A delicious vegan soup even veggie snobs will love

My son is a very particular eater. There is very little he is happy to eat, and  he does justice to his Italian name: carbs, carbs, and more carbs, please. Give him pasta and fruit and he’s happy. But there is one thing I make that he eats and asks for more. The best part? It’s healthy, delicious, and vegan to boot. And the rest of the family loves it, too. This Vegan Red Lentil Soup freezes well and is a great thing to pull out of the freezer on a busy night to save your money and your time.

Let it be known that I’m not a vegan (I’m not even a bona-fide vegetarian), but I do enjoy making high-iron, high-protein vegan meals frequently, because they’re healthy, keep well, and are often super tasty.

I started making red lentil soup from a recipe in a cookbook, but over the years I have changed this soup so much and added so much to it, that now mine is a recipe in its own right. So here I give you the instructions for a delicious meal that will please even the most avid meat lovers. Oh, the photos of the soup are from a Creative Commons site and not of my actual soup, because kids. I guarantee that though my soup looks nowhere near as pretty, it tastes just as delicious as the ones on the photos look.

Vegan Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp canola (or other cooking oil)

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground ginger (or 1/2 tsp fresh ginger)

Dash cayenne pepper

4 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery sticks, diced

1 can diced tomatoes (8 fluid ounces)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

2 cups red lentils, rinsed

6-8 cups vegetable broth (more broth if you prefer a more watery soup, less broth if you prefer a thicker soup).

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, ginger, and cayenne pepper, and sauté until fragrant, about 2- minutes. Add the carrots and celery and mix to coat with the spices. If the onions and garlic are starting to stick to the bottom of the pot, add a splash of veggie broth or water. 

Cook the carrots and celery until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, quinoa, and red lentils and stir to combine. Cook for another minute or so, and then add the veggie broth.

Cook, uncovered, and mixing occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes, until the lentils and quinoa are soft. If the soup starts to boil before the 15-minute mark, be sure to lower the heat until the quinoa and lentils are cooked through. Do a taste test and add any more spices and/or salt to your liking.

Take about half the soup and place it into a high-powered blender. Blend the soup, then add it back to the pot and mix together. The result will be a deliciously creamy, orange-coloured soup that’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Enjoy!