Name: Red Lentil and Sausage Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 480 min
Ingredients: 1 medium onion (diced small); 2 large carrots (diced small); 5 cloves garlic (minced); 4 small potatoes (diced, small); ½ lb ground sweet Italian sausage; 1 bunch kale (cleaned, stemmed, and chopped); 2 cups red lentils (dried); 28 oz crushed tomatoes ((one can)); 28 oz water; 1 quart chicken stock; 2 tbsp smoked Spanish paprika; 2 tsp dried basil; 2 tsp dried thyme; salt (to taste); grated Parmesan cheese (to taste); crushed red pepper (to taste)

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Ingredients for Red Lentil & Sausage Soup

Sausage Soup from Pantry Basics

We’ve been trying to pare down our pantry and use ingredients we already have. In this case, we had a bunch of lentils and a bunch of potatoes, carrots, and kale from our Boston Organics boxes. And we recently stocked up on spices at Penzey’s so we had plenty of flavor agents. We only needed to purchase chicken stock, canned tomatoes, and sausage for this super healthy, filling, and tasty sausage soup.

I’ve also been really into the slow cooker recently. It’s so nice to come home and know that dinner is ready with just a little preparation the evening before. Plus, it’s one pot so it makes clean up a snap (for Sean since I rarely do dishes.)

Crock-Pot Roulette

In my experience, you just never know how something will actually turn out in a Crock-Pot. It’s a bit of a roll of the dice (did I put in enough liquid? too much liquid? will everything disintegrate to mush? will the beans still be crunchy?) This recipe came out awesome! On a scale of 1-10, I gave it an 8 1/2; Sean gave it an 8. The lentils broke down during the cooking which made the consistency super creamy; the potato and carrot were perfectly tender without being mushy and the sausage kept its integrity and flavor. Coming home after our 2 mile walk with the dogs to a huge bowl of this sausage soup made the end of the day a happy one.

If you don’t have a Crock-Pot or are short on time, you can also cook this on the stove top by simmering the ingredients in a large pot for about an hour. The soup will be done when the vegetables are tender and the lentils are cooked through and creamy. Most of the cooking time is still hands off, so you can get something done while dinner is simmering. And, while I haven’t tried it in the Instant Pot, I’ll bet this could be done in a <30 minute pressure cook.

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Red Lentil and Sausage Soup

Soup's on with this flavorful, healthy pantry pull meal made even easier with the magic of the Crock-Pot.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword Lentils, Sausage, Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Servings 6

Equipment

Slow Cooker

Ingredients

1 medium onion diced small
2 large carrots diced small
5 cloves garlic minced
4 small potatoes diced, small
½ lb ground sweet Italian sausage
1 bunch kale cleaned, stemmed, and chopped
2 cups red lentils dried
28 oz crushed tomatoes (one can)
28 oz water
1 quart chicken stock
2 tbsp smoked Spanish paprika
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried thyme
salt to taste
grated Parmesan cheese to taste
crushed red pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large crock-pot, combine the onion, carrots, garlic, lentils, potato, and kale.
Make mini-meatballs out of the ground sausage. I was able to purchase bulk sausage, but if I couldn’t find that, I would remove the casing of sausage links and make that into meatballs. Add the meatballs to the crock-pot.
Add the tomatoes, water, and chicken stock. Add the paprika, basil, and thyme. Stir to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Taste and add salt to your liking.
Serve in large bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper.

Notes

Don’t have a slow cooker? Add all ingredients in the order above to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until vegetables are cooked through.

Sausage Soup with Red Lentils and Pantry Vegetables

Sausage Soup from Pantry Basics

Crock-Pot Roulette