Aggie's Kitchen

Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup with Spinach

This Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup with Spinach is a hearty vegetarian soup with simple ingredients, similar to the traditional Sicilian lentil soup I grew up eating. It’s packed with protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates – all good things your body needs! Easy to make and makes a big batch for freezing.

lentil soup sprinkled with parmesan reggiano cheese in a white bowl on a green napkin

 

I don’t know about you, but I love having a nice hearty soup waiting for me in the fridge, especially on weeknights. I find myself making large pots of soups on Sundays which in turn carry me through the week with leftovers for lunches and an easy dinner.  I love soups just like this Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup with Spinach, full of wholesome protein and vegetables – basically everything you need for a good quick meal in a bowl.

 

large soup pot filled with lentil and vegetable soup

 

This vegetarian Lentil Soup recipe is especially great for those of you who are trying to incorporate more meatless meals into your daily diet. It’s very filling and satisfying and you can even give it a little more protein and texture by adding broken pieces whole wheat spaghetti or pasta to it (whole wheat pastas are a great way to bump up protein). I love to serve it with grated parmesan cheese (freshly grated if you have it or use my favorite shredded Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco).

Are lentils healthy?

Lentils are not only a staple in an Italian kitchen, but also a vegetarian one. They are a complex carbohydrate and are high protein as well as fiber. They are also naturally gluten-free. It’s no secret they are an absolute powerhouse when it comes to nutrition. If you are looking to boost your protein intake, lentils make a great choice!

More healthy lentil recipes to try:

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Slow Cooker Lentil and Quinoa Chili

Lentil Salad with Carrots and Cilantro

 

white bowl on a green napkin filled with lentil and vegetable soup sprinkled with paremsan cheese

So delicious.

This Italian Lentil Soup recipe makes a lot of soup – about 15 cups of soup and about 8-10 servings, based on serving size. I like to freeze my leftover soup in 4 cup glass Pyrex containers like these (affiliate link). To defrost, set in refrigerator overnight and warm slowly in a pot over medium heat or in individual bowls in microwave. Add additional liquid if needed.

glass pyrex containers filled with soup

Ingredients for Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 2-3 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1lb dried lentils
  • 2 15 oz cans diced Italian tomatoes, with liquid
  • 4 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
  • 5 cups water
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • 4 pinches kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, divided
  • 10 oz bag fresh spinach
  • fresh grated Parmesan, for serving
 

How To Make Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup

  1. In a large pot, heat olive oil and add diced carrots, celery, onion, pepper and minced garlic. Season with 2 pinches of salt and fresh ground pepper. Saute vegetables in oil for about 7-10 minutes until soft and fragrant.
  2. Add lentils, diced tomatoes, vegetable or chicken stock and water to vegetable mixture. Add 2 more pinches of salt.
  3. Bring soup to a slow boil over medium high heat for a few minutes, then back down to a simmer over low heat. Simmer, with lid half on, for about 35-40 minutes stirring occasionally, until soup starts to thicken.
  4. Taste for salt and pepper as its cooking and add more water if it gets too thick. The lentils will absorb most of the liquid in the soup while cooking but you’ll still want it to have liquid once done cooking.
  5. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add fresh spinach leaves to soup and gently stir to combine.
  6. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and lots of it!

white bowl on a green napkin filled with lentil and vegetable soup

Healthy Soup Recipes

Soup is one of my go to meals when I’m trying to trim some pounds or just generally feel healthier. Some soups I tend to make often are  Slow Cooker Italian Sausage and Kale Soup with Sweet PotatoesSlow Cooker Split Pea Soup, Italian Vegetable Beef Soup and Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup.

 
Print

Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup with Spinach

  • Author: Aggie Goodman
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minites
  • Total Time: 0 hours
  • Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
  • Category: Soup
  • Method: Stove
  • Cuisine: Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 23 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 34 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1lb dried lentils
  • 2 15 oz cans diced Italian tomatoes, with liquid
  • 4 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
  • 5 cups water
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • 4 pinches kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, divided
  • 10 oz bag fresh spinach
  • fresh grated Parmesan, for serving

Instructions

  1. In a large pot, heat olive oil and add diced carrots, celery, onion, pepper and minced garlic. Season with 2 pinches of salt and fresh ground pepper. Saute vegetables in oil for about 7-10 minutes until soft and fragrant.
  2. Add lentils, diced tomatoes, vegetable or chicken stock and water to vegetable mixture. Add 2 more pinches of salt.
  3. Bring soup to a slow boil over medium high heat for a few minutes, then back down to a simmer over low heat. Simmer, with lid half on, for about 35-40 minutes stirring occasionally, until soup starts to thicken.
  4. Taste for salt and pepper as its cooking and add more water if it gets too thick. The lentils will absorb most of the liquid in the soup while cooking but you’ll still want it to have liquid once done cooking.
  5. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add fresh spinach leaves to soup and gently stir to combine.
  6. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and lots of it!

