A hearty, vegan, root-vegetable lentil soup is ideal for cuddling up with your spouse on a chilly October night. You won’t be disappointed by a little Johnny Cash or Zac Brown in the background! With this rooting, tooting, high-falutin’ superfood soup, it’s either root, hog, or die! Serve over brown rice, quinoa, or basmati rice.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 8 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 yellow potatoes (such as Klondike Goldust®), cubed
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 2 turnips, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup dry lentils
- water, or amount to cover
- ¼ teaspoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the potatoes, spinach, carrots, turnips, garlic, and lentils in a slow cooker. Pour enough water over the mixture to cover.
- In a bowl, stir the fresh basil, chili powder, cinnamon, dried basil, paprika, turmeric, cayenne pepper, ground ginger, sea salt, and black pepper; stir into the slow cooker.
- Cover the cooker, and cook on High for 8 hours.
- Prep time: 1 side of a record. Eye the proper amount of H20 (ain’t nothin’ like water, if God made anything better, he kept it for hisself!!)…
- Cook on High from the time you finish your morning coffee ’til the time you open up a bottle of red wine. Substitute organic ingredients where possible.
Reviews
We liked this very much. But the recipe says makes 2 servings. I knew that was wrong. But wondered if something had gone awry with the posting. The spices amounts didn’t seem to jibe with the rest of the ingredients. I did follow the recipe but next time will increase the spices. It’s a keeper!!
This stuff smelled great in the Crock-Pot but when dinnertime arrived, it was a bland, watery mess. Each time I heated up a bowl for leftovers, I tried to add something (onion flakes, garlic salt, even Worcestershire sauce) to make it taste better, but nothing worked. Never again!
I enjoyed the combination of root vegetables. However, next time I will use less spinach and add more lentils. An onion would be good too.
Very bland and not worth the effort. Disappointing.
The flavor was good. I subbed beef broth for the water. I doubled the recipe and I wished I wouldn’t have doubled the lentils. It was too overpowered by lentils. The turnip was delicious. I doubled all the spices except the cinnamon. We put a dollop of sour cream in top and it was very good.
What a GREAT soup! Made it yesterday and we had for dinner tonight. Even my picky 7 yr old cleaned his bowl. After reading other reviews I too modified it to our tastes. Sautéed onions with 5 crushed garlic cloves, then added sliced organic cremini mushrooms. Used 2 Veg broth cubes in about 8 cups of H20, substituted frozen organic Kale for the spinach and doubled the spices (except cayenne as I didn’t have any)and put in fresh ginger vs powder. Didn’t have turnip either so chopped up some fresh roma tomatoes. Cooked on high in crock pot as directed yesterday, then set to low for 4 hours today. YUM! This soup is very easy, versatile and delicious. Thanks for sharing Cindy!
I made some adjustments to the recipe based on the reviews. I added 1 chopped onion, a full 6oz. bag of fresh chopped spinach, 1 extra carrot and potato. I omitted the turnips(don’t like them), and added a tomato, two stalks of celery. I also doubled the spices but omitted the cinnamon (husband not a fan) and covered the mixture with veggie broth. Overall, a great crockpot recipe.
Tried this yesterday and it was a big hit (well, with ME and Jackie, anyway!) And if our friends don’t like it…well, tough! All the more for us.) Thanks, Cindy! I stuck with the recipe except I didn’t have the fresh Basil. No biggy…just doubled up on the dried. BONUS, I DID have fresh ginger, so doubled up on that too, using my cheese grater. Yummmmmmyyyyyy! Also, you can make this recipe in HALF the time by nuking the turnip, carrots and potatoes till tender first, then chucking them into a big soup pot with the lentils, herbs and spices. Bring everything to a boil then simmer for two or three hours. Leave chunky…or put it through the processor for a creamy bowl of heaven!
One of my favorites. I do lots of variations on the veggies (turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, mixed fingerling potatoes, etc) but the spice mix is a winner, especially if you add some organic veg broth as well as water. One recommendation: throw in the spinach at the very end and it will add texture as well as flavor, instead of turning to mush after a full day’s cooking. I also vary the lentils if I have a lot of veg, just to trade bulk for flavor. A fun base to play with, and the house will always smell awesome!
This soup was so hearty and yummy!! I’m not a great cook without amazing recipes like this, it made me proud to share it and show it off! And even great as leftovers. The only I will change for next time will be to put a little less cinnamon. It was perfect when fresh, but as my lunch the next day, the cinnamon stood out more to me.
Loved the soup! Added mozzerela cheese and it was wonderful. When I make again I wil add onions.Wasn’t spicy enough for me so I will also double up on the chili powder.
After reading the reviews saying it was too bland, I tried to dress it up with beef broth, a can of diced tomatoes and some ginger. My husband liked it, but I wasn’t so sure. I need to try it again with just the base recipe – I think only the tomatoes should have stayed.
Awesome! I added a can of diced tomatoes and a chopped onion. Very healthy, filling soup.
You’d better REALLY LOVE spinach. I do, and it was still overpowering.
WOW! I made this soup and the smell of it alone was tantalizing everyone in the house. I doubled the recipe (mistakenly forgot the garlic) for 4 and it made enough for 6. My husband and his friends all enjoyed a medium size bowl of it and there was some to spare. It was quite spicy and everyone LOVED it. I highly recommend you make this soup!
Easy to make. Taste great. I used turkey stock and some leftover turkey
This could’ve been really amazing, but I agree with the post about it being really bland. I followed the recipe as listed, but should’ve used recommendations from other users. Will definitely try again but next time will use broth rather than water, some onion…not sure what else. Oh, I did add celery though. Has potential!
I did sauté an onion before making this on top of the stove and threw in a tablespoon of chicken broth powder. I wanted a large pot full so i used a pound of lentils, 2 pounds of frozen spinach and the same amount of veggies. I did triple the spices due to the larger amount of liquid. I’m glad I didn’t triple the amount of vegetables because the pot was totally full. It was ready in less than an hour. I was apprehensive about using all the spices but after reading the reviews, I went ahead and did so. Glad I did, because the taste is wonderful! Reminds me of a Moroccan stew! Will def be making this again!
I made this for us while we were on a cleanse, and both my husband and I really liked it. It is a hearty soup that sticks with you. Unfortunately, I forgot to put in the spinach, so we’ll have to put it back on the winter menu and remember that step this time!
This was ok, not knock your socks off. I added more garlic and an onion. I also used a can of vegetable broth and threw in a ham shank to flavor the broth. It was healthy and easy. I’ll probably make it again.
I added broccoli instead of spinach and added more spices than in the original recipe. My crockpot cooked this in about 4 hours on high instead of 8.