Chicken Lentil Soup is an easy recipe for a weeknight dinner. Our chicken and lentil soup recipe is made with chicken thighs and filled with fresh vegetables and lentils. Your family will love this updated version of the classic comfort food, homemade chicken soup!
Homemade Chicken Lentil Soup
The seasons are a changing and there’s a cold front moving in. It’s time for homemade soup! Our lentil chicken soup is so easy to make you can even whip it up quickly after work.
Lentil Chicken Soup, made with chicken thighs, fresh vegetables and lentils is an updated version of the classic homemade chicken soup!
Making chicken soup with chicken thighs adds a deep rich depth of flavor to your soup.
Serve bowlfuls of chicken soup with lentils with a salad and some crusty bread and you’ll be all set! It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Not a fan of lentils? Make it with mini pasta, egg noodles or even rice in place of the lentils!
Time to warm up with a bowl of Chicken Lentil Soup, guaranteed to be your new favorite homemade chicken soup from scratch!
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Swirls of Flavor Recipe Tips
- Use boneless skinless chicken breasts in place of the chicken thighs
- Add cauliflower florettes
- Substitute dried marjoram (my favorite!) for the dried basil
Ingredients you will need to make this recipe
- skinless bone-in chicken thighs
- dried basil
- garlic powder
- kosher salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- carrots
- onion
- celery
- chicken broth
- red lentils
- fresh dill
How to make chicken lentil soup
- Season your chicken thighs then brown on both sides in heated oil in saucepot; reserve
- Cook carrots, onion and celery until tender-crisp
- Return chicken pieces and add chicken broth to saucepot and bring to a boil
- Stir in your lentils and cook until lentils are tender and chicken is cooked through
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken thighs, shred the chicken meat, discrding bones, and return to saucepot along with fresh dill
Related Recipes
With a chill in the air, you’ll be thankful for a pot of simmering homemade soup on the stovetop. Give these chicken soup recipes from scratch a try, you’ll be happy you did!
Left to Right: Avocado Lime Chicken Soup; Chicken Tortilla Soup; Escarole and White Bean Soup
The fresh clean flavors of garlic, fresh ginger and lime and the buttery creaminess of chunks of avocados come together to create Avocado Lime Chicken Soup, a new comfort soup favorite!
Chicken Tortilla Soup may have a long list of ingredients with some fresh vegetables but most are canned and already in your pantry, making it a quick and easy dump-dump recipe on a busy weeknight. Just saute an onion and red bell pepper with some seasonings, add the remaining (mostly) canned ingredients, garnish with the fried tortilla strips, sour cream and cilantro!
White Bean and Escarole Soup is a versatile recipe that can be either vegetarian, when prepared as is, or can be turned into a hearty chicken soup when replacing vegetable broth with chicken broth and adding shredded rotisserie chicken!
Chicken Lentil Soup is an easy weeknight recipe, made with chicken thighs and bursting with vegetables and lentils, that will warm you up! Not a fan of lentils? Just substitute mini pasta, egg noodles or rice! Add a salad and you're all set!
- 2 skinless bone-in chicken thighs (12 ounces)
- 1/2 tsp. dried basil
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped, 1 cup
- 1 onion, chopped, 1 cup
- 1 celery stalk, chopped, 1/2 cup
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
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Season chicken on both sides with basil, garlic powder, kosher salt and pepper.
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Heat oil in saucepot over medium-high heat then brown chicken on both sides and reserve.
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Add carrots, onion and celery and cook until tender-crisp, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes.
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Return chicken pieces and add broth to saucepot and bring to a boil.
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Stir in lentils and cook until lentils are tender and chicken is cooked through, 12-15 minutes.
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Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove chicken pieces. Shred chicken and discard bones.
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Stir in shredded chicken and fresh dill.
Recipe Video
Makes 6 cups.
First Published: October 6, 2015… Last Updated: October 13, 2020
This recipe is featured on Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck
Hello,
Chicken Lentil Soup.
Thank you for this great recipe! Look forward to making this soup again.
The other recipes on your site all look delicious; can’t wait to try these as well.
Hi Yol, Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m so happy you enjoyed my Chicken Lentil Soup. It’s one of my favorite recipes too! Savor The Moments, Gwynn
Dear Gwynn,
Today I made your Chicken Lentil Soup recipe again. This recipe is now my go to.
Thank you for this site and all your hard work in creating these recipes.
Yol