Notes

This recipe makes about 15 cups of soup and about 8-10 servings, based on serving size. I like to freeze my leftover soup in 4 cup glass Pyrex containers like these (affiliate link). To defrost, set in refrigerator overnight and warm slowly in a pot over medium heat or in individual bowls in microwave. Add additional liquid if needed.

 

 

 

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73 comments on “Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup with Spinach”

  1. MMMMM, looks and sounds FANTASTIC!! my mouth is watering Aggie!!

    Thanks for linking up to the party!

  2. Wow! This sounds amazing, can’t wait to try it 🙂 I’m also trying to include more meatless entrees to my diet, so I think this will be a great dinner alternative!

  3. This sounds sooo yummy, and you could not be more right …. “so many recipes, so little time.” Love it.

    I’d like to invite you to participate in Foodie Friday. Thanks again for the recipe… I’m looking forward to trying it. Love lentils.

  4. Agree! I’m a huge soup/stew/chili fan! A big pot can totally carry you through the week. Delicious & healthy! This looks perfect

  5. I’m a big fan of the detox soup as well! Made split pea and froze it–pulling that out for tonight!

  6. Hits the spot is right!!!! Bulls-eye!

  7. I love lentil soup! This recipe looks especially good!

  8. This soup has delicious and comfort written all over it. Could go for a big bowl right now.

  9. We love making big batches of soup, too. I love that this has a good dose of healthy protein.

  10. Pingback: Spinach, Tomato and Lentil Soup | Aggie's Kitchen | ClubEvoo

  11. I love lentil soup and this one looks very delicious Aggie. Great photos.

  12. Gorgeous soup Aggie:)I make a soup once a week. I like to give my dad a portion. I like the idea of freezing it. Lentils are my favorite!!

  13. This looks amazing! I have a bag of lentils in the pantry I wanted to do something with, perfect! Love that it makes a butt load 🙂

  14. Thanks for this great recipe! I have linked to it in a post with our (The Chef and I) top picks from the Soup-a-Palooza and we can’t wait to try it. I’d like to invite you to participate in our Foodie Friday event. Thanks again!

  15. This looks awesome! I can’t wait to meet you in April! 😉

  16. this soup looks fantastic!

  17. I’m on this one! I’m craving Ginger. Do you have a good soup recipe with Ginger flavor?

  18. Oh, friend, this sounds amazing! ON a cold rainy day …

    Love ya!

  19. Hi Aggie,

    Curious about how many oz. or ml are the canned diced tomatoes use you. I am gonna try the recipe tonight:)

  20. I love soup but it definitely must have spice and pep for me to enjoy! This recipe sounds like it would do the trick!

  21. I would really enjoy a bowl of this warming soup right about now! I agree about the BTB brand of stock bases, they are about as good as any restaurant quality brand you can get. I typically will have a jar of the chicken, beef, and vegetable on hand.

    If you have access to Minor’s brand of bases, they have amazing shrimp, lobster, ham, and mushroom bases too!

  22. How do you do it Aggie? I love your blog, recipes, photos and all! This soup sounds great!

  23. Hi. I always loved tomato and lentil soup but I never tried adding spinach to it. Well, considering the fact that I love spinach too, I guess I might as well add it and follow your recipe. Thanks for sharing it. And by the way, your soup looks amazing.

  24. yummm! I love lentils! This is a perfect winter soup!

  25. I could live off of eating soup everyday and nothing else. I bet it tastes as good as it looks. Yummy!

  26. Hey Aggie,

    This soup is just so healthy and wholesome! I’ve been making soup a lot of late and baking bread to have with … it’s a wintertime thing, I guess!

