Hearty Italian Lentil Soup Recipe - Allrecipes.com
  • READY IN 1¾ hrs

Hearty Italian Lentil Soup

Read Reviews (12)

"You can change the recipe to suit your tastes; use your favorite jarred sauce if you don't have any homemade, or use your own family's meatball recipe!" —  

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Original recipe makes 8 servings Change Servings
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Directions

  1. Place lentils in a pot with 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
  2. Bring rice and 1 1/3 cup water to boil in a pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. In a bowl, combine the ground beef, beaten egg, garlic, 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, parsley, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Form ground beef mixture into 1 inch balls. Place meatballs in skillet and cook 5 minutes or until evenly brown.
  4. In a large pot, bring the tomato sauce and 4 cups water to a boil. Transfer the browned meatballs to the pot. Mix in cooked lentils and rice. Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese to serve.
Kitchen-Friendly View
  • PREP 15 mins
  • COOK 1 hr 30 mins
  • READY IN 1 hr 45 mins
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Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review
Feb 08, 2007

FYI - This recipe was completely overhauled from my original version. Keep in mind that this dish should be thick enough to almost hold a spoon up in it. I hope this version still does my recipe justice.

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Most Helpful Critical Review
May 16, 2011

Prepared per the recipe, without changes. This soup was only okay for my family. Not sure I will make this again, as it was time consuming forming the meatballs & preparing the lentils & rice separately.

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Sep 09, 2008

4 stars as written, 5 stars with some adjustments I made. I didn't have to let the rice cook for 20 minutes because it would have burned. I also didn't have to drain the lentils, because after they simmered for 20 mins it was basically a mushy soup itself. I added a lot of dried basil, garlic salt, oregano and more parsley to both the meatballs and the soup itself. The soup was wonderful and hearty - but definitely needed the extra spices for flavor.

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Mar 05, 2007

This was a terrific recipe for using up a lot of leftovers we had hanging around. I used some homemade meat sauce instead of the separate meatballs - and it turned out beautifully. Even our kids loved it. Beware, though - this makes a BIG pot!

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Jan 26, 2010

Delicious! I made several changes - instead of making meatballs, took someone's advice and sauteed ground beef with one chopped onion and 2 garlic cloves. Also added spices from another lentil recipe - 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp curry powder. I also used this and that for tomato sauce 1 8oz can tomato sauce, 1 6oz can tomato paste, 2 cups spaghetti sauce. This is the lentil soup recipe I've been trying to find for about 4 years - Thanks!!!

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Jun 04, 2008

Fabulous recipe, absolutely scrumptious. I made it tonight for dinner and when I first made it, I thought it was going to be too runny. But after I simmered it for 30 mins - PERFECT. Thanks for sharing, this will be a favourite.

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Mar 08, 2011

Make those meatballs really small otherwise they take over the flavors as you eat the soup but I thought this recipe was so satisfying and appealing to all while you get your protein from the lentils! YUMMO

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Apr 27, 2009

Made a couple of changes...added extra seasoning as someone else had suggested and a package of dry onion soup mix to the water and tomato sauce. Makes a lot! Pretty good...a nice, hearty soup that goes well with a crusty loaf of bread.

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Nutrition

  • Calories
  • 324 kcal
  • 16%
  • Carbohydrates
  • 34.1 g
  • 11%
  • Cholesterol
  • 64 mg
  • 21%
  • Fat
  • 11.9 g
  • 18%
  • Fiber
  • 6.8 g
  • 27%
  • Protein
  • 20.9 g
  • 42%
  • Sodium
  • 835 mg
  • 33%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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