I wasn’t sure if this day would ever come but I can confidently say that my nearly two year turkey sandwich lunch obsession has ended. My favorite combination was Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Bread, Duke’s Mayo, sliced avocado, Applegate turkey, a slice of cheese and bread and butter pickles. I ate hundreds of them. I am finally ready for a break.
Lucky for me that soup season is FINALLY here. I made my first pot of soup this week and it was so good that I’m here today to share the recipe with you.
WARMING LENTIL + SWEET POTATO SOUP
This warming lentil and sweet potato soup is everything that I want a lunch soup to be. It’s warming and comforting while also being healthy and not too heavy. This soup is friendly for many dietary preferences including vegetarian/vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc.
I got the idea for this soup from a recipe I saw while thumbing through a Real Simple magazine when I was at my grandmother’s last weekend. The recipe served as the inspiration for this soup but I took it and ran with it, which is pretty much my mode of operating when it comes to cooking. 😉
One thing I loved from the Real Simple recipe was combining the onions, carrots and garlic in a food processor (I used my Vitamix) before adding them to the pan to sauté. I loved having the aromatics so finely chopped, they were almost on the verge of being pureed. I felt like this let them almost “melt” into the soup if that makes sense, instead of having pieces of onions and carrots. I will definitely be processing/blending my aromatics again for soup recipes like this one.
The warming spices here are a blend of cumin, cinnamon and coriander. Next time I make this soup, I will also try adding a teaspoon of turmeric. You’d think there was some in there already when you look at the yellow color of the soup!
The Real Simple recipe did not include sweet potatoes but I had a large sweet potato sitting on my counter and I knew it would play well with other changes I was planning to make to the soup. At the end of cooking, you stir in lime zest, juice and cilantro and I love these flavors paired with sweet potato. There is a lot of lime and cilantro flavor here, which I am all about, but feel free to dial back on the lime juice. You might start with 1-2 tablespoons instead of the juice of a whole half a lime. Feel free to play around with the amount of spice/seasoning in this soup. It’s forgiving!
This warming lentil and sweet potato soup comes together relatively quickly as far as soup is concerned. It’s ready in under one hour. And as expected, the reheated leftovers are wonderful. It’s extra delicious served alongside a crusty toasted bread. I have been enjoying it with avocado toast on homemade sourdough.
Here is the recipe!
WARMING LENTIL AND SWEET POTATO SOUP RECIPE
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Warming Lentil + Sweet Potato Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
Description
This warming lentil and sweet potato soup is perfectly seasoned with warm spices and makes for a comforting but healthy cold weather meal.
Ingredients
1 medium yellow or sweet onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup red, brown or green lentils, rinsed and picked over (I did a blend of red and green)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
5 cups low-sodium broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 cups water
Zest of one lime
Juice of 1/2 lime (feel free to scale back on this)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Optional for serving: plain yogurt or sour cream, additional cilantro, toasted walnuts
Instructions
- Combine onion, carrots and garlic in a food processor or blender and pulse/blend until finely chopped.
- Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion mixture and saute, stirring often, for about 4-5 minutes. Add spices and salt and stir to coat veggies. Continue to cook for about 60 seconds, stirring constantly. Add lentils, sweet potato, stock and water. Bring to a simmer and cook with lid on but slightly ajar to allow for venting until lentils are tender. This took about 35-40 minutes for me.
- Stir in lime zet, juice and cilantro.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
- Serve with toppings of your choice like a dollop of plain yogurt, cilantro or toasted chopped walnuts.
Notes
- If using red lentils your cooking time might be significantly less. Start checking for doneness at 20 minutes.
- If you want more veggies, you can add in 6-8 ounces of baby spinach at the end of cooking.
- Feel free to play around with and adjust spices and seasonings. This soup is forgiving!
Yum, thanks for the recipe! Soup is one of my favorite foods to eat.
Can’t wait to try this! I love that you make adaptations to Cooking Light and Real Simple recipes and share them on your blog. Real Simple recipes especially can tend to be a little too simple as is. I know their idea is a short ingredient list but adding a few more ingredients and spices still keeps it a quick and easy recipe just more flavor! I tend to adapt recipes I find online and in magazines too (Cooking Light, Real Simple, Food Network, etc.)
I come to your site and know I can trust your recipes as written to be winners! Seriously such a time saver from scrolling through a bunch of comments on Food Network recipes and so delicious : )
This is delicious and satisfying, especially on cold night like tonight! Super easy too! Thanks!
Wonderful to hear!
Warm soup. Warm fire. First fall freeze perfection! Delicious?
Sounds lovely!
This was so good! Made as written. Served it at a small dinner party and kids and adults loved it. Thanks Jen!
Thanks for trying my recipe and really cool to read that the kids ate it too!
Wow, what a fantastic soup! I made it this Sunday as written (I used the whole half lime juice) and it was perfect. So satisfying yet not too heavy. Thanks Jen!
Wonderful! So happy to read this! 🙂 I appreciate you trying my recipe.