Chicken Lentil Soup is an easy one-pot meal that can be made in less than one hour from scratch. The lentil-rich soup is healthy and packed with comforting chicken soup flavor, while the red lentils add volume and thickness.
Enjoy this comforting soup as a midweek family meal alongside soft dinner rolls or garlic bread.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Chicken lentil soup is a complete meal that’s both nutritious and comforting. It’s packed with fiber-rich lentils, fresh veggies, aromatic herbs, and tender chicken.
- This soup is an easy Dutch oven recipe that stores well in the fridge and freezer - perfect for family meal prep.
- This one-pot chicken lentil soup can be made from scratch in less than one hour with budget-friendly ingredients.
Get ahead of any winter colds and flu by fueling your body with this healthy and delicious chicken lentil soup!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this recipe's ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- low-sodium chicken broth
- dry red lentils - this type cooks faster
- diced cooked chicken - we like the convenience of using rotisserie chicken from the store.
- Dijon mustard - adds color, tastes, and helps emulsify the soup.
- tomato paste - adds flavor, color, and also helps to emulsify the soup. We do like using the Mutti tomato paste for quality and taste.
- red lentils -- these are faster cooking than the other varieties.
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Sauté carrots in a large pot over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add celery and garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Add lentils and stir.
- Add the broth, water, bay leaves, and Italian seasoning.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Stir in chicken, Dijon, tomato paste, and salt.
- Simmer soup to heat through and season with pepper.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- Dutch oven or Soup Pot
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Measuring spoons
- Dry Measuring cups
- Liquid measuring cup
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Lentil With Chicken Soup Recipe.
Absolutely! Lentils are rich in fiber, minerals, and plant protein. They’re also low in fat and help to aid digestive health.
Lentils are a popular ingredient in hearty soups, stews, and salads. They tend to absorb the flavors of other foods, broth, and seasoning, which makes them an easy add-in.
Yes, you can. Overcooked lentils will become mushy and soft. It's important to remember that different types of food need different cooking times. So, it's best to stick to the cooking times suggested in the recipe.
This depends on what you want from your lentils. Red lentils cook quickly and break down as they cook. This makes a smooth soup. In contrast, green and brown lentils keep their shape. They add more texture to the soup.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- If you want to freeze this chicken lentil soup, let it cool completely first. Then, pour the soup into Ziploc bags, making individual portions. This way, you can easily defrost and reheat just what you need.
- This chicken lentil soup is already gluten-free. To thicken the soup, add a cornstarch slurry to keep the dish gluten-free.
- Only add the cooked chicken towards the end of the cooking otherwise, it will become quite tough and chewy.
- Don’t add raw chicken to this soup, as it won’t cook long enough for this dish to be safe to eat.
- You don’t need to soak your lentils before cooking them in this soup. Red lentils naturally cook faster and soften very easily.
📚 Variations
- You can use leftover turkey instead of chicken to make turkey lentil soup. I’ve chopped my cooked chicken, but you could use shredded chicken instead or use rotisserie chicken for convenience.
- For a little kick of heat to your chicken lentil soup, add cayenne pepper or red chili flakes to the soup.
- Vegetable broth can be used instead of chicken broth. The broth I’ve used is low-sodium, but you can use regular broth and then omit the salt in the recipe ingredients.
- If you prefer not to use red lentils, you can use green or brown lentils instead. Just keep in mind that they will need a different cooking time. Also, they will add more texture to the soup compared to red lentils.
🥫 Storage
Once the soup is completely cool, put the leftover chicken lentil soup in an airtight container. You can keep it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Leftover or thawed soup can be reheated in single portions in the microwave or larger portions on the stovetop.
📗 Related Recipes
Looking for more soup recipes to keep you warm and full during the winter months? Here are some of my favorite lentil and chicken soups to try:
- Spicy Vegetable Italian Lentil Soup - A lentil-rich soup that’s quick to make and loaded with nutritional veggies and Italian flavors.
- Copycat Chili's Southwest Chicken Soup - Nothing warms you up better than chili soup. This copycat soup is so good you’ll think it’s the real deal!
