This hearty Lentil Sausage Soup has the best homemade flavor with savory sausage, lentils, and vegetables in a flavorful broth. Chopped kale or spinach make easy add-ons as well! BONUS: It’s Stove Top and Crock Pot friendly!
Lentil Sausage Soup
This soup has so much hearty flavor to it, it’s incredibly satisfying with those protein-packed lentils, savory sausage, vegetables, and optional add-ons like chopped kale or spinach.
Some of my most popular soup recipes include sausage, it just adds so much flavor. (Be sure to try my Sausage Tortellini Soup, Sausage and Potato Soup, and Zuppa Toscana recipes next!)
Also- don’t be thrown by the flavor enhancers in this recipe: Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and mustard powder. They add the best depth of flavor but you can’t detect them outright. They’re my favorite secret weapons in cooking.
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook and crumble the sausage over medium heat. Reserve 1 Tbsp. drippings and set the sausage aside. Sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in the reserved drippings and butter until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute, then add the flour and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken and beef broth in splashes, and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom of the pot to add more flavor to the soup.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lentils, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover partially and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the sausage back to the soup along with the diced tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. A little water or broth can be added to thin the soup out slightly if desired. Serve!
Best Lentils for Lentil Soup
- Dry Brown or French Green Lentils are best in lentil soup. Red lentils and canned lentils won’t hold up well.
- Note that green lentils take longer to cook due to their tougher exterior.
- I use Goya brown lentils in this recipe.
Pro Tips
- Chopped Kale or Spinach make great additions to this soup. Kale can be added during the last 5 minutes, spinach during the last 3 minutes.
- The Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and mustard powder can’t be tasted outright but act as flavor enhancers in this soup. The hot sauce doesn’t make it spicy, this is the hot sauce I use.
- Low Sodium broth may be used if desired as sausage also contains salt.
- For brothier soup, use 3/4 lb. or 1/2 lb. sausage.
- Ground Turkey can be used instead of sausage for a lighter option.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. This soup freezes very well for future meals.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 3.5 quart Dutch oven– this is what I use for this recipe. (Le Creuset is great quality, you’ll have it forever.)
- Food Storage Containers– These are what I use, they fit exactly 1 cup and are leak proof, microwave safe, stackable, and BPA free.
- Measuring Spoons– I have these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized in my utensil drawer.
- Pinch Bowls– for measuring out seasonings ahead of time.
- Chefs Knife– I have this one, it’s affordable but high quality.
Try These Next
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Homemade Ramen
- Zuppa Toscana Soup
- Cheeseburger Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Tomato Tortellini Soup
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Tried This Recipe?
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![A bowl of Lentil Sausage Soup with diced tomatoes.](jpg/lentil-sausage-soup-f-200x200.jpg)
Lentil Sausage Soup
Ingredients
Seasonings
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Soup
- 1 lb. ground sausage, hot or mild
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- ½ cup celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 cup dry brown lentils, rinsed. See notes.
- 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
Instructions
- Cook the Sausage: Remove the casings from the sausage if you purchased links. Preheat a large pot over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook and crumble to break it apart. Once cooked halfway through, cover partially and continue to heat, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. It’ll take around 10-12 minutes total. Set the sausage aside on a paper towel lined plate. Reserve 1 tablespoon drippings. (Butter can be used if you don’t have drippings.)
- Add the drippings to the pot along with 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the diced onions, celery, and carrots and cook for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the flour and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and beef broth in splashes, and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom of the pot to add more flavor the soup.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lentils, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover partially and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the sausage back to the soup along with the diced tomatoes, Simmer for 10 minutes. A little water or broth can be added to thin the soup out slightly if desired. Serve!
Notes
- Chopped Kale or Spinach make great additions to this soup. Kale can be added during the last 5 minutes, spinach during the last 3 minutes.
- The Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and mustard powder can't be tasted outright but act as flavor enhancers in this soup. The hot sauce doesn't make it spicy, this is the hot sauce I use.
- Low Sodium broth may be used if desired as sausage also contains salt.
- For brothier soup, use 3/4 lb. or 1/2 lb. sausage.
- Ground Turkey can be used instead of sausage for a lighter option.
- Green lentils may also be used for this recipe, however they take longer to cook due to their tougher exterior. Canned or Red lentils shouldn't be used for this recipe.
Crock Pot Method
- Note: Reserved sausage drippings and flour are not needed for this method.
- Brown the sausage in a skillet as outlined and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
- Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in the Crock Pot and add the diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and tomato paste. Toss to coat.
- Add the cooked sausage, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lentils, seasonings, and chicken/beef broth.
- Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8.
- Note: Higher altitudes may require more cooking time and crock pot temperatures do vary. Opening the crock pot during cooking will set the time back at least 30 minutes as heat escapes when the lid is removed.
This soup was perfection!!!! I don’t care for lentils, but this soup…Mmmm! Thank you so much!
I’m so happy that it was a hit Sherida!! Thank you so much for the review!! -Stephanie
Can this be done on a Instapot? If so how?
I don’t have tested instructions outlined for the instant pot.
Hi, Stephanie I just made the lentil soup, and it is the bomb.com, d-e-l-i-ci-o-u-s! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. 😋
Wahooo! The Bomb.com, I’ll take it! Thanks so much for the great review Brenda💖
I made this recipe. It was absolutely delicious. I did increase the tomato paste to one small can and added a bit more Worcestershire sauce for more flavor. I did not add spinach or kale to it.
I’m so happy that you loved it Laura!! More tomato paste is a delicious choice! 🙂 Thank you so much for the review! -Stephanie
So far so good
Do the lentils need to be soaked before adding to soup?
Hi Janey, they do not 🙂
Could you omit the flour.
Yes you can!
Made this soup for my husband and he loved it and also gave some to my father inlaw and both asked me to make it again.
Sounds like you’ve nailed it Cindy, nice work!🙌 Thanks so much for the great review!
this soup is absolutely delicious!! I went right by the recipe and used Hot sausage (breakfast sausage in a roll) and it was hot enough for me without the hot sauce. I was out of that. Thanks for sharing
I’m so happy you enjoyed it with the hot sausage Linda. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️
My spouse and I rarely agree on soups but we both agreed this deserved five stars. Because it’s after thanksgiving and all our outside herbs are now dead, we substituted the basil, parsley and oregano for 2 tsp of penzeys pizza seasoning. We will use spicy Turkey sausage next (store was out so we used turkey Italian sausage) and add extra hot sauce.
Thanks so much for sharing your tweaks Cristina! I’m so happy this got you and your boyfriend to agree (soup wise)! Thanks for the great review!❤️