I get a lot of emails from readers with recipe suggestions and I love them all, but don’t get the opportunity to make many of them. Every once in a while, though, an email comes through with a recipe that happens to be exactly what I’m in the mood for eating that week. That’s what happened when I got an email from Rachel with a link to this amazing Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup from Wegmans.com. The first thing that I noticed is that it has almost the same blend of warm and intoxicating spices that makes my Yellow Jasmine Rice so irresistible. So, of course, I had to try it!
I switched up the spices a bit to match what I had on hand (no coriander and changed quantities). I had a half bag of lentils in my pantry, so I just went with that instead of a whole pound. To make up for the smaller amount of lentils, I added a half-pound of frozen cauliflower florets, which were also hanging out just waiting to be used up. The cauliflower was an absolutely perfect match for this soup and I think it made the ratio of beans to vegetables perfectly balanced.
I can’t express how much I love this soup. It has so much flavor and texture, plus it’s filled with fiber and anti-inflammatory spices. Then, after making it and wolfing down a bowl, I noticed that, “Hey! This is vegan!” That’s the best type of vegan food—the kind that’s so good that you don’t even notice till you stop and think about it.
I didn’t have time, but I highly suggest making some Homemade Naan to dip in the amazing broth. Do it. You won’t be sorry.
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Soup
Servings 8 (1.5 cups each)Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced ($0.32)
- 4 ribs celery ($0.75)
- 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin ($0.15)
- 1 tsp turmeric ($0.10)
- 1 tsp cinnamon ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($0.69)
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes ($0.89)
- 1/2 lb. frozen cauliflower florets ($0.70)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78*)
- 1 cup brown lentils, dry ($0.70)
- 1 bay leaf ($0.15)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until softened. Dice the celery while the onions and garlic are sautéing, then add to the pot and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes more.
- Add the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Stir and cook the spices with the vegetables for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), chickpeas (rinsed and drained), and cauliflower florets (no need to thaw). Stir the pot until everything is well mixed.
- Add the vegetable broth and bay leaf, turn the heat up to high, place a lid on the pot, and allow it to come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, add the lentils. Stir and let it come back up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Let the soup simmer on low, with the lid, for 30 minutes.
- After simmering for 30 minutes, the lentils should be tender. Remove the bay leaf and give the soup a taste. Add salt if needed (this will depend on the type of vegetable broth used. I did not add any additional salt), then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Soup – Step by Step Photos
Begin by dicing one onion, mincing four cloves of garlic, and slicing four stalks of celery (about a half bunch). Add them all to a large pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat for about five minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add 1/2 Tbsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp cayenne to the pot.
Sauté the spices with the vegetables for one to two minutes. This toasts the spices a little and amplifies their flavor. They may stick to the bottom of the pot a little, but that’s okay. Just take care not to let them burn. Turn the heat down slightly, if needed.
Add one 28oz. can of diced tomatoes (with the juices), one 15oz. can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained), and about a 1/2 lb. of frozen cauliflower florets (no need to let them thaw).
Add six cups of vegetable broth and one bay leaf. Stir everything to combine and dissolve anything that may be stuck to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat up to high, place a lid on the pot, and let it come to a boil. Once it reaches a full boil, add one cup of brown lentils. Stir the pot, let it come back up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Let it simmer on low (with lid) for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, the lentils should be tender. Give the soup a taste and add salt if needed. I use Better Than Bouillon to make my vegetable broth and it’s plenty salty enough, so I didn’t need to add any, but if your brand has less salt, you may need to add a pinch. Remove the bay leaf and serve!
I LOVE how these spices make my house smell. So good! Serve with homemade naan. Oooh it makes my knees weak!
Made this tonight with a couple changes. I left out the chickpeas and added a diced russet potato. My lentils and potato weren’t soft yet after 30 minutes, so I added another 30 minutes to the cooking time. To thicken it up at the end, I let it cool down for a bit and then ladled a few cups into a separate pot and used my immersion blender on that, then added the soup puree back to the main pot. That thickened it up nicely. We added a little Tabasco and sour cream to each bowl. We prefer your Mexican Red Lentil Stew (we kept wishing this tasted more like that!), but this one is pretty good too.
So so good!!! Used 4 cups of broth after reading the comments and it’s kind of borderline soup/stew. Also used a mixed bag of broccoli and cauliflower. Can’t recommend this enough! The flavors are so tasty!!
How long would leftovers last in the fridge?
About five days :)
Have made this several times now. Only used 4 cups of liquid as the first time I made it, it was too ‘soupy’ for us. Threw in all sorts of root vegetables and cauliflower plus a tsp of Garam Masala. Added juice of a lemon at the end. Tasted absolutely delicious. Husband wasn’t sure it was going to be spicy enough for his taste but he ended up having two servings!
Going on my ‘comfort food’ repertoire 😋
So good!
This was delicious ! I followed the original recipe except I added some carrots and red bell pepper I had on hand (can’t have too many veggies), and because some people commented it was soupy, decreased the amount of vegetable broth. Really delicious ! I will make again !
Thank you so much for this,
I used about 1-2 tablespoons of fresh, minced/diced cilantro root in the stew and garnished with about half a cup of cilantro leaves and Bulgarian goats cheese.
Absolutely delicious.
Very good recipe! My family loved it! I added a little bit of garam masala, zucchini, carrots, pepper, chicken broth because I didn’t have anymore vegetable broth. My broth had no salt so I added salt to taste n a little sugar to take away bitter taste from spices. My lentils were mixed. It was great. I didn’t try making the recipe for the jasmine rice because I was pressed for time but the plain jasmine rice was on point!!
I love your recipes!! Making this as we speak and it smells absolutely delicious.
It is the best vegetable stew I have ever made! Thank you so much! Love your site!
I agree that this is more soupy, but it’s DELICIOUS. I put a teensy bit less cinnamon in and added a bell pepper the second time I made it. Amazing.
Another amazing recipe. I added more lentils and chicken, carrots. Crazy they don’t have frozen cauliflower anymore so I had to buy the cauliflower and broccoli bag. All your recipes are great! I am so happy I found your site
Flavorful, but like the Vegan Winter Lentil Stew, this is more of a soup than a stew. I used on 5 cups liquid and still soupy. I’d use under 4 cups next time, and add some TVP or additional lentils to thicken it up.
This is my favorite recipe on this website, and it’s so easy, thank you! I’m making it for the third time right now. I like having it with a grilled cheese on the side :)
I was wondering if I could make this in a crockpot? Any suggestions?
I think so! :) I’m not sure how long it would need to cook the lentils without having the vegetables be over cooked, though. It would take a little experimenting. But I’d say that any recipe where you pretty much just put things in a pot and simmer can easily be adapted to a slow cooker, because slow cookers basically just simmer food at a low temperature.
Lindsay,
Made this soup last night and my pot wasn’t big enough, so I used a crock-pot on high for about 6 hours and it worked out very well! I did saute the onions/garlic/celery in a pan prior to adding all the ingredients into the crock pot, but after this step I just dumped all the ingredients in. Yummy!
Thanks for sharing Tay!