Green lentil soup is perfectly fine, but once you start cooking it with black ‘beluga’ lentils, it will be difficult to switch back. The soup has a substantial, satisfying body and a mild, non-starchy mouthfeel thanks to these black beauties, which cook up melt-in-your-mouth soft while maintaining their structural integrity.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 4 ounces bacon, chopped
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 ¼ cups black beluga lentils
- 5 cups chicken broth, or as needed
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, or as needed
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir bacon in hot oil until bacon is browned and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion, carrot, celery, and salt; cook and stir until onion is softened and translucent, about 10 minutes. Season with black pepper, cumin, thyme, and cayenne pepper.
- Pour lentils into bacon mixture and stir to coat completely in rendered bacon fat. Add chicken broth and bay leaf; bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook, adding more chicken broth as needed, until lentils are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Add 3 tablespoons parsley and stir. Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle remaining parsley over the top and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 329 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 44 g |
| Cholesterol | 10 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 21 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 268 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is a staple in our home. But living in a rural area near the Canadian border, we either have to drive 20+ minutes to the snooty market that has black lentils (and pay crazy $) or order them online. We’re flexitarians, but the soup is still delicious using smoke flavoring as a substitute for the bacon, and using our homemade vegetable broth. I truly love this recipe–thank you!
I have been making this for years and every time I make it, I wonder why I don’t do it more often!
This soup was absolutely delicious! I had to have seconds. The recipe is going into the weekly rotation as it is health and so yummy. I loved the taste and texture of black lentils.
This was awesome!!!!!! Served it with spicy shrimp on top ( grilled or pan fried would work) and a bit of sour cream. We used a peppered bacon so we left out the pepper. And we used a mix of Fresh Oregano, Chives and Carrot tops ( our parsley bolted) but the fresh Oregano just hit it right for the smell and taste. Chef John is a god in the kitchen and a great listen for a relaxing cooking voice.
This recipe is fantastic. I made it for two as is and it is just perfect. I was lucky to find these lentils nearby at the grocery store. I will make it again!
This recipe is excellent as is however it is very adaptable. I did find I did not need the additional oil in the beginning to render the bacon and just took a longer time cooking down the bacon slowly. I have made this twice in the past week and each time time added some produce that needed to be used up, on one instance some red kale the other a couple of tomatoes, and a few small cloves of garlic. In each instance found them to be a pleasing addition. I think the second batch was superior and would continue to add tomato & garlic going forward. A very solid and enjoyable recipe!????
Great lentil soup. I always know Chef John’s recipes will turn out great.
Followed the recipe, very good! I suspect that using a good quality bacon really adds to the yum factor or at least I’m giving myself props for splurging a bit on that ingredient
Awesome dish. I use a chicken stock paste to make my broth so I didn’t add any salt and it was just right. I also omitted the cumin because I don’t care for it. Black lentils are the best!!
Best soup I have ever made!! I used bacon from our local deli vs pre-packaged It gave it such good flavor. This will be a staple in my house – thank you!!
Chef John’s recipes are always on point and this one is perfect.
Excellent! No matter how you feel about lentils, this will make you a fan. I used the black lentils called for. I’m unsure about other kinds of lentils as I am not that big(wasn’t) of a fan but this made me look forward to the next serving I could have.
I used homemade chicken broth which is a little richer than commercial broth. Balsamic vinegar can also be added just before serving.
I couldn’t find the black lentils so used red lentils instead. Still delicious!
Perfect , as usual chef John, smoked bacon is a must!
Will definitely make this again. We all loved it! I used rosemary instead of thyme and added a little splurch of ketchup .
No bacon, safflower oil increased to 2 TBSP, bloomed spices, turkey broth, 1/4 tsp cayenne. Cooked 1 hour. Excellent !!!
Made exactly and Chef John is right after using black lentils you will not go back to others!!! was so good and simple!!
Soup turned out a bit salty as you’d need to factor in the salt content of the bacon and I used chicken stock powder too. So do taste as you go. I added an extra 1 and a hald cup of water. Overall it is a really straight forward recipe that pleases.
Thanks to Chef John. Another 10 star dish.
I followed the recipe closely. It was too salty for my taste, but the overall flavor was good. I won’t use as much cumin next time.