- Southwest Chicken Tortellini Soup With Spinach - The combination of tender chicken and fresh tortellini pasta in this Southwest dish is mouth-watering.
- Hearty Lentil Bolognese - This sauce proves that plant-based meals can be as comforting as meat-based. This recipe is rich, flavorful, and perfect for a cozy dinner.
🍽 Serve with
Enjoy this Lentil Soup with Chicken as a complete meal. You can also serve it with cornbread muffins, grilled cheese sandwiches, buttered dinner rolls, soft breadsticks, or homemade buttermilk biscuits.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
Pasta and meat are my go-to staples for homemade soups, especially those passed down in my family. Lately, I've also fallen in love with lentils. They’re a fantastic addition to soups, stews, and salads. Lentils add volume to any dish without overpowering the flavors or other ingredients!
If you’ve never enjoyed lentils in your soup, now is the time! They are delicious and extremely healthy too!
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📝 Recipe Card
Chicken Lentil Soup is a hearty dish made with a simple chicken soup base. It features red lentils, Italian seasoning, and chopped cooked chicken. This combination creates a complete meal that’s both delicious and satisfying! Enjoy your hearty lentil soup with soft breadsticks, garlic bread, or flatbread.
A soup you've got to try is the Quick and Easy Black-Eyed Pea Soup recipe. It's brimming with goodness and steeped in Southern tradition. We make this for New Year's Day.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Mediterranean Chicken Lentil Soup
Equipment Needed
- Dutch oven soup pot
Ingredients
- ½ cup carrot sliced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup celery chopped
- 2 TAblespoons fresh garlic minced
- 1 cup dry red lentils
- 4 cups chicken broth low-sodium
- 2 cups water
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken (10 oz)
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Sauté the carrot in oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until starting to brown, stirring often, 5-7 minutes
- Add onion and sauté until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in celery and garlic; sauté 1 minute.
- Add lentils, stirring to coat. Stir in broth, water, bay leaves, and Italian seasoning; bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer soup until lentil are tender, 15 minutes.
- Stir in chicken, Dijon, tomato paste, and salt. Simmer soup to heat through, then season with freshly ground black pepper.
Notes
- Browning carrots is a delicious way to add another dimension of flavor to the soup.
- Use rotisserie or leftover cooked chicken to make quick work of getting the soup on the table.
- Dijon and tomato paste emulsify the broth while enriching the flavor and color of the soup.
Nutrition
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Vita
Very good and hearty. What serving size is it…….calories 378.
Marisa Franca
Thank you, Vita. I'm so glad you liked it as much as we do. The recipe makes 4 Hearty portions at about 1 1/2 cups and 6 smaller side portions of about one cup. Have a wonderful Fall season!
Claire
This chicken lentil soup was so so SO good! I have a feeling this is going to be our go-to comfort soup this fall and winter.
Valentina
This looks super delicious! I love a good lentil soup and will def make this over the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Jacqueline Debono
We eat a lot of lentils and I often make them as a side dish for chicken! So, this recipe was a must try for me! So delicious and nutritious, easy to make too!
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer
Even with it being 114° here in Arizona this soup was a must make! Such a great recipe full of so much flavor!!!
Kathryn
I love this chicken and lentil soup! It's so hearty and healthy too 🙂 Going to make a double batch of this so I have it ready when I'm craving this again.
Bernice
With all those amazing flavours and protein this was a very satisfying bowl of soup. I'm glad I made a double batch for freezing!
Sharon
This chicken lentil soup was a great way to use up some red lentils that I had on hand, it was so hearty and full of flavor.
Loreto and Nicoletta
Even though it is summer, I could go for a bowl of this soup. Lentils are a staple in our home and you are right, they do add a rich substantial texture to the soup. The mustard is an interesting addition, very curious! Thanks for sharing! ❤️ 😍
Cathleen
I love a good lentil soup, so this looks right up my alley! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, it is on my to-do list this week 🙂
Colleen
My family loves this chicken lentil soup. There's never any leftovers. Thanks for sharing.