I love lentils. I love soup. Therefore, I love lentils in soup. I also love lentils buttered. But then again, I love anything buttered. Bread. Muffins. Veggies. Dirt. Babies. Etc. Butter makes things better. And as Pioneer Woman says, “If some is good, more is better.” Amen.
Anyway, this is a good, cheap meal. Lentils are excellent for replacing the meat in recipes. They’re high in fiber and they still give you the protein you need to be full. They also give you something else…buy Beano. Ahem.
If you’re trying to replace ground meat in a recipe with lentils, you’ll need about 1 cup of dry lentils to equal 1 pound of ground meat. It’s an excellent substitute for Meatless Monday.
Lentils are a rare type of bean – they don’t require soaking before you cook them. It makes them quick and easy. I love quick and easy things around here…with butter. But alas, there is no butter in this recipe. Wonder why I keep talking about butter? Yeah…I don’t know either.
You should always wash and look through your beans before you cook them. Otherwise you might end up with dirt like this in your soup bowl…and then your husband might give you a weird look. Dirt for dinner, honey? God made dirt and dirt won’t hurt. Or something like that. Just add butter.
Throw everything together in your crock pot and turn that puppy on low. You’ll cook it for about 8-9 hours or until the lentils are nice and tender.
Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by Beano. I’m just warnin’ ya.
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Crock Pot Lentil Vegetable Soup
- 2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and looked over
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces each)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 1 can chilies (4 ounce size)
- 5 cups chicken broth (or replace with vegetable stock)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Combine all ingredients in a 4-5 quart crock pot.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until lentils are tender.
i will be beginning our family journey through your recipes with this one! someone made us lentil soup when we had baby#2 and we loved it…have never attempted a lentil anything since…here we go! – your writing is quite humorous!…sounds to me like i can substitute any missing ingredient for butter 🙂
Absolutely! LOL 🙂 Good luck! Lentils are super easy and so yummy!
What do you mean by chiles? I have crushed chilli pepper? Other dried peppers but im not sure exactly what i should use
Green chilies. They usually come chopped in a can. They don’t pack much heat but give a great flavor. 🙂
Could I use stewed tomatoes grabbed the wrong cans lol
Sure! You might just need to chop them a bit. 🙂
I just saw this post. I noticed your bowl too. I have a set that belonged to my grandmother. Do you put yours in the dishwasher? I don’t use mine. I think I might need to pull them out!
🙂 No, I wash everything by hand because I don’t have a dishwasher. I only have two of those bowls – I got them at a yard sale…they’re my favorite.
It’s probably not a look alike. 🙂 They’re pretty old – I picked them up at a yard sale.
I just realized…your bowl looks a lot like dishes my mother had! Must be just close look alikes cuz that was too long ago lol. Thank you for the lentil recipes. My son doesn’t like lentils so I’m always looking for recipes to try. Split pea soup is also really good. I had a dog once who was crazy about it. But it is awesome for humans too.
My aunt makes rutabaga sauteed in butter. Oh. Yum. You’d like it, Stacy, yes, you would….
I will have to get some to try!
We grow them in the garden ….hubby loves them with ham.
Who wouldn’t? Even dirt would be good with ham. lol
We all survived and the soup was yummy! We have a couple servings left that I will freeze. Onto the vegetable beef in the crock. Have some parsnips and rutabagas in the freezer from the garden that I’m going to throw in with other veggies. If nothing else, your posts are getting me to try more cooking 🙂 Thanks!
You know – I’ve NVER had a rutabaga. I think I’m gonna have to get some now.
Just loaded it in the crockpot 🙂 I hope I don’t regret this…a few years back I made navy bean soup….all I have to say is P.U. I guess I like gas jokes too! If I’m not choked out by the thick air, I’ll let you know how my deer-hunting hubby like meatless.
Barry is a deer-hunting meat man too – and he liked it. So, there’s hope! Even if one of you has to sleep on the couch. LOL
So, this weekend I was home from church with my 4 year old since he had the sniffles. Was reading this post and remembered the bag of lentils in my pantry that had been there forever – my only reminder that they were there has been my almost 2 year old daughter dragging that bag out of the pantry about 2-3 times a week for some reason. Figured this might be the right time to just cook them up. But, the “use by” date on the bag was 2010! Ack! I wasn’t sure they’d even get tender cooking in the crock pot, so I cooked them on their own first just so I wouldn’t waste any of my homemade broth. They cooked up great, so added them to everything else & ended up with a HUGE batch of lentil soup! I had to switch over to my 7 qt crock pot as anything smaller just wasn’t going to work. Plenty of soup for the freezer. Thanks for the idea – the soup is great and actually tastes like it has meat in it (bonus for my meat-loving hubby).
