Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup

Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup is packed with veggies, lentils, and smoky goodness! Hearty home-cooked comfort food, perfect for a winter’s day.

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Winter days call for home-cooked comfort food, and what’s more comforting than a big old pot full of soup — set off by just a bit of smoky bacon and fire roasted diced tomatoes? Today’s hearty Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup hits the spot. Packed with filling lentils & mushrooms, this simple soup recipe is surprisingly full of complex flavor and texture.

I like to use green lentils in soups and chilis; they maintain their shape and texture better than red, and have a little bite to them. Here, they help provide a delicious textural counterpoint to the roughly chopped mushrooms and crumbled bacon.

Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup

Ingredients

6 strips of bacon
2 medium carrots, diced (I used a couple handfuls of baby carrots)
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic (about six cloves)
16 oz baby bella and/or white mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
48 oz chicken broth
1 cup dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
1.5 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary, slightly crushed between your fingers
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 bay leaf
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

Cook bacon over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot until crispy. Remove bacon from the pot to a separate paper-towel-lined plate, but do not drain the pot.

While the bacon is cooking, chop the carrots and onion.

Reduce heat to medium and add the chopped carrots and onion to the pot. Saute your veggies in the bacon drippings over medium heat for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

While the carrots and onion are cooking, clean and chop the mushrooms and mince the garlic (if not using pre-minced)

Stir the garlic and mushrooms into the pot. Continue to saute over medium heat for another 5 minutes until mushrooms begin to brown and soften, stirring occasionally.

While the mushrooms are cooking, rinse and drain the lentils.

Turn the heat under the pot to high. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, lentils, and spices, and crumble in the cooked bacon.

Bring your soup to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, or until lentils are tender.

Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, and add a bit more sea salt & pepper to taste, if desired.

Recommended: Serve your rustic mushroom lentil soup with a crusty bread.

Note: I used regular bacon here. If you are using less fatty, higher quality bacon, you may need to add a little olive oil when sauteing your mushrooms. Note that it’s also fine if you are using a smaller Dutch oven and the bacon crowds the pot a a little; you’re crumbling it anyway, so don’t need beautiful straight strips.

Everything’s better with bacon

Just a little bit of bacon gives this rustic lentil mushroom soup a delicious underlying smoky flavor. While it does take a bit of time to cook up, half of that is hands-off — you’re just leaving the lentils to simmer to the perfect state of tenderness.

Today’s soup recipe is also naturally gluten free. Pair it with bread and/or salad for a simple cold-weather meal.

Recipes for the rest of your lentils?

Make the most of your bag of green lentils with more filling recipe ideas, such as:

• Vegetarian three bean & lentil chili
• Vegetarian chipotle lentil tacos
• Slow cooker lentil & smoked sausage soup

I just love lentils! Pick up a bag to re-stock your pantry, every time they re-appear at your local ALDI.

Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup, printable recipe

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Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup

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Rustic Mushroom Lentil Soup is packed with veggies, lentils, and smoky goodness! Hearty comfort food, perfect for a winter’s day.

Course dinner

Cuisine soup

Keyword gluten free, lentil soup, lentils, mushroom lentil soup, mushroom soup, mushrooms, soup

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 6

Author Rachel Singer

Equipment

fine mesh strainer

dutch oven

Ingredients

• 6 strips of bacon
• 2 medium carrots diced (I used a couple handfuls of baby carrots)
• 1/2 of a medium yellow onion roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic about six cloves
• 16 oz baby bella and/or white mushrooms roughly chopped
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 48 oz chicken broth
• 1 cup dried green lentils rinsed and drained
• 1.5 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp rosemary slightly crushed between your fingers
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 bay leaf
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions

• Cook bacon over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot until crispy. Remove bacon from the pot to a separate paper-towel-lined plate, but do not drain the pot.
• While the bacon is cooking, chop the carrots and onion.
• Reduce heat to medium and add the chopped carrots and onion to the pot. Saute your veggies in the bacon drippings over medium heat for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
• While the carrots and onion are cooking, clean and chop the mushrooms and mince the garlic (if not using pre-minced)
• Stir the garlic and mushrooms into the pot. Continue to saute over medium heat for another 5 minutes until mushrooms begin to brown and soften, stirring occasionally.
• While the mushrooms are cooking, rinse and drain the lentils.
• Turn the heat under the pot to high. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, lentils, and spices, and crumble in the cooked bacon.
• Bring your soup to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, or until lentils are tender.
• Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, and add a bit more sea salt & pepper to taste, if desired.
• Recommended: Serve your rustic mushroom lentil soup with a crusty bread.

Notes

I used regular bacon here. If you are using less fatty, higher quality bacon, you may need to add a little olive oil when sauteing your mushrooms. Note that it’s also fine if you are using a smaller Dutch oven and the bacon crowds the pot a a little; you’re crumbling it anyway, so don’t need beautiful straight strips.

Recipes in the real world

Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!

Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!