Sausage and Lentil Soup

The first significant snow of the season has fallen upon New Jersey and if that isn't a call to make a hearty soup, I don't know what is. As a general rule, the Soup Lady tries to avoid restaurant soup. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that's how they get rid of yesterday's leftovers. The one soup in this category that cannot be resisted is Carrabba's Sausage and Lentil Soup.

The soup is spicy (another tip-off that the ingredients are not quite fresh)  but in this case I chose to ignore that. It's not hard to reproduce at home - this is my stab at it. A small green salad, some nice bread  and some fresh fruit at the end is all you need to make this a completely satisfying meal.

Sausage and Lentil Soup

1. In a large saucepan, heat one tablespoon of oil. Add one carrot - diced, two stalks of celery- diced, one large onion- chopped  and two cloves of crushed garlic.  Saute until tender.

2. Remove vegetables from the pan and and add one pound of hot Italian sausage, removed from the casing, to the pan. Brown the drain off fat.

3. In a large stockpot, place eight cups of chicken broth, the sauteed vegetables and the sausage meat.  Open two cans of whole tomatoes, break them up by squeezing them with your hands and add to the soup along with the juice. Add two cups of dried lentils which have been washed according to package directions.

4. Season with one teaspoon of salt, 3/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds and one bay leaf.

5. Simmer until the lentils are tender, 30-45 minutes. Remove 1/3 of the soup and puree it using an hand-held blender, then return it to the pot. Correct seasonings and remove bay leaf.

The Soup Lady likes it hot, so I added a bit more red pepper. Sometimes I like to add  a 10 oz. package of frozen spinach to the pot, or to serve it with some red wine vinegar floating on top. 

 

Comments

[Emlighten-NewJersey]

Sounds good - but which type Le Puy, green, brown yellow or red lentils? I have no idea what I'm talking about - the only place I have ever noticed lentils were those already in soup someone has made.

[shelley ju]

Okay, I am so making this after the holidays. Yum!

[JIm]

Best Sausage and Lentil soup, as good or better than Carraba's.

[Frank Jacobsen]

What size cans of whole tomatoes? Thanks

[Lindsay Harris]

Definitely a great recipe; I echo the comment that it's as good or better than Carraba's. I only used one can of tomatoes and it turned out great...will look at the can size and post when I get home.

[Mary Ellen DeSimone]

I believe the sausage in the soup at Carrabbas may be Cherzio spicy sausage ?

[GAIL GRAY]

I HAVE BEEN MAKING THE SAUSAGE & LENTIL SOUP FOR ABOUT A YEAR NOW AFTER ENJOYING A BOWL AT CARRABA'S. I USE KNORR'S VEGTABALE BOULLION CUBES INSTEAD OF CHICKEN STOCK AND I SOAK THE LENTILS OVER NIGHT. IT REALLY DOES THE TRICK! YUM

[Vanessa H.]

I used to work at Carrabba's and this is one of the best soups we had. FYI - They use Italian Sausage. The soup - as are all soups - is much better the second day. NONE OF CARRABBA'S SOUPS ARE MADE FROM LEFTOVERS! Each soup is made from scratch in each restaurant. In fact, most soups only last 48 hours and then are thrown away!

[Ana F.]

PERFECT!!

[Mary Totin]

I came across this page when I was looking for a good lentil soup recipe. I respectfully beg to differ over one comment you made in regards to Carrabba's recipe. "The soup is spicy (another tip-off that the ingredients are not quite fresh) but in this case I chose to ignore that."

I was an employee of this company for over 4 years and I can promise you that the ingredients are indeed fresh, as they are in all Carrabba's recipes. This is one of Carrabba's strict standards, and it is one thing that puts them a step or two up from imitators such as Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill. If you had ever been in the back of a Carrabba's kitchen when the prep work was done, you would have seen the amount of labor that goes into say, making the herb mix used with olive oil for dipping. Every product has strict guidelines for how long it can be kept before being thrown away, most, as another "poster" said, within 48 hours, or less. Produce and other product is thoroughly checked before being accepted into the store. Nothing that doesn't meet Carrabba's high standardsis let in, and nothing that doesn't meet the company's high standards goes out to the guests.

[Mary Totin]

You also might be interested to know that the sausage is fresh too, comes from a recipe creasted by one of the founder's parents.

[Starshine]

Soup Lady, where have you been all my life? I LOVE soup, and stumbled onto this blog post via a google search for Carrabba's Lentil Soup. I had it on my honeymoon and it was love at first bite. Thank you for your "interpretation" of the recipe! My husband and I look forward to trying it out.

[Ed]

OK! Can you please tell me what size the canned tomatoes are?

[Nancy]

I had it first at Carrabba's and loved it - tried it at home and Hubby also loved it. Thank you Soup Lady!!

[laur]

is this the same as mama mandolo's spicy sicilian soup that i had in aug.at carrabbas? i thought it had small pasta in it not lentils

[aimee]

i just made this soup and it was amazing, for sure better the next couple of days... has anyone made the spicy lentil and pumpkin soup, i am going for that one next week with my recent success with this one! any tips other than what the recipe calls for?

[patricia]

Weather beginning to cool down a bit on the North Carolina Coast. Time for soup again. I was trying to find my Sausage and Lentil soup recipe(and couldn't) so returned to this web site. It is great. Oh, I used 1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes in mine with the juice. I think it depends on how tomatoey you like it. Trish

[Nancy Kerner]

Excellent duplicate of recipe! I used 6 14 oz cans of chicken broth and 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes...probably will use crushed tomatoes next time. Thanks for sharing this great soup recipe.

[dick]

I am like you in that I like hot and spicy. I have made this for years and love it. The difference is that I also give it a few shots of tabasco sauce just to finish it off. One of my all time favorite soups. I also love to make it with kielbasa in place of sausage and saute the kielbasa along with the veggies at the beginning once the veggies have started to get aromatic. The flavors add up if you do it this way. A sprinkle of vinegar, about a tbsp, also works to bring out the flavors as well.

Just found your website and am now going backwards to see all that you have. Your stuffed grapeleaves recipe is alread on my to do list as are a couple of the others. I would love to see a good recipe for falafel and tabbouleh and hummus and pita breads. I one had a landlady from Saudi Arabia who was going to give me some of her recipes but she never got around to it. She made all these things from scratch and they were fantastic.

[Heather]

Amazing! Tastes just as great as at Carrabba's!!! Loved it. I served it to my family tonight and they all loved it too. THanks!

[Vincent Pera]

I would like the recipe or this soup served at carrabas

[Claudia Brooks]

Wasn't feeling good today so I thought some lentil soup would be good. I made the recipe with a slight twist. I don't like celery so left that out, I put a handful of rice in the mix and used cayenne pepper instead of the pepper flakes. I like the hot cayenne. Terrific!!

[Greg]

OMIGAWD!!! I have been cooking lentils for years. I went to Carrabba's for the first time a few weeks ago. I saw the soup on their menu. Expecting it not to be as good as mine ~ I ordered the "small". What a tease!!! It was better than my meal! Anyway, I came home, went straight to their website ~ saw that I would have to buy their cookbook! (so dissapointed) Imagine my shock to see that the soup has been "googled" & that there are others who enjoy it as much as I ~ & you have given a recipe!!! Bless You!!! I will make this first thing today!

[Monica]

My husband and I had this soup at Carrabba's last week for the first time, and we fell in love with it. When I came across this recipe, I had to try it. It was GREAT!! I did substitute the spicy sausage with spicy turkey sausage. My husband couldn't tell the difference. Thanks for the recipe.