Hearty. Warm. Satisfying. All can be used to describe this soup. Vegetable soup is great on its own but, adding the lentils, gives it a little more body, keeps you full longer. Typically when I think of a hearty ‘stick to your ribs’ dish, I think of milk or cream or cheese, a dairy base to make it thicker and luscious. This soup does not need that at all. The lentils take care of that.

This soup is one where you can dump all the ingredients in at once and let it cool. Dice all the vegetables, add to pot, except the kale. Add the lentils. Add the stock and water. Add all the seasonings. Mix all together. The last step before sealing the lid is to add the kale. You want it sitting on top and not mixed in. Otherwise it will get too wilted and just fall apart. By setting on top of everything else, it steams while the rest of the ingredients are cooking in the stock, breaking down. Cooks for about 35 minutes. Once the soup is done, steam has been released, you can take off the lid. Mix everything up before serving, to incorporate the kale.

Great for meal prepping. Make a large batch and freeze it.

It’s simple. It’s vegetarian. It’s delicious.

Enjoy! Xoxo

Alicia 

 

Lentil Vegetable Soup

6-8 Servings – Prep: 20 minutes. Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

32 oz Vegetable stock

2 C water

3 C Kale, rough chopped

2 C Lentils

2 Sweet potatoes, diced

1 C Carrots, diced

1 C Celery, diced

3 Garlic cloves

1/4 Onion, diced

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp Celery salt

1 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Instant Pot Instructions:

1. Dice sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onion. Add to pot.
2. Add lentils.
3. Add vegetable stock and water.
4. Add seasonings: black pepper, celery salt, salt, Italian.
5. Give everything a nice stir to incorporate everything together.
6. Add the chopped kale on top of all of the ingredients. DO NOT stir.
7. Set the Instant Pot to Soup, 35 minutes, Normal. Lock the lid and let it do its thing. * Make sure the vent is closed
8. Once the timer goes off. Use the gentle, slow release to let all of the steam out. This will take a few minutes.
9. Serve it up all by itself, with some grated Pecorino Romano or a nice slice of crusty bread

Lentil Vegetable soup