The World's Best Lentil Soup Recipe

That title is no joke - last night I ate the best lentil soup I've ever had. Ever. Considering my insane love of soup, trust me when I say it's a big deal.I saw a Facebook friend of mine post a picture of lentil soup she was making the other day, and an intense craving was born. When I asked her for the recipe, she directed me to the recipe she used on Allrecipes.com and told me about the modifications she made. I looked at that recipe, and then went to Pinterest to see if I could find any variations that I liked better.

The Recipe

I settled on a recipe that I thought sounded the the tastiest. I then proceeded to make modifications to make it more suited to our particular tastes. Here is the recipe we ended up with:

• 2 tbs. Olive Oil

• 1 C. minced onion

• 3/4 C. diced carrot

• 2 c. while button mushrooms, sliced

• 1 tbs. minced garlic

• 1 lb. uncooked, loose sweet Italian sausage

• 1 C. diced ham (we used a ham steak, but a leftover hambone would be ideal)

• 7 cups chicken broth

• 7 cups beef broth

• 1 lb. dried lentils

• 2 large tomatoes, diced

• 2 tbs. vinegar

• 1 handful minced fresh parsley

• 1 handful minced fresh basil

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. black pepper

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

• 1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flakes

(Pardon the blurry photos - it's all on the hubby. lol)

Heat up Olive Oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot mushrooms and garlic.

Veggies in the pot

Add sausage to the pot and saute for 8 minutes, stirring often. Break up sausage as it cooks.

In goes the sausage

Add ham and cook for an additional minute.

In goes te ham

Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Viola!

In goes all the rest

Simmering away

Follow this recipe and you are guaranteed an amazing lentil soup - rich, hardy, and very warming on a cold January evening. The red pepper flakes give it just enough extra heat to warm you right down to your toes.A few caveats - the salt level may be a bit much for some people. With the broth, you can cut cut out the additional salt completely, or cut it down. I would suggest tasting it before you add the salt.We agreed that the next time we made this we would definitely add more tomato - as is, the tomatoes dissolve and pretty much disappear in the soup - we would definitely like more. We also agreed some fresh celery tossed in would make a welcome addition.Any way you may choose to modify it yourself, this is an amazing, flavorful lentil soup. We had it with a slice of thick white bread from our local bakery - outstanding :)