This bacon lentil soup is a wonderful, filling soup that will warm you up on a cold day. I like to call this soup comfort food in a bowl. I could live on this soup...it is that good! Smokey flavors combine with lentils and fresh vegetables, all in under 30 minutes!
If you love soup as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious gluten free soup recipes!
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One of the dishes Mr. Fearless Dining and I tried was an incredible lentil soup with bacon. (Unfortunately, the owners of Hult's Restaurant changed the theme of the restaurant to mirror another of their successful restaurants, Flight's...we will miss it!)
Bacon adds incredible flavor to this soup. It is possible to make this soup without the bacon...but you will miss the smokiness from the bacon. If you are a bacon fanatic like I am, you will also love these bacon roses!
The flavors in this bacon lentil soup just explode in your mouth, this soup was so good! I knew I needed to try to recreate this recipe at home. Note, I did cheat and use turkey bacon to make the dish a little healthier, but it is also delicious with regular bacon. This is a kid-friendly soup recipe that will become popular in your house.
Lentil soup is comfort food in our house because this soup is hot, thick and creamy. (My kids think it is the bacon that makes it comfort-like, I haven't told them this soup is healthy!)
What kind of lentil to use?
Any type of lentil would work in this recipe, but I highly recommend using black lentils because they hold their shape better than orange and green lentils.
Lentils are not always easy to cook with but these handy tips will help you make lentils perfect every time.
Are lentils healthy?
One of the things I love about this soup is that there are so many health benefits to using lentils. Not only do lentils help lower cholesterol, but they aid in heart health, digestive health, and they even stabilize blood sugar.
You are going to love this easy bacon lentil soup recipe. Try a dollop of sour cream and a little cilantro on top.
How to clean lentils:
Lentils need to be rinsed before adding them to the pot. I use a strainer to rinse the lentils. Look for any small rocks or debris! (It is funny I have never found a small pebble in my lentils, but every bag has this in the instructions so it must happen occasionally.)
**Update, readers have written in to tell me that this lentil and bacon soup recipe freezes really well!
More Delicious Soup Recipes to Try:
📋 Recipe
Hearty Lentil Soup with Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion diced
- 6 carrots diced
- 2 parsnips diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/4 cup black lentils
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 quart low sodium chicken broth I used Trader Joe's
- 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 6 pieces cooked turkey bacon chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat.
- Add onion, carrot, and parsnip and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add chopped turkey bacon and cook another 3-4 minutes.
- Add lentils, broth, water, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 8 minutes then turn heat to low.
- Cook until lentils are soft and most of the liquid is absorbed.
Nutrition
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Jhoei
I love bacon and I will definitely try this one. This is perfect for rainy days to keep us warm.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much.