What’s funny is that I didn’t even know beans had an expiration date. LOL So glad it turned out well! Lentils are great as a meat substitute. 🙂
I love lentils. I keep miss judging how many to keep on hand and every time I make meatloaf I’m always out. I think I’m going to make this next week (I need to make a lentil run).
Lentils are just an amazing bean! 🙂
Trying this today. Will let you know if the Manlings locked me out of the house in protest….when I find a way back in…. LOL
LOL Oh goodness.
They liked it! Turned out a little spicy though, which was weird. I didn’t put anything else in it. Does yours get that way?
What’s weird is that sometimes I find that the heat of chilies can vary from can to can. Ours wasn’t too spicy. I’m glad they liked it. 🙂
I laughed, I snorted, and then read parts of this article aloud for my husband, who kept asking “What? What’s funny?”. I haven’t cooked with lentils in a while cuz, well… you know… 😉 But this sounds too good. Just might be worth it lol! Thanks for the laughs, always love your posts! 🙂
🙂 Dude…he’s a man – I thought he would get it. Weird. 😉
This looks great! I pinned it!
I also wanted to tell you that my sister just text me (I gave her one of your cookbooks for Christmas) and this is what the text said, “I’ve made 100 more things from Stacy’s book…ALL were yummy!”
🙂 That just makes me smile all over my face!
I’ve never had lentils before but I just bought some and I am going to try this recipe. It looks really good. 🙂
You will love them! So yummy and versatile.
If you soak your lentils for 24 hours, rinse them and let them sprout for another 24-48 hours, rinsing a few times in there (I just let them sit in a colander with a plate on top), the composition of the bean changes and causes way less gas. Makes them more nutritious, too. Doesn’t change the taste at all!
I have some friends that soak. 🙂 I just don’t do it. Plus, I like making gas jokes. lol
Mrs. Stacy, This is a recipe I’m going to try! I made recently 2 Step Taco Soup and it was delish. Even my almost 4 year old ate it, and the ingredients were everything I had on hand. You can find that recipe on Allrecipes.com.
Question for you. This is 2013, and due to tax law changes our one income will be reduced by $50 a month or so. Do you have any foods that you buy that are meal stretchers, or that can last a long time? You might already have a post on this, if so, please direct me. We are having to stretch our income even further now. I am making my own laundry soap to boot. Any hints or tips would be appreciated. Thank you so much, Wendy
I don’t really have any posts on it…but lentils are a great substitute for meat. You could even just use them as half meat – stretching one pound of ground meat into two meals.
Also, you might see if you have any hunter friends where you could get some very cost effective ground venison.
Make friends with the meat department and ask them when they mark down meat. 🙂
Meatless is always a friend to the budget. I find great recipes on the Meatless Monday website!
I hope that’s a little help. And you can always holler at me with specific questions. 🙂
My family is not a big fan of chiles. I am wondering if they have a strong flavor in the soup. Sounds like a great soup for cold days.
Thanks!
Nah, not too strong. You could easily leave them out. 🙂
You should read this: http://www.karenhurd.com/pages/healthtopics/specifichealthconcerns/ht-shc-whybeansdontcausegas.html
From a fellow lentil lover. 🙂
Interesting…thanks for sharing! But still, I will always make the beans joke. 😉
Yummy!!! This sounds so good. I think I will make cornbread with lots and lots of butter on it to go with this.
BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great recipe for when we bring home baby #2 next week! And maybe when we put it in a bowl we’ll top it with a pad butter (the soup that is, not the baby)! Yep, we feel the same about butter round here 🙂
Butter is better than icing. It’s like FOOD ICING!
Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I love veggie soup and lentils, well, I am getting used to them. I will be making this for my family soon, well, as soon as I buy a crockpot. Mine was broken on a Boy Scout camping trip 🙂
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! That’s an emergency!!!
I don’t even bookmark your recipes anymore. I just send them straight to the printer. 🙂
🙂 That’s a huge compliment.