This recipe comes from my daughter’s Waldorf school where the kids make this soup in kindergarten, and it’s absolutely delicious. If a kindergartener can make this soup, so can you!

In fact, I make this for pretty much every soup party now because it’s so well-loved by kids and adults alike. The recipe is traditionally vegetarian and you only need water, but if you want to, you can also make your own bone broth the night before. To do that, you’ll take bones from a previously cooked chicken, and add them to a slow cooker with any garden scraps you’ve been saving in your freezer. Then you’ll add 8 cups of water, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, set the slow cooker to low, and leave overnight. At least 12 hours is great, but it can cook up to 48 hours. In the morning, strain your broth over cheesecloth, and add the broth to the slow cooker. Make sure you have about 8 cups of stock, and add water if you don’t.

Now if you don’t want to do all that, you can make the vegetarian version and just start with 8 cups of water, and add it to the slow cooker, set to high. In a skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil, and when it gets hot, add half an onion, diced, and two minced cloves of garlic. Let them cook for a few minutes to release the gasses in the onions, then pour them into the soup along with 3 cups of halved baby potatoes, two carrots sliced how you like them, 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari, and a half teaspoon each of dried marjoram, thyme, and sweet basil.

You can let it cook on high for four hours, or low for up to eight hours. About an hour before you want to serve, add 2 cups of chopped kale and 1/2 cup of French green lentils. Now, the most important part—add the salt and pepper! I recommend adding half a teaspoon at a time until you get the saltiness you like. This will sit all day on low, which makes it super easy to make, and you can also make it ahead and freeze it! I’d just save the lentils and kale until the day you serve it.

Veggie Lentil Soup

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A classic in Waldorf kindergarten classrooms, this Veggie Lentil Soup is incredibly easy to make and is packed with flavor. It’s always a hit at our soup swap parties!

• Author: Amanda MacArthur
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 4-8 hours
• Total Time: 4-8 hours and 20 minutes
• Yield: 12 servings 1x
• Category: Soups

Ingredients

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• 8 cups water or chicken stock
• Olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups baby potatoes, halved
• 1 carrot, sliced how you like it
• 1/4 cup soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil
• 2 cups kale, chopped
• 1/2 cup French green lentils
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Add 8 cups of water to a slow cooker and set to high.
2. In a skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil, and when it gets hot, add onions and garlic. Let them cook for a few minutes to release the gasses in the onions, then pour them into the slow cooker along with the potatoes and carrots, soy sauce, and dried marjoram, thyme, and sweet basil.
3. Cook on high for four hours, or low for up to eight hours.
4. About an hour before you want to serve, add the kale and lentils.
5. Before serving, add salt and pepper to taste. 

If you make this Veggie Lentil Soup, let me know what you think. I make it at least once a week because it’s so easy and yummy!