Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach

This delicious Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach also has carrots, celery, garlic, spices, canned tomatoes, and cauliflower rice! And please don’t be concerned about the lentils, because this soup only has 7 net carbs per serving!

PIN Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach to try it later!

Years ago I made Double Lentil, Sausage, Brown Rice, and Spinach Soup in the slow cooker on a day when my brother Rand happened to be in Utah for my dad’s 85th birthday party. Rand always likes to try out my cooking experiments when he’s visiting, and he loved that soup so much that when he went back home he asked if he could have the recipe before it was posted on the blog. And I think that original version of this soup is still something he enjoys making.

Now I’ve adapted that older soup recipe into this new recipe for Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach, and if you use the link above to see the original recipe, you can probably tell why I wanted to make a lower-carb soup with those same flavors! For the new soup recipe I used more sausage, replaced the brown rice with cauliflower rice, and used a bit more spinach. I also made this into a stovetop soup so it used more chicken broth than the original soup, and those changes reduced the carbs down to 7 net carbs per serving!

This is a relatively long-cooking soup for a stovetop recipe, but I encourage you to simmer the soup on low and let it make your house smell great! If you’re a fan of making soup in the crockpot, you can also use the original slow cooker instructions linked above and adapt this new lower-carb recipe to be made in the slow cooker if you prefer.

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• onion
• carrot
• celery
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
• Dried Thyme (affiliate link)
• Spike Seasoning (affiliate link)
• chicken or turkey sausage
• petite diced tomatoes
• chicken broth
• brown lentils
• salt and pepper 
• frozen cauliflower rice
• fresh spinach
• Balsamic Vinegar (affiliate link)
• Parmesan cheese to add at the table (optional)

What sausage did we use for the Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach?

Some turkey or chicken sausage has added sugar, so watch for that if you don’t want extra carbs. We use Jenni-O Hardwood Smoked Turkey Kielbasa with only one carb per serving.

What if you don’t have balsamic vinegar?

If you don’t have balsamic vinegar you can use red wine vinegar in this soup. I might use slightly less and taste to see if you want the full amount.

How can you make this soup even lower in carbs?

If you want a version of the soup that’s even lower in carbs, switch the carrots for more celery, switch the lentils for another cup of cauliflower rice, and switch the balsamic vinegar for red wine vinegar. That will still be delicious if you use a flavorful sausage!

How to Make Sausage Lentil Soup:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. We used Jenni-O Hardwood Smoked Turkey Sausage. Cut into pieces.
2. Chop up the onion, carrot, and celery into small pieces,
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy soup pot and cook the veggies about 2 minutes.  Add garlic and dried spices and cook another couple of minutes. 
4. The add sausage pieces and cook about 3 minutes more.
5. Measure out the lentils and add to the pot with canned tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, and salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
6. Cook that on low heat for about 1 hours, or until the lentils are soft.
7. Then add cauliflower rice) and cook 30 minutes.
8. Chop the spinach if needed, baby spinach won’t need to be chopped much.
9. Add Spinach and cook 20-30 more minutes.
10. Then stir in 2 T balsamic vinegar, cook for about 5 minutes more and serve hot.
11. This is especially good with parmesan cheese sprinkled over if desired.

More Low-Carb Soups with Sausage:

• Instant Pot Sausage and Kale Soup
• Instant Pot Sausage Soup with Pesto
• Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup
• Slow Cooker Cabbage Soup with Sausage
• Low-Carb Stuffed Pepper Soup

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Continue to Content

Print

Yield: 6 servings

Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes

This delicious Sausage Lentil Soup with Spinach also has carrots, celery, garlic, spices, canned tomatoes, and cauliflower rice!

Ingredients

• 1 small onion
• 1 carrot, diced very small
• 2 stalks celery, diced very small
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T minced garlic (from a jar, use less if fresh garlic)
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• tsp. Spike seasoning2
• 14 oz. pre-cooked chicken or turkey sausage
• one 14.5 oz. can petite dice tomatoes
• 8 cups chicken broth (see notes)
• 1/2 cup brown lentils
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup cauliflower rice
• 5 oz. chopped fresh spinach
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan cheese to add at the table (optional)

Instructions

1. Chop the sausage into pieces about 1/4 - 1/2 inch wide.
2. Dice onion, carrot and celery into small pieces.
3. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add veggies and saute until starting to soften, about 2 minutes.
4. Add garlic, thyme, and Spike seasoning and cook about 2 minutes.
5. Then add sausage pieces and cook about 3 minutes more.
6. Add lentils, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste to the soup pot.
7. Cook over low heat until lentils are soft, about one hour.
8. Add frozen cauliflower rice and cook about 30 minutes more.
9. Chop spinach if needed and add to soup pot and cook 20-30 minutes more.
10. Stir in balsamic vinegar and simmer about 5 minutes.
11. Serve hot, with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Notes

The soup would be amazing with homemade chicken stock if you have some.

Recipe created by Kalyn. New lower-carb version adapted with help from Kara.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 256Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 1452mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 24g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Switching the rice for cauliflower rice, using more sausage, and using more broth made this Sausage and Lentil Soup with Spinach into a soup with only 7 net carbs per serving. If it’s made with low-fat chicken or turkey sausage this could also be a great choice for phase 2 or 3 of the original South Beach Diet (or for any phase if you replace carrots with more celery).

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more tasty soups like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was posted in 2010. It was updated in 2021 with suggestions for making a lower-carb version and in 2023 the recipe was adapted into a low-carb soup.

Share This: