Lemon Lentil Soup: A Bowl of Sunshine

Making Lemon Lentil Soup is simple, and it’s packed with delicious stuff. The flavors of vegetables, lentils, lemons, spices, and herbs mix together to make a really yummy dish. It’s perfect when it’s cold outside because it’s chunky, filling, and warms you up.
And guess what? It’s really good for you too. The soup has lentils with protein and fiber, plus healthy veggies like kale that give you lots of good vitamins and minerals. There’s also turmeric, a spice that can help your body when it’s a bit swollen. So, not only is this soup easy and tasty, but it’s also a healthy choice for a vegan lunch or dinner. Now, let’s take a closer look at what you’ll use to make it.

Benefits of Lemon Lentil Soup:

• Weight Loss and Liver Health: This soup can help with losing weight and cleaning your liver. Carrots, onions, celery, and garlic are amazing for your liver. They don’t have many calories but are packed with good stuff for your body.
• Lemon for Detox: Lemon in the soup helps your liver and makes your body less acidic.
• Healthy Gut with Lentils: Lentils have lots of fiber that’s good for your gut. They make you feel full and are perfect for avoiding type 2 diabetes and keeping your blood sugar steady. The fiber in lentils slows down how fast sugar gets into your blood.
• Feeling Full and Weight Loss: Fiber doesn’t have any calories, but it makes you feel full. That’s why lentils are great if you want to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight.
• Plant Protein and Saving Money: Lentils are a really good source of plant-based protein, and they’re not expensive.
• Detox with Molybdenum: Lentils also have something called molybdenum, which helps your body get rid of sulfites. If you sometimes feel sensitive to sulfites in things like wine, molybdenum from lentils might help.

So, if you’re thinking about losing weight, taking care of your liver, and enjoying a healthy meal, this lemony lentil soup could be a good choice for you!

Why Lentils are Good for You?

Lentils are a simple and cheap way to add more fiber and protein from plants to your meals. They are full of B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and potassium. Also, they have a low glycemic index, which helps keep your hormones and blood sugar in balance. We cook lentils in broth, veggies, and spices like turmeric. Then, we add lemon juice to the soup at the end for a yummy and zesty flavor in this lemony lentil soup.

Ingredients

For this lemony lentil soup recipe, gather these ingredients:

• Veggies: You’ll need simple veggies like white onion, carrots, and garlic.
• Veggie Stock: You can use veggie stock, or you can choose chicken stock if you like.
• Red Lentils: These lentils work great because they cook quickly and blend easily.
• Corn: Use regular frozen or canned corn.
• Spices: You’ll use ground cumin, curry powder, a bit of cayenne, and saffron if you have it (optional, but nice if you do).
• Fresh Lemon: We’ll add the zest and juice of a lemon to the soup. You can also serve the soup with extra lemon wedges for more lemony flavor.
• Salt and Black Pepper: These are used for seasoning.

How to Make Lentil Soup?

Here’s a simple overview of how to make this lentil soup, but you can find more detailed instructions in the full recipe below:

1. Sauté Veggies: Start by cooking the onion, carrots, and garlic to bring out their best flavors. You can do this in a separate pan if needed.
2. Simmer:Now, put the veggie stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder, a bit of cayenne, and saffron (if you have it) all together and let them simmer.Cook with the lid on until the lentils are tender.
3. Blend (if you want): You can blend the soup to make it smooth, either with a hand blender or a regular blender.
4. Season: Add the lemon zest and juice. Then, season the soup with some salt and pepper as you like.
5. Serve: Serve the soup warm, and you can add an extra lemon slice for more flavor.

Tips to make your Lemon Lentil Soup even better:

• Check the Flavors: Since the saltiness might be different based on the broth you use, taste your soup and add more seasoning if needed. You can also adjust other flavors like pepper or dill to your liking.
• Add Kale Later: The kale in the soup can become too soft if it cooks for too long. To keep it nice and green with a good texture, add the kale near the end of the cooking time.
• Choose Green Lentils: If you can, pick green lentils. They’re really good because they have lots of fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. They also stay in their shape well, which is great for soups that cook for a while, like this one.

Here are some tasty things you can enjoy with your Lemon Lentil Soup:

• Crusty Bread: Try dipping crispy, toasted bread into the soup. It’s so yummy!
• Salad: You can have a nice, fresh salad alongside your soup. It’s a good combo.
• Potatoes: This soup goes well with different potato dishes, like Vegan Scalloped Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, or Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.
• Grains or Pasta: You can also eat the soup with things like rice, couscous, millet, Bulgar, or orzo. Creamy Lemon Spaghetti is another tasty choice.

Here’s why you’ll really like this lemony lentil soup:

• Simple to Make: It’s really easy to cook.
• Warm and Comforting: It feels cozy and nice, plus it’s very healthy.
• Tasty Flavor: It’s not a plain lentil soup; it’s full of yummy taste.
• Smooth and Light: The texture is smooth and light, and there’s also hearty spinach and a tangy lemon taste.
• Lots of Good Stuff: It’s got lots of plant-based protein and good things for your body.
• Good for Later: You can keep it for later, and it might even taste better the next day!

Can You Put Lentil Soup in the Freezer?

Absolutely! You can freeze lentil soup without any problem. Once the soup has cooled down, divide it into portions and put them in containers that are safe for the freezer. You can keep the soup frozen for about 2 months. Just make sure to put labels on the containers so you know when you made it.This helps you remember how long the soup has been in the freezer.