German Lentil Soup - Authentic Recipe • Proven and Easy to Make (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lentil soup tasteless? ›

To avoid a bland lentil soup, use a flavorful broth—whether that's homemade or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth. The other key is building flavor. To do so, use aromatics like onions and garlic, include fresh or dried herbs, and season well with salt and pepper.

The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.

Lentil soup goes back to Genesis, with it possibly being the dish Jacob served Esau for his birthright and would have been eaten all over the Alexandrian empire, Middle East, and beyond.

Cook It Longer

Sometimes soup just needs to simmer longer to reach the perfect consistency. Check to see if the vegetables are tender, and then taste the broth. If the soup tastes a bit watery, give it more time.

Think more like you're cooking pasta- you just need significantly more water than lentils. You can also use broth instead of adding an extra layer of flavor. I like adding a bay leaf, an onion cut in half, and a clove of garlic to add flavor to the lentils.

Eating lentils can cause gas and bloating because they're high in fiber that your body is unable to break down. While fiber plays a large role in supporting and regulating your digestive system and bowel movements, it can also produce bacteria that leads to cramping and gas pains.

This time, it turned out mushy and there wasn't a whole lentil to be found. Damn it! I figured out later that it spent about 2.5 hours too long in the slow cooker (a little miscalculation on my part). If you're like me and have overcooked Lentil Soup then you're in luck because I'm going to show you how to revive it.

The mildest, sweetest, and most 'tender' of the lentil varieties, red and yellow lentils are popular for use in soups and stews, especially when you want a soft texture.

It is generally recommended to rinse lentils before cooking them to remove any debris or impurities [1]. However, forgetting to rinse them before adding them to your soup does not necessarily mean that the meal is unsafe to eat.

Lentils are a type of pulse. The name “pulse” refers to pols, a thick soup. They grow in pods and appear as lens-shaped seeds. Lentils were among one of the first crops to be domesticated in the Near East and have been part of our diets since the Stone Age.

Is lentil soup in the Bible? ›

According to Genesis 25, Jacob cooked up a lentil stew so delectable that his brother, Esau, agreed to sell his birthright for it. The birthright typically went to the first born son, and it meant, among a host of privileges, inheriting twice as much of the father's possessions.

Those look to be radicles (embryonic stems, the part the root grows from) that have separated from the lentils. If you look closely at the less squished lentils in your soup, you'll probably see some with the radicles still attached.

the color change you've observed is from oxidation. If you want to prevent this, lay some plastic wrap over the surface of your lentils to prevent air from getting to them, or add some acid, like lime juice, to the recipe.

As the veggies hit the boiling water, volatile acids are released into the water and are carried away in the steam. When the pot is covered, the steam and the acids it contains are forced back into the water. Once there, the acids react with the chlorophyll in the vegetables, turning them an unsightly shade of brown.

That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.

Add aromatics to the water or, even better, use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Follow this tip: Add a few cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, a spring of rosemary, half of an onion, or a combination of these aromatics to the cooking water or stock to help flavor the lentils.

Use fresh, good quality ingredients like vegetables and herbs. Add a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice to your soup to make it taste better. Use a high-quality broth or stock as a base for your soup. Roast or caramelize your vegetables before adding them to your soup to bring out their natural sweetness.

The simple answer: you cooked them too long. Lentils are actually quite difficult to get right.

Use Herbs and Spices

You may also add more spices like turmeric, ground ginger, ground paprika, or nutmeg for a touch of spice and color to your soup broth. Remember that you must add dried herbs and spices early on, while fresh herbs must be added at the end of cooking.