It’s soooo cold here! (read: below 75 degrees) So, I’ve been really into soups lately, if you can’t tell. Earlier this week I got an email from Lindsay with a red lentil soup recipe that she had found on Bodyrock.tv (link may be NSFW) and it looked scrumptious! Seeing that I had a big bag of red lentils in my cupboard, I had to make some. Well, I have to say that this Vegan Red Lentil Stew turned out phenomenal.
Serve this Vegan Red Lentil Stew with some hearty bread (or pita like in the pictures) to make sure that you have complete proteins. Legumes + grains = all of the amino acids that you need.
Aso, make sure you get red lentils and not brown or green for this recipe. Red lentils break down very quickly when cooked which is what makes this Vegan Red Lentil Stew so wonderfully thick and hearty! Even though I probably over paid for these red lentils, can you believe how inexpensive this is? I mean, WOW.
Vegan Red Lentil Stew
Vegan Red Lentil Stew
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.28)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 3 oz tomato paste ($0.26)
- 1 cup dry red lentils ($1.20)
- 1/2 lb carrots ($0.55)
- 1 medium potato ($0.49)
- 6 cups vegetable broth** ($0.78)
- 1 Tbsp cumin ($0.15)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Cook both in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until soft and transparent (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato paste and continue to stir and cook for about 3-4 minutes more. The tomato paste will caramelize during this time, which will make it sweeter and cause it to look slightly darker.
- While the ingredients in the first step are cooking, peel and dice the potato and carrots. Rinse the lentils. Once the tomato paste has caramelized, add the carrots, potato, and lentils to the pot.
- Also add 6 cups of vegetable broth, cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. Give everything a good stir to make sure it’s mixed well. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and bring the soup to a boil. As soon as it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to its lowest level and allow it to simmer for 30 minutes.
- After it has simmered for 30 minutes give the pot a stir and add the salt, starting with 1/2 teaspoon. Add more if desired. I used about 3/4 teaspoon total. Serve hot!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
As always – dice the onion, mince the garlic. Cook both with olive oil over medium heat until soft.
Once the onions are soft, add the tomato paste. It will start out very bright red like this. (Don’t toss the rest of the tomato paste in the can, it can be frozen and used later).
Continue to stir and cook the tomato paste with the onions for 3-4 minutes. It will get a little dry and turn a deeper shade of red. That’s what you want. Make sure to stir often (although continuously is not necessary).
While all of that is going on, peel and dice the potato and carrots. I used a half pound of carrots, which is about 3-4 medium carrots or half of that bag.
Also, as with any dry bean product, make sure to give the lentils a good rinse. They’re so small that they’d slip through the slits in my colander, so I used a wire mesh sieve.
Add the potatoes, carrots, and lentils to the pot.
Add six cups of vegetable broth, cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. Stir everything well to make sure the tomato paste is dissolved in. Put a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and let it come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and let it simmer there for 30 minutes (with the lid on).
After it has simmered for 30 minutes, the lentils will have soaked up a lot of the liquid and gotten all nice and soft. Stir everything together. Add the salt, starting with just 1/2 teaspoon, give it a taste, and then add more if desired.
Serve hot!
Quite hearty and delicious! Vegan Red Lentil Stew for the win.
Does this recipe freeze well? I just made a batch but realized I can’t eat it all by myself before it goes bad!
Yes, it freezes excellently. :)
I loved this!!!! I doubled it so that I could freeze a tonne for later (living out of home for the first time and working+studying) I love soup and I’m so excited.
I made it, but was a little low on carrots so I added some extra potato, then I also added celery and some cut up tomatos. It added some extra veggies and bulked it up more. Then I could eat it for ages afterwards.
YUMMM!!!! Currently eating it and loving it.
Made this for dinner tonight – it is DELICIOUS! I didn’t have veggie broth, so I subbed chicken broth, and it was amazing. I will definitely be making this again!
I love this recipe! It’s my absolute favourite and there’s so many variations you can make. Sometimes I add in beans or change the type of broth or add extra veggies.
Filling and satisfying!
I combined this recipe with the Mexican Lentil Stew. I added a red bell pepper (on sale for 33 cents!), the spices listed in the Mexican stew, and topped it with crushed tortilla chips and cilantro. It was hearty yet light enough for summer.
I made this for dinner and added kale because you know it sitting there in my fridge all lonely and I love kale. Talk about party in my mouth! Great recipe! Another winning recipe, Beth! Well done girlfriend!
I made a big batch of this for dinner last night and added kale and lime. Turned out DELICIOUS! Another winning recipe, Beth. Well done!
So, I came across this recipe because I had taken red lentils out 2 days ago and soaked them to make lentil burgers. Today I looked to find that they had started to sprout! so at 10 o’clock at night I decided to make this soup for the week so as not to waste the lentils! Thank you!
YUM! Loved this recipe, very filling and sooo good for you! Thank you!!
Made this soup a lot already! It’s incredible!
New favorite soup! Thanks for the recipe!
Best. Soup. Ever.
I’ve made it 3 times in the last month!
Made this recipe and doubled it for extra meals! OMG it tasted wonderful! I sent an email to friends and family to check this recipe out.
I just made this today and it came out amazing! I had a few pounds of extra red lentils laying around, so I thought I’d put them to good use. I added curry powder, a tablespoon of butter, and about 5oz. of tomato paste. While I was making it, my grandmother asked to try some and said she loved it and that I should make more for the whole family. It’s really filling and cheap. Great recipe.