Chard, Lentil & Potato Slow Cooker Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lentil soup too thick? ›

If the soup seems too thick add 1 more cup of vegetable stock (or water). Taste test and adjust seasonings as needed. Using an immersion blender or regular blender puree half of the soup (don't skip this part...the texture of smooth/chunky is the best!) Keep the soup on low heat until ready to serve.

Depth of flavour: Cooking ingredients long and slow can create a delicious depth of flavour. This soup recipe is a good example of one such dish. So is my French Onion Slow Cooker Soup.

Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat, add the garlic, carrots and bouillon powder (see below), then fry gently for 5 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly. Add the lentils, then pour in 1 litre of water and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

Eating half a cup of cooked lentils gives you lots of essential nutrients and their high fiber content makes you feel full. However, the fiber in lentils can be hard for your body to break down. Eating too many lentils can cause gas, bloating, and cramping.

The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.

Tender vegetables

Vegetables such as peas, asparagus and peppers can become a flavorless, mushy mess in a slow cooker.

"When a slow cooker is too full, it may not heat the food evenly," explains Leal. As a result, some parts of the dish may overcook, while others remain undercooked. "This can also increase the risk of foodborne illness, because the food might not reach a safe temperature throughout," she says.

Recipes with meat like chili and pork shoulder are best when cooked for six hours minimum or up to ten hours. Vegetarian recipes are best cooked for around four hours, but can do a minimum of two hours or maximum of six hours (after which the vegetables start to get unpleasantly mushy).

To avoid a bland lentil soup, use a flavorful broth—whether that's homemade or store-bought chicken or vegetable broth. The other key is building flavor. To do so, use aromatics like onions and garlic, include fresh or dried herbs, and season well with salt and pepper.

Mushy, overcooked lentils are far from tasty. Cooking them at a rapid simmer can lead to them splitting their skins from the pressure and thus lead to mushy results. Follow this tip: Trust that a gentle simmer will cook the lentils perfectly.

What is the white foam on lentil soup? ›

That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.

Add liquid. Stock, cream, milk, whatever the soup is based upon, just add some more, simmer, taste, re-season, serve.

At this stage, the effects of the noodles soaking up more moisture and the resultant increase in concentration of hydrated starch molecules in the remaining liquid can cause that liquid to become quite thick indeed. Eventually, what was once a soup is now a stew.

"Reducing" simply means simmering a liquid long enough to evaporate the extra water, concentrating the flavors and thickening the dish. Remove large pieces of meat or vegetables from the liquid before reducing so they don't overcook. Sauces, broths and pureed soups can simply simmer as-is.