Looking for an easy meal to feed the whole family? Are you also sometimes stumped on what to make for lent or meat-free weekdays? This super easy Lebanese Lemon Lentil Soup will be a family favourite in no time! This spinach lentil soup is bursting with flavor and would quickly become a favorite with the little ones.
Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this dish, it’s very much the tastiest soup you could make and in practically no effort.
Lebanese lentil spinach soup
Soup are a quick staple in our home, because I love to incorporate a lot of broths and healthy ingredients like vegetables in our meals.
I quickly learned quite a few soup ideas to help us through the winter season AND let’s face it, a lot of the times I am looking for quick and easy meals I can use for leftovers and meal prep.
I rarely make meals where I can’t have any leftovers from. The only exception would be salmon dishes, because these are quite quick, I made them at least once a week.
This Lebanese dish is a favorite amoung all of us, I learned this particular dish from my mother in law and I tweaked a few things in it to taste. However, it is pretty much the authentic Lebanese spinach soup you might be used to.
I previously shared this super quick lentil soup with only 3 ingredients in it.
You can also try this one if you’re new to lentils.
How hard is this soup to make?
If you have a wonderful recipe, soup may be a hearty and satisfying supper. The soup, in my opinion, is a fantastic method to include nutritious ingredients in our family’s meals without the kids noticing!
This soup is super easy to make, the only thing I would say that is hard is probably dicing up all the ingredients and that’s not hard – just time consuming.
If you have littles in the house, I would work in batches.
How to caramelize the onions
This dish incorporates caramelized onions and these are essential to bring out the flavors in this soup.
The lentils, when cooked for a longer period of time create a full bodied soup rather than a watery one. Who likes watery soups? – no one!
Dice up the onions, be sure they aren’t too big or too small.
Onions caramelised till yellow, be sure not to make them super brown like my other lentil recipe. These just require enough caramelization to bring out the flavors.
How to make this soup
Be sure to check out the instructions at the bottom of this post for the full list of ingredients and how to cook this soup.
How to soak brown lentils for Lebanese soup
Just a word on soaking the lentils. I have tried to soak in many ways, but if you’re anything like me and get digestive issues from lentils. Hear me out!
Soak for longer than two hours for maximum benefits but change the water in between soaking. So for instance, soak for an hour and a hlaf then change the water.
Do NOT cook with the soaked water. I believe this is what makes a huge difference. Some people will just soak and then turn on the heat to start cooking. I would change the water ONCE again to clean water and then begin the cooking process.
Lebanese Lemon Lentil Soup
This super easy Lebanese lemon lentil soup will quickly become a favorite in your home. This one pot meal is great for leftovers, making it the easiest vegan and iron rich soup that can literally feed a family of six and be made in less than 2 hours.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 full bunch silverbeat or spinach
- 1 diced onion
- 2 medium potatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 bunch coriander
- 2 medium carrots
- 1/4 cup medium grain rice
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Olive oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
1. Soak your lentils about two hours before cooking.
2. Discard the water the lentils have been soaking in and then replace the water (if you're not ready to cook yet).
3. Dice the onion and fry it in a separate pan until golden (not too brown).
4. While the onion is cooking, dice the carrots and the potatoes and place them on the side.
5. Meanwhile, clean the silverbeat and dice them up into smaller pieces.
6. Cook the lentils with about 6 cups of water. Bring to boil, then lower the heat. Add in your potatoes and carrots.
7. Let these cook for about 30 minutes. Then fry the coriander and the garlic in a separate pan, add them to the pot along with the rice, lemon and the silverbeat. Cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes.
8. The longer this soup simmers on low the less watery it becomes, I find that you can adjust the amount of water you can add to it depending on how thick you like it.
9. After finishing the soup, let it sit for about 15/30 minutes to settle, then scoop some soup into a bowl and enjoy. I like to add some extra lemon and cracked pepper on my dish, it really is up to preference and I find that it is much easier to adapt to this recipe once you've made it a few times.
