soup recipe. I've never had lentil soup before, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I would rate it in the top 5 soup recipes I've ever had. I did revise it to suit my own tastes. Also, I guessed at the measurements. i changed the beef broth to a half a packet of Ramen Noodle Soup's packet of seasoning that it comes with, mixed with water, and completely omitted the tomato sauce and italian seasoning. i then used some suggestions i found on here. cumin, bacon, garlic cloves, red potatoes, and after it was all simmered and done, i added some milk and some sour cream and served it with mozzerella cheese and corn tortilla chips. very very delicious. I will make this again and again. thank you

This is one of those recipes that, after I had eaten my share of it, I was still sneaking bites as I was putting it away. Then again, I've hardly eaten all day. Really tasty, hearty and filling. I made quite a few modifications: added 2 large cloves of garlic, minced; used the whole can of tomato sauce; added sliced crimini mushrooms and chopped carrots, since I needed to use them up; also added about a half pint of chopped grape tomatoes, since they were getting old; included cumin with the italian seasoning, salt and pepper; let simmer for about 1 hr 15 min. The result is very tasty and possibly has more flavor than the original recipe. I added the cumin based on another recipe for lentil soup on this site. I think that it was a great addition.

This was delicious! I used roasted garlic flavored tomato sauce and added a clove of garlic to the onions. Definitely making this again.

Disappointing but salvageable. I used the entire 8 oz can of tomato sauce and increased the Italian seasoning significantly. I also added a couple cloves of garlic, ground chicken, and a couple pinches of red pepper flake. I used my immersion blender to blend about half of the mixture, which thickened it nicely. It turned out pretty good, but it still seemed liked it was missing something. I love lentils, but I don't think this is the lentil soup recipe for me.

First time I am making lentils--great recipe. I tweaked a bit as well; sauteed tablespoon of garlic with the onion, used an entire 8oz can of tomato sauce and used 6 cups of broth as well. Delish!!

Gooooood Soooooooup. This will be stocking my freezer very, very soon. I tweaked, too--try it with minced garlic and a good splash of hot sauce (I used Chipotle Tabasco).

Very easy to make. I added 3 garlic cloves to the sautee, and some cut up celery along with the carrots. to make it vegetarian for my company I used organic vegetable broth. It was delicious!

I love Lentil Soup! However, I leave out the beef broth, use Kielbasa (Polish sausage) cut into bite size slices and while the lentils and sausage are simmering in the pot I sauteé the onion in olive oil, put the cooked onion in the lentils and add 1/4 cup of spaghetti sauce. Delicious!

Very good! Added garlic in the beginning and frozen spinach at the end.

I think I seriously messed this recipe up. Will try again, but will add a few veggies to help give it a better taste.

I omitted the tomato sauce and added garlic, celery, carrots, a potato and a leek. Hearty and tasty!

Didn't do it for me.

VERY good!!! I was hungry and was scrownging in the kitchen to put something together...this is very easy and filling!I did what others said and sauted the onion with garlic; I also put some bacon and worcestershire to add some zip! Will definitely make again.

Great recipe - easy to make and very popular. I scaled this up to cook for 72 people and it scaled perfectly. Everyone loved it (apart from a few who didn't like lentils!) Was a bit tomatoey for my taste (I used passata rather than tomato sauce - not sure if its the same thing) but if you loaded it with parmesan cheese it was fantastic. Served nearly 100 litres of it and it all got eaten! Only other change I made was to use veg stock rather than beef so it could be suitable for vegetarians. we've made it a few times since and one nice variant was to add a load of beef mince to it.

I took the suggestions from the last reviewer. I also added spinich and didn't put in the italian seasoning. It turned out GREAT!!!

Great!! With the following changes: Added some garlic. Used vegetable broth instead of beef. Doubled the tomato sauce.

I used chicken bouillon to water since I didn't have any broth on hand. I did have to use a little extra water for more of a soupy consistency. As another reviewer suggested, I added the tomato sauce much later to the cooking process so that the lentils would cook faster (I understand that it has something to do with the acidity). This tastes kind of like Progresso Lentil Soup only much better! Thanks for this recipe!

This came out awesome! I’m sure the recipe is 5* as is but I did change the following based on reviews and my own personal preferences. Sautéed onions with 4 cloves garlic, added ½ cup shredded baby carrots & ½ cup finely chopped celery. Added 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder a pinch of cumin and a little cayenne pepper. Doubled the tomato sauce, and didn’t add tomato sauce till close to the end as suggested by other reviewers.

This soup was so good! I also added garlic and a little bit of cayenne pepper powder because I like spice. My husband loves this and so does my 11 yo daughter. It's delicious and great for these winter months

very good!

We just had this for dinner tonight. I took everyone else's suggestions. I put 1# lentils, chopped onion, 1 lg carrot chopped, 2 stalks celery, fresh garlic chopped into a pan and added 6 cups of veg.broth made from Better than Bouillion plus 2 cups water, brought to boil then simmered for almost an hour. I also added some chilli powder, extra garlic granules, and cayenne pepper. The pepper was added at the end along with a small can of tomato sauce. I didn't measure the spices other than visually, maybe a 1/4 tsp cayenne and a 1 tsp chilli powder. We have enough left for one more family meal and two individual meals for lunches. This was very fast and easy to make and will definitely be making it again. Oh, I added a T. of sour cream to each bowl when it was served. Very GOOD!

