This super easy Puy Lentil Soup (also known as French lentil soup) is a real winter warmer. It will stick to your ribs as my Mum used to say! Honestly, that means it’s good, hearty, filling and healthy.
Puy Lentil Soup
It may be March, there may well be a few daffodils bravely nodding their golden heads in the stiff breeze up here on Walton’s Mountain, but deary me my friends, it is still bloody cold!
It is still wintery and we are not yet ready to cast off the thermals and embrace salad living, oh no, we are still firmly based in the land of soup and comfort food. Today’s Puy Lentil Soup is hearty and filling and really rather good for you.
French Puy Lentil Soup
I always think that Puy lentils are the rather glamorous French cousins of our humble red lentils that formed the basis of my Mum’s lentil soup.
Puy lentils hail from France and can be bought dried or in cans. I always keep a few cans in the larder as they are a super healthy addition to soups and stews and taste great too.
Good for you
Lentils of any type bring a thickness to soup that can make it into a meal in itself if you serve it with a hunk of crusty bread or a few tasty crackers.
There is nothing light and airy about this soup, it ‘sticks to your ribs’ as we say in Scotland, meaning that it fills you up and keeps you going.
Ingredients for French lentil soup
Puy lentils (if using dried lentils soak them overnight first)
Carrots, celery, onion and garlic are your base ingredients for this tasty soup.
You can use either vegetable or chicken stock for this lentil soup, the choice is yours
Spices – I’ve used a lovely spicy blend of spices to really ramp up the flavour of this soup. There is ground coriander, cumin and turmeric in here and they really give this soup a kick!
Herbs – no French soup would be complete without some herbal influence. I’ve opted for dried oregano and thyme.
How to make puy lentil soup
This recipe makes enough puy lentil soup for four servings and is super easy to make.
Simply saute the onion then add in the garlic. Next comes all the other vegetables.
Drain and rinse the puy lentils and add them to the soup along with the stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Now I like my soup to have a bit of texture so I take out half of it and blend that then return it to the pan. That way I get a lovely combination of smooth creamy soup and chunky bits of veggies too.
I’ve finished this soup off with a drizzle of olive oil and a spoonful of homemade Dukkah which the keen reader will recall we made a couple of weeks ago.
Storage
This soup will keep for about 4 days in a sealed container in the fridge and will freeze well for up to 6 months.
Looking for more hearty soups to see you through the winter months? Then check these out before you go;
Rich and creamy garlic mushroom soup
Quick and easy tomato and mascarpone soup
Curried cauliflower potato and kale soup
Spiced carrot and cauliflower soup
Traditional 5 ingredient Scottish cock-a-leekie soup
Scottish classic Cullen Skink soup
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below, I love to hear from you. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
French Puy Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 carrots chopped
- 2 sticks celery chopped
- 1 x 400g/14 oz can of Puy lentils
- 1 lt/1 3/4 pints vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 tsp dried oregano and thyme
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil/dukkah to serve
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a soup pan and saute the onion for 5 minutes then add the garlic for 2 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery and all spices and herbs and cook for 10 minutes.
- Drain and rince the puy lentils and add to the pan alonng with the stock
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Scoop out half of the soup and blitz the remainder in the pan with a stick blender.
- Return the remainder of the soup to the pan so you have a good mix of smooth and chunky veggies to give great texture .
- Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a spoonful of dukkah.
Notes
PIN ME FOR LATER
I love lentil soup, too, both red and green, it’s so easy to mix with any ingredients you might have and quick to make after the day’s job.. The family likes it, too.
Chicken stock, garlic, onion .and carrots always join the combo. Never thought of using the stick blender for this soup, I think that’s a good idea, Karon.
Keep warm there,
Paivi x
Hi Paivi
Glad you are a lentil soup fan too. I really like mixing half blended with the rough veggies for texture, always makes the soup a bit more interesting. Hope all well with you.
K x