Hearty Minestrone Lentil Soup
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This extra Hearty Minestrone Lentil Soup is filled will vegetables and nutritious lentils to keep you satisfied and well! This soup is a great cold-buster!
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When the weather gets chilly, a big bowl of hot soup is my kind of meal. I love soup, all kinds of soup..especially Hearty Minestrone Lentil Soup. Just like my hearty Vegetable Soup, this Minestrone Lentil Soup is packed with tons of vitamins and nutrients! This soup is perfect for building up your immune system during the cold and flu season, so be sure to make extra batches!
This Minestrone Lentil Soup is on the chunkier side, meaning it’s extra hearty. You’ll get chunks of vegetables in every bite and this soup is almost like a stew! The tomato broth base makes all of the vegetables come together perfectly!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE HEARTY MINESTRONE LENTIL SOUP
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Carrots
- Celery
- Garlic
- Diced tomatoes
- Vegetable or chicken stock
- Green or brown lentils
- Salt + pepper
- Dried basil
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Zucchini
- Fresh spinach
HOW TO MAKE HEARTY MINESTRONE LENTIL SOUP
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Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until vegetables are slightly tender, about 10 minutes.
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Add canned tomatoes, lentils, vegetable or chicken stock, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat down to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally.
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Add the zucchini and spinach and cook an additional 10 minutes until zucchini has softened and spinach has wilted. Top with parmesan cheese and serve with bread! Enjoy!
Cooking big pots of soup is a great way to get plenty of vegetables. It’s also a great way to experiment and try out new vegetables that you normally wouldn’t opt to try. One serving of this soup is low in calories, high in protein and high in fiber!
Your body will thank you for this soup. Make sure to take the time to make this healthy pot of goodness! You will be happy that you did!
LEFTOVERS
Store this soup in the refrigerator for about 4 days in an airtight container. You could also freeze this soup for up to 3-4 months. I love freezing them in smaller portions. When ready to enjoy again, just defrost and reheat on the stove or microwave until warmed.
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Hearty Minestrone Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion; peeled and chopped
- 3 carrots; peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
- 3 celery stalks; sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic; peeled and minced
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (including juice)
- 32 oz. vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 1 cup lentils (brown or green)
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1/2 tsp. oregano
- 1/2 tsp. thyme
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 zucchini; diced into 1/4-inch pieces
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until vegetables are slightly tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add canned tomatoes, lentils, vegetable or chicken stock, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat down to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally.
- Add the zucchini and spinach and cook an additional 10 minutes until zucchini has softened and spinach has wilted. Top with parmesan cheese and serve with bread! Enjoy!
Notes
- Store this soup in the refrigerator for about 4 days in an airtight container. You could also freeze this soup for up to 3-4 months. I love freezing them in smaller portions. Just defrost and reheat when ready!
- This soup is extra hearty meaning it's chunky and is similar to a stew. You can add 1 cup of water if you prefer your soup to be more watery. I think the chunkiness of this soup makes this extra wholesome and delicious.
This looks delicious! Just in time for soup season.
I hope you try it out! Enjoy!
This soup is delicious. My husband isn’t a fan of beans, so I added tofu instead of kidney beans, and asparagus in place of the green beans. This will definitely go into the dinner rotation
Hi Joanna, thank you for trying my recipe and so happy to hear you both loved it! The tofu and asparagus sound like great replacements for the beans and green beans- I will have to try that myself!!
Kathryn
This sounds like such a delicious and nutritious soup! It sounds packed full of good stuff and flavour.
Thank you so much! It is so delicious, I hope you get a chance to make it!
Healthy and nutritious soup packed with full of flavor. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome, I hope you enjoy this soup!
Minestrone is one of my all time favourite soups! I’ll definitely be giving this recipe a go 🙂
Thank you and I hope you enjoy it!
This soup is definitely hearty and I love how healthy it is! Yum!
Thank you Emily! It is so hearty and delicious!
So flavorful and easy to make! Enjoying this on repeat this month! mmm
Thank you Tawnie! 🙂 So glad you loved it!
My mom made this a lot when I was a kid and we always called it ‘fridge soup’. I love how packed full of veggies it is and I’m thinking this soup is perfect for wintry lunches.
Thank you Bernice! I love how veggie packed this soup is too and is soooo perfect for cold days or when you need some extra nutrients 🙂
Minestrone soup is my absolutely favourite, but ever since I had an epicly failed over a decade ago, I’ve been afraid to try it since. Until now. This minestrone is SO good, I wish I had found your recipe all those years ago!
Thank you for trying my recipe and so happy you had better luck with my recipe! 🙂
This lentil minestrone is awesome… I had a ton of lentils that I wanted to use, and was excited to come across this spin on one of my favorites. It was easy to make, and delicicious! Will be making this one again.
YAY! Thank you Candice, I’m happy to hear you loved this soup!
Ahh I love soup season! This is one of my all time favorite soups to make. Can’t wait to make a huge batch to freeze – yum!
This is a perfect soup to freeze! I hope you love it, Lauren!
Fantastic recipe! The fact that it is so tempting and healthy at the same time makes my mouth water! Can’t wait to make this! Thanks for posting this recipe!
Yay! Thank you, I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did!
Your photos are beautiful and this looks so darn good, Kathryn!! This is a great recipe to kick off the new year…wholesome and hearty!
Thank you Tammy! I really hope you get a chance to try this healthy soup. Happy New Year!
We love Minestrone soup and your recipe gives me the brilliant idea of swapping pasta with lentils. I have to try it next week when I make my routine soup.
Lentils are such a great swap for pasta! Thank you Sandhya!
There’s nothing like a chunky minestrone! As you said, it really should be almost like a stew. I love blended soups, but especially in the winter you want some more bite in your hot soup. This is definitely perfect for the colder season!
Thanks so much Eva, I agree! I hope you enjoy this hearty and hot soup! 🙂
This soup looks super flavorful, comforting and filling. What a tasty looking combination of vegetables as well!
It really is such a comforting soup! Thank you Moop!
Do you use canned or dry lentils for this recipe?
Hi Crystal! I use precooked lentils but you can use either canned or dry lentils. Be sure to cook the soup as long as needed for the dry lentils to cook through. You may also have to add more broth. Please let me know if you try this recipe, thanks so much!
I made it with dry lentils and it turned out fantastic! I ended up adding a little bit more broth but I like the soup more like a stew anyways! Making it for the second time tonight for supper!
I’m so happy you loved this soup, Crystal! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out with the dry lentils 🙂
Great for a dinner after working in cold weather all day. The children loved it as much as the adults and it went fast!
I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks so much for trying my recipe!
This has become a favorite in our household! I sometimes swap the lentils for leftover roast. Everything about this soup is perfect!
Thank you so much, Denise for your review! I’m so happy to hear to love this minestrone lentil soup and the roast sounds like a delicious swap! I need to try that 🙂
Do the lentils need to be soaked overnight before adding them to the soup or do they soak as the soup cooks?
Hi Josephine, I used precooked lentils but you could also add dry lentils instead. Just be sure to add an additional 1 cup of broth for best results. If not, it will be on the thicker side like a stew. I hope you love this soup!