Lentil and Sausage Soup with Kale Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Delicious! Made last night for the first time using French green lentils (did not soak), spicy Italian sausage out of the casing. Pre-sausage add, felt it was a little watery and need more concentration of flavors and wanted more of a stew-like texture so let it cook longer and added 1/4 c of orzo to help thicken. Ultimately added another cup of chicken broth to the over-thickened stew. Just perfect. Will make again.

Great recipe! I didn’t use as many lentils and added fennel and mushrooms, which really gave it a great flavor. Served with crusty bread was a great rainy Sunday night dinner!

Made this recipe again the other day. Used mung beans instead of lentils and used 1/2 water and 1/2 beef stock. It was so delicious. Such a great recipe for lots of leftovers.

Substituted smoked Jalapeño sausage and it turned out excellent. Also added two cups chicken stock in place of two cups water for additional flavor. I will halve the amount lentils next time, 1 1/2 cups ends up being too much for me once they are cooked and soak up liquid.

It's starting to get cold so I've been craving some new soup recipes. Just made this last night and it is AMAZING! I used red lentils instead of french green lentils, and I used Andouille-style chicken sausage and was very happy with the result. I know what soup I'll be making on repeat this winter :)

Hi Merrill! Made this soup for the hundredth or so time - always SO good - especially inviting when it's 30 degrees with 45 mph gusts outside! This time, I switched out the lentils and used barley instead - a nice variation. Thanks for sharing your recipe. :-)

This is really good and very simple to make on a cold winter afternoon. Since there wasn't a specific weight given for the sausages, I interpreted this ingredient quantity expansively (indulgently?), and used an entire package (actually 8) of chicken breakfast sausage, which was well-received by the consumers of this fine dish. Clearly, any type of sausages would work well, so I think it depends on what flavor profile you want and/or how much meat you want. I also used regular green lentils rather than french green (la puy style), since this is what I had on hand, and was perfectly happy with the result. thanks for this recipe! It will make return appearances in my home.

Great base - I used almost twice as much kale, ground turkey that I seasoned lightly, and dried herbs. Delicious and filling with infinite room to adapt.

Lentils don't have to be soaked, if they were crunchy the soup should have been simmered longer.

Tigi February 2, 2017

I make a soup similar to this, except that I use turkey Italian sausage and equal parts barley, split peas and lentils. One of my favorites.

I made this today in my pressure cooker, substituted spinach for the kale. I also topped it with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan cheese, it was delicious!

Delicious and hearty winter soup without being too rich or fatty. Nice to have a recipe without added stock and plenty of flavor. The lentils took quite a bit longer to cook and I ended up adding quite a bit of extra water.

This was delicious and received rave reviews from all. Even my picky 4 year olds thought it was good. Definitely adding to the winter rotation.

I used turkey andouille sausage - incredible!

I would say 1 out of 3-4 recipes I cook comes from Food52. Always a great inspiration to me! I recently realized that I hadn't thanked the creators of my favorite go-to dishes, of which this soup is one. It is a perfect balance of the things I want in cool weather. Thanks!

Excellent soup, and so easy! I used regular flat green lentils, because we eat the French ones so often in another lentil-sausage-greens soup. Also, I added parsley right before serving and splashed on red wine vinegar, to brighten it up a bit. We needed a lot more water, as the lentils drank the broth right up. ;o)

Teri October 26, 2014

I will never make another lentil soup recipe again, because this is the best one EVER.

There are several varieties of chicken sausage (Italian, Polish, apple and gouda, garlic and spinach, etc.). Which did you use? Getting the ingredients tomorrow. Thanks!

Made this tonight and it was incredibly perfect. So easy too!