This hearty Moroccan-inspired Beef mince & Lentil Soup is packed with flavour and goodness! It’s almost like a quick stew, a perfect midweek’s dinner you can throw together in under an hour. Lentils can be such a bland ingredient, but this soup is definitely far from boring as the nutritious lentils are paired with lovely spices, mince and vegetables. Rich and comforting, particularly enjoyable on a chilly day!
Mince & Lentil Soup
🍴 Servings: 4 – 5
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 15 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: ~ 40 minutes
INGREDIENTS
For the mince
- 300g beef mince (12% fat)
- ½ – 1 tsp salt
- ¼ – ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp white pepper
For the soup
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled & cut into medium chunks
- 2 celery stalks, sliced into half moon shapes
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 400g whole canned tomatoes
- 1 litre water
- 1 beef stock cube
- 140g (2dl) dried red lentils
- 1 – 1.5 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Plus
- 1 tbsp oil, for frying
- fresh parsley, to serve (optional)
STEPS
1 Put the mince into a dry, hot frying pan. Break it up with a wooden spatula, season and fry until brown. Set aside.
2 For the soup, put a glug of oil in a saucepan and add onions, carrots and celery. Cook on a medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until slightly soft. Then add the garlic and season with cumin, coriander, ginger and cinnamon.
3 Next, add the canned tomatoes, water and stock cube and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add red lentils and season with salt and pepper.
4 Let the soup boil for a few minutes and then turn down the heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5 Finally, add the cooked mince and simmer the soup for 5 more minutes. Check seasoning and serve with some fresh parsley on top!
Notes:
- Beef mince — I’d recommend using mince with around 10% fat content for this soup. It’s fatty enough to give the soup a really nice flavour but since it’s fried separately it won’t make the broth greasy (as long as you won’t fry it in loads of oil…)
- Thickening — Note that this soup thickens when it cools down. So if you are having it the next day and find it too thick, just add a generous splash of water before reheating. It won’t make the soup watery 🙂
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
(VG) This soup can be very easily turned into a vegan dish! Simply leave out the mince and replace the stock cube with a vegan-friendly one. You can also double the amount of carrots and celery if you wish and add extra lentils. I wouldn’t put more than 200g of lentils though as otherwise the texture might change too much since lentils thicken the soup.
Main equipment:
Large frying pan
Saucepan (3L)
Chopping board + knife
Measuring spoons (optional)
Other mince dishes you might like…! ⤵︎