    I’m passing an award your way, Aggie! I love the look of your site and although you may be too busy to pass it forward to some of your fave bloggers, you deserve it just the same, hence a Stylish Blogger Award, from me to you! Your site is fresh looking and easy to negotiate. It’s always an inspiration to me … thanks for your hard work!

    http://thespicegarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/well-hoop-de-doo-thanks-chris-and-amy.html#comments

  27. Even before reading the post, I read the title and instantly though “how healthy and yummy!” I’m bookmarking this recipe!

  28. I’ve been on such a lentil kick lately! That looks wonderful.

  29. Great post – this is just what I was looking for. Will have more of a nose around your site – thanks for the inspiration!

  30. Aggie, this looks delicious! I really wanted to participate in the Soupalooza but didn’t have time. Hope you win one of the prizes.

  31. I love making a pot of soup to have for lunch during the week, too! I haven’t made lentil soup yet, but may have to try it after seeing your soup! Yum!

  32. Im normally not a lentil fan..but i really want to like them as they are soo good for you. Anyway I made this soup Sunday night and had it last night for dinner. It was so yummy and we have so much leftover. I am freezing it and will redish it as a rice topper.

  33. We are making this soup tonight!! Of our top picks from Soup-a-Palooza, The Chef and I decided on this one to try first when trying to figure out what new recipe we were going to make. The house smells so good.

  34. Looks hearty and delicious!

  35. The spinach and lentil soup was amazing!

  36. Pingback: Smoky Sausage and Vegetable Soup

  37. This was excellent – I added a small head of purple cabbage at the end, just before the spinach.

    Some people may feel it lacks salt, so add as desired.

    Thank you for the recipe!
    Anna

  38. Pingback: Mediterranean Lentil Salad | Aggie's Kitchen

  39. Thank you for the nice lentil soup recipe. I love lentils.

  40. A google search brought me to this recipe
    Made it today/yummy – definitely a keeper
    Didn’t use the red pepper-I find sometimes pepper flavor overwhelms
    Great with Romano cheese

    Thanks for sharing
    Kathy

  41. Pingback: Healthy Comfort Food: Beef, Lentil and Spinach Stew | I Crashed The Web

  42. Nice recipe. Thank you and Happy New Year.

  43. Pingback: Spinach, Tomato and Lentil Soup | Fork Lore

  44. Nice Information regarding Blog Commenting very nice helpful post!






  45. love your recipe, very detailed, and depth writing style. this recipe has been on my bucket list. thanks for sharing.






  46. I am surely going to try this, Thank you for sharing recipe 🙂






  47. I like this recipe..Thanks for sharing and keep sharing different dishes information.






  48. Beautiful recipe, I love the marble background too. I wonder how we could add some color to our dragon fruit recipe.






  49. I love this soup. I love making big batches of soup, too. Thank you for the recipe!






  50. Nice recipe and good article






  51. Very valuable information, it is not at all blogs that we find this, congratulations I was looking for something like that and found it here.

    Best Mediciner Online

  52. I hate lentil to the point that i am searching some receipts to make me eat it and happy

  53. Every recipe looks so delicious on your site! can’t wait to try some of them. Keep these unique things coming! 🙂






  54. Hi,
    It’s very fantastic soup for healthy diet every day






  55. My number one blog for recipe.. always helping me out






  56. I love soup. I learnt about this soup recipe. I think it will be very delicious and healthy. I will try it definitely. Thanks very much for sharing this informative post.






  57. Absolutely love it!Thank you for keeping the recipe simple and easy.Exactly what I was looking for.Will be making this for dinner tonight.But is there any way that soups could be made deliciously without onion and garlic?Is there any alternative vegetables spices Which compensate onion and garlic taste?






  58. What a beautiful taste! Tastes like home.






  59. Thanks for sharing the great recipe!






  60. Thanks for sharing the great recipe!






  61. yuuum! Wow friend amazing thanks for sharing this amazing info with us, I am here for making the ITALIAN TOMATO and you guide me very well step by step I Love it






  62. love the dish made here. I have made grilled tomato and potato mixture with black salt. really loved






  63. Thanks for sharing this tomato soup recipe. We definitely try at home.






  64. I try it at home. I got amazing results






  65. Wow! Thanks for sharing awesome recipe Aggie. Excited to try this!






  66. Hits the spot is right!!!! Bulls-eye!






  67. This sounds sooo yummy, and you could not be more right …. “so many recipes, so little time.” Love it.






  68. Hello, dear
    your recipe is great. My kid does not like lentils. I tried your recipe, and my son enjoyed it.

    best wishes

    Dhara