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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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!
This looks great! Save a bit more by going with dried chickpeas and cooking yourself. Plus, making broth from veggie scraps means the broth is free…a little extra work, but saves money in the long run. Love your site!
We’re trying to clean out the pantry and everytime I think there are just no more meals in there, I come across something on your website that I have all the ingredients for! Thank you!
Made this. LOVED this. I mean, seriously loved this. My five kids loved this. My 2 and 3 year olds ate three helpings! My 15 year old ate 3 helpings!! Of something that wasn’t pizza! I haven’t made a thing on this website we didn’t all love. And I LOVE the way you’ve set up this site. I love that I can pick meat, then the meat I want, and then see pics, and then click a pic and see its title before I click again to see the page. LOVE!!
Only changes I made were: I used chicken broth because that’s what I had, and I used fresh cauliflower because that’s what I had. Thank you for an awesome recipe!!
That’s so awesome that your kids loved it!!
Do you soak the lentils before cooking?
Nope. :)
I have been using your website almost exclusively for the past year, and this might be my favorite recipe so far. I added a big sweet potato in there as well to make it even more filling… the sweetness works really well with the spices from the dish.
Thank you for essentially feeding me for the past year, makes my crazy schedule much more manageable.
Mmmm, thanks for the tip! I made this exactly per her recipe and it was amazing, I’ve been eating it all week and definitely going to make it again soon, and I’ll try it with a sweet potato!
The yellow potatoes I added ended up being my favorite part. Highly recommend them.
Just made this last night, it was delicious! Looking forward to leftovers tonight. Thank you for another delicious recipe! :)
Just made this last night, it was so delicious! Thank you for another great, healthy, simple recipe. :)
Hi,
I’m going to try this tonight. I dont have any cumin. Is there anything else I can substitute for it?
Thanks in advance
Hmm, I really can’t suggest anything in place of the cumin. It’s one of the major flavors in this dish and it’s fairly unique, so I don’t think anything would be a close match.
Thanks for the response. I actually did have cumin. I thought I was out. I didnt have the lentils tho. Lol. I didnt realize it til everything was in the pot. So I continued without it and added sausage. OMG! So good. I had 3 bowls. Thanks. This is definitely a staple in my recipes.
What a great recipe, very tasty…
Eating my first bowl of this right now. Delicious! Like you, I adapted for what was in the house-added a red bell pepper, couldn’t find the turmeric so subbed Penzey’s Turkish mix, had chicken stock to use up, and found that I didn’t have any more garbanzos so used a pint jar of black beans and the pint that got the ends of the prepped beans, so a mix of garbanzo, black and cannellini beans. Still super delicious.
Thanks so much for the recipe, and I am excited to explore more of your website, beyond the SNAP experiment.
Y U M. This was really good, I just made a couple of changes. Halved the cinnamon because it intimidates me in savory dishes, and used 4 cups veg. stock. Cauliflower was a great addition, and you were right– the naan perfected it.
Marvelous, what a web site it is! This blog gives helpful
information to us, keep it up.
Did you leave the carrots out of your version?
Yep, I forgot about the carrots in the mirepoix! They would have been SO good in there, too. :(
I add twice as much turmeric and used fresh tomato. Great recipe overall.