This is a delicious traditional Bulgarian lentil soup ready to eat in just 25 min. It is made from lentils, fresh vegetables, and a tasty blend of seasoning. My family has been cooking this soup since I remember. I enjoy this soup on cold winter nights, but also in the summer as a light dinner. Lentil is rich in protein so although you are eating a light soup you don’t get hungry as quickly. Check out our traditional Bulgarian bean soup. It is a very similar legume soup.
Lentil Soup Ingredients
Brown Lentils
We use “real” ingredients for this soup. The main ingredient of the lentil soup as the name suggests is brown lentil. Brown lentils are the traditional color of lentil used in Bulgaria. I have tried this soup with green and yellow lentils and is as delicious.
Vegetables In Lentil Soup
We also use fresh vegetables for this soup. The vegetable stock makes the soup really tasty.
- Bell pepper in any color will do for the soup. You can also use sweet mini peppers in different colors.
- Onion is one of the main ingredients in my kitchen I use over and over again. I use yellow onion for this soup. Onions are really healthy. They have antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Some people are allergic to onions so feel free to skip this ingredient as needed.
- I skipped the garlic in this recipe because we eat the lentils soup with fresh garlic on the side. Garlic, like onion, is a superfood. It has anti-inflammatory properties too and is really helpful to fight against colds. We eat fresh garlic to benefit the most from this superfood. If you are not a big fan of fresh garlic, just add it to the soup. You won’t notice it is there when you eat it.
- I use marinara in this recipe but in Bulgaria, people would usually use fresh tomato and cut it up. I always have marinara in my fridge to use in soups. It saves me time for cutting up tomatoes. Also, my younger daughter doesn’t like to eat tomatoes, so when I use marinara she can’t tell she is eating this great nutrient.
- I add carrots in this soup. Some people in Bulgaria will skip the carrots and just use the basic onion/tomato/peppers combination. You can use small baby carrots to speed up the preparation as they are easier to cup, already pre-washed, and sometimes pre-peeled too.
Ingredient Additions And Substitutions
In addition to the pepper, onion, and tomato-based ingredients, you can add other vegetables too. Sometimes I add celery. Kale and spinach could also be a great addition to lentils. You can also use fresh herbs for seasoning. I tend to like the dried seasoning blend better because I am used to the specific mint/savory combination I have been eating for years.
Equipment
This traditional Bulgarian lentil soup doesn’t require any special kitchen equipment. You just need basic kitchen appliances such as pots, measuring cups, strainer, etc. I love my stainless steel pot so check it out. The pot is made out of stain steel so it doesn’t have harmful chemicals entering the soup when high temperature is used.
Bulgarian Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup lentil dry
- 1 carrot
- ½ onion
- ½ bell pepper
- 2 tbsp marinara
- ½ tsp mint dried
- 1 tsp savory dried
- 1 tsp parsley dried
- ¼ tsp pink himalayan salt
Instructions
Prep
- Wash hands with soap and water. Check out our article about how to wash hands properly
- Gently rub produce under cold running water. Scrub firm produce with a clean vegetable brush under running water.
- Peel and chop 1 carrot
- Chop ½ yellow onion
- Core and dice ½ bell pepper
Cook
- In a pot over high heat, add 2 liters warm water
- With strainer, wash the lentil.
- Add lentils to warm water.
- Cover the pot and bring water to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-high once water starts boiling.
- Simmer the lentil until it gets soft and almost ready to eat (about 20 min)
- Add chopped 1 carrot, ½ onion, ½ bell pepper, and 2 tbsp marinara
- Season the soup with ½ tsp dried mint, 1 tsp dried savory, 1 tsp dried parsley, ¼ tsp pink Himalayan salt
- Simmer the vegetables and seasoning for 5 min
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If you like the carrots very soft, then add the carrots to the soup earlier to simmer for a longer time along with the lentil
- You can use fresh seasoning (mint, parsley, and savory).
- Feel free to add other vegetables to the soup such as celery
- I simmer the lentil with the pot covered. However, be careful if the heat is too much as the water will boil over your pot
- The traditional lentil in Bulgaria is brown so this recipe is made from brown lentil. Feel free to use other colors to your taste.
- We are extremely excited to announce we are now using the saferecipeguide.org guidelines to make our recipe safe-friendly. We will slowly be incorporating the safe recipe guidelines into our recipe instructions!
Nutrition
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Great article