I really loved this recipe. It was so simple, and it didn't require a lot of time at all. After reading some of the reviews I added 3 cloves of garlic and I didn't add the tomato sauce until halfway through the simmering process. I served it over whole wheat couscous. It was really delicious!

Great base recipe! I added some garlic to the onions as I sautéed them, and added a couple of handfuls of chopped carrots to the soup. Also used beef bullion instead of broth, as that's what I had on hand. Stirred in tomato sauce in last 10 minutes of cooking. Very flavorful--doesn't even really need salt & pepper.

I've made this 4 times already... I had to cut back on the broth because it ended up being too salty, but I love it. It's SO quick and easy and I almost always have the ingredients. It stores well in the fridge and is perfect on rainy days.

This would be tasty as is, but is also good with these modifications: I added garlic and italian sausage, and used canned diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. One time we also added mushrooms, and that was good too.

This was a warm healthy dinner on a cold Saturday. I added carrots and instead of tomato sauce used diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning it was easy and very good

I've made this a few times. It needs tweaking; as it stands the flavor is just barely passable for me. Making a few changes regarding seasoning and adding more veggies (turning this into a Mexican inspired soup) and serving with quesadillas or tortilla chips is delicious. My picture will show brown lentils, pureed; the picture up currently appears to show red lentils, pureed. Let me stress that my 3-star rating does NOT indicate a bad recipe: it indicates a very nicely written, easy recipe with a short list of ingredients that bends itself easily to your tweak and changes! Thanks for the recipe!

I altered the recipe by using two cans of low sodium lentil soup I already had. Mainly to avoid the lengthy cook time. I sautéed the onion added the canned soup and tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. I also added fresh chopped cilantro. Complete in 20 minutes and very good!

Very simple to make and tastes good. It took much longer than 45 minutes for the lentils to get soft, so leave plenty of time.

I thought this was delicious! I used red lentils and added diced carrots just to sneak some vegetables in- I sautéed them with the onions at the beginning. Family loved it.

Super good! I left out the onions and used spaghetti sauce for the tomatoes. Time for another bowl...

Was very good. Simple and hearty. I will double the recipe next time as I like to make meals stretch for 2 nights!

Quick, easy and delicious!

Woo hoo. Hits the spot. I did change the recipe a bit. I used split red lentils, 2 carrots, 2 boats of celery, 4 radishes, and 4 cloves of garlic because I didnt have any onions. I boiled 2 vegetable boulions in 4 cups of water ( I'm vegan) which gave a lot of flavor. Very good! I will make it again soon!

Very good. Could add polish sausage. Add dolop of sour cream when serving.

Really enjoyed it, hubby even had seconds. Only changes included: used chicken broth since I had no beef broth, added garlic and carrots. It actually cooked in about 35 minutes, I had it on medium high. I think I might try it next time with either ham or chicken sausage. I have made this with beef broth, and added ground beef = very hearty.

Different than most lentil recipes in that it uses beef broth. It adds a different layer of flavor that we liked. Also, changed tomato sauce to 8 ounces. Will most definitely make again.

I had never had lentils before, but I had some in my cabinet so I figured I would try them. I added 1/2lb of pork sausage since I had that left over, some chopped garlic, and I didn't have any tomato sauce so I used pizza sauce and left out the italian seasoning. I also added some pasta and cheese to it. It turned out really good!

This was good but nothing special. I followed the recipe as written other then I used an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce. I also added garlic as others had suggested. Next time I would also cut down on the italian seasoning as I thought it was a bit overwhelming.

My 1st ever attempt at making Lentil's. WOW - this soup is really good. I made 2 small changes ... veg broth to replace beef & Caribbean Jerk Seasoning to replace Italian Seasoning. Otherwise followed exactly. Very GOOD, Thanks!!

Loved this recipe with my few changes! I added 1 carrot stick and 1 celery stalk chopped and sautéed with the onions. I also substituted 2 cups of beef broth with water. I did not use Italian seasoning. It was delicious!

Fallowing some of the reviews, I added three garlic cloves to the onions, and also added a cup and a half of chopped baby carrots. Some of the reviews said that the soup didn't have enough broth, so I added a cup and a half more of broth. I waited about half an hour before putting in the seasoning and the tomato soup (didn't have any tomato sauce on hand). Didn't add any salt/pepper. Turned out pretty good! I'm sure the recipe would be just as tasty without the additions that I made.

Very good. I modified as per some of the other reviews by cooking lentils first and then adding onion, garlic, a whole can tomato sauce - increased the Italian seasoning accordingly - and added diced carrots and spinach. I rarely ever make lentils but that will change now that I found this recipe! Thanks!

I have made lentils a million ways and THIS is delicious and easy. I bought beef broth on accident and so when I came here put in "Beef Broth and Lentils" and this recipe came up. Boy, am I glad it did! Alterations to this recipe: No Italian Seasoning (not a fan), no tomato sauce (substituted 1 can of diced tomatoes), and cayenne pepper and some Ms Dash. Easy, easy - nothing else. A little parmesean when served. Easy and delicious on a COLD January night! Thank you!

Simple and delicious! I'll probably mix up the seasoning a bit next time as it was a tad on the bland side, but still wonderful.

this is a great recipe. i made it vegetarian by using veg stock instead of beef, and also found that a little extra broth was needed. also i added chopped carrots, chili powder, a dash of worcestershire sauce and a splash of red cooking wine.