Smoky, deeply savory French lentil soup with canned tomatoes, tarragon, and smoked paprika. Ten core ingredients, mostly pantry staples, and even better made a day ahead.
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT55M
Total time: PT75M
Rating
5 stars (16 reviews)
Keywords
french lentil soup recipe, vegan lentil soup with tomatoes
Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
1 medium onion, small dice
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, small dice
1 stick celery, small dice
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 ⅓ cups french lentils, picked over and rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock (, plus extra if needed)
sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
¼ cup chopped parsley (optional)
Categories
Main Course
Soup
Steps
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for at least 10 minutes, stirring them around frequently. They shouldn't sizzle too loudly! This is a slow-cooking kind of process, so turn the heat down if you think they’re cooking too fast.
When the onions are quite soft, add the thyme, tarragon, and paprika and saute for another 5 minutes, stirring here and there. Add the garlic and stir until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the carrots and celery and cook for another 8-10 minutes, until all vegetables are soft.
Add the can of tomatoes and stir to coat vegetables. Cook out and simmer the tomatoes for about 5 minutes. Add the drained lentils and stir to coat in the vegetables, oil and tomatoes. Add a splash of the stock and scrape any browned bits on the bottom of the pot.
Add remaining vegetable stock to the pot. Give the whole mix a good stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, return pot to a simmer, cover with a lid and allow to cook for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Check in on the pot once in a while and give it a stir. Season the finished soup liberally with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley, if using.
Serve the soup hot.
Reviews
Madison on 2025-01-13 (5 stars): This was so nourishing and delicious! We had it with a bit of French sourdough and it made for such a cozy dinner!
Jessica on 2024-06-26 (5 stars): Perfect!
Shannon Franz on 2024-01-14 (5 stars): This recipe is going in my regular list. It tastes like I made a rich beef stock but I didn’t! Made it with my own veg/mushroom stock and it turned out wonderful. Gorgeous soup, thank you
Emma on 2023-09-18 (5 stars): Incredibly simple, flavorful, comforting soup. Perfect as is and easy to modify with what you have on hand
Allison on 2023-03-14 (5 stars): I’m only mad I haven’t made this one sooner!! So simple and sooo flavorful.
Laurie on 2022-10-29 (5 stars): Great recipe -- the soup comes together easily and is simply delicious! I first found it in your wonderful cookbook and have made it several times. Thank you!
Sandy on 2022-01-14 (5 stars): I made this today and it is so comforting and delicious! Thank you for sharing. My only change was adding kale instead of parsley. It's what I had.
