I have been using an electric pressure cooker about once a week while we are not living in our house. This Greek Lentil Soup is one of the favorites recently. I think I’ve made it three times in the last 45 days or so!
This recipe is one of many that I’ve tried from my friend Coco Morante’s new cookbook The Ultimate Instant Pot Healthy Cookbook!
Check out the recipe below and also see how you can win a copy!
Greek Lentil Soup
This soup starts by sauteing some vegetables in your cooker. The recipe includes onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, but Coco also notes that you can add a bunch of vegetables to the mix. Maybe try some parsnip or peppers!
Once those have cooked down a bit and softened, you can add the lentils. I used just normal brown French lentils. Don’t use the red lentils as they are much softer and will get mushy in the soup.
Stir in the stock (I used vegetable stock, but chicken stock is fine also). Then add the tomato paste in dollops on top. Coco recommends not stirring in the paste. It’ll be easier to stir in once the soup is cooked.
This Lentil Soup will need to cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Then let it sit for 15 minutes to release the pressure naturally. Then you can change the valve to venting and release any extra steam.
I recommend tasting and seasoning the soup to your liking at this point.
Cookbook Giveaway!
I’ve cooked more out of this book than any other book in my library over the last few months. It’s awesome and has SO many great recipes.
I was also lucky enough to be asked to give a quote about the book and they actually used it on the back cover! Does this mean I’m an authority now?!
Anyway, jump on over to my Instagram post to figure out how you can enter to win one of two copies of this lovely book!
Whether or not you win a copy, this Greek Lentil Soup is worth trying!
Greek Lentil Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup green or brown dried lentils
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Fresh parsley, garnish
Instructions
- Select Saute setting on your Instant Pot and heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and the garlic for 2 minutes, until the garlic is bubbling but not browned. Add the onion, carrots, celery and salt and saute for about 3 minutes, until onion has softened. Add the oregano and pepper and cook for another minute. Add lentils and broth and stir to combine. Add tomato paste in a dollop on top but don’t stir it in.
- Secure the lid and set the pressure release to sealing. Press the cancel button to reset the cooking process, then select the Pressure cook or Manual setting adn set the cooking time for 25 minutes at high pressure. The cooker will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure.
- When the cooking program ends, let the pressure release naturally for about 15 minutes, then move the pressure release to Venting to release any extra steam. Open pot and stir the soup to incorporate ingredients.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle with red wine vinegar and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.
Gwyn
Will this work in a slow cooker? I don’t have an instant pot, but this looks delicious
Nick Evans
Hi Gwyn!
For sure you can. There are sort of two ideas… you could saute all the aromatics in the recipes (garlic, onion, etc.) and then add those to the slow cooker with the other ingredients. Or if you are in a rush, honestly, you could just toss all the ingredients in the slow cooker and it would probably work out okay. I would say 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. If it’s too thick after cooking, thin it out with a little extra stock or even water, or cream if you want a creamy element to it. Good luck!
Gwyn
Thanks so much, I will try it!
Patricia Leschen
Followed directions exactly, my lentils melted. Suggestion for the broth