Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup

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Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup is a vegetarian soup with tomatoes, spinach, and Feta cheese and this is delicious! This is a must-make soup if you’re a fan of Greek flavors. 

PIN Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup to try it later!

I’ve been a lover of lentils for quite a few years now so there are many variations of Lentil Soup on my blog, but when I spotted a recipe for Greek Lentils with spinach and Feta in the American Heart Association Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook, I couldn’t resist turning it into a soup. And I added other ingredients like celery, tomatoes, and lots of stock so I could have a larger serving.

This Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup starts with just lentils, chopped celery and onion, garlic, vegetable or chicken stock, canned tomatoes, and spices, and if you chop the vegetables the night before it’s easy to throw in the slow cooker in the morning and let it cook all day. When you get home, add chopped spinach to the soup with some lemon juice and cook a bit longer, then scoop into bowls, add Feta, and you have a tummy-warming soup for dinner.  I’ve never used Feta as a soup topper before, but I loved how it added a vibrant burst of flavor.

How to Make Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup:

(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)

1. Start with 2 cups regular brown lentils. (Lentils that are fresher will cook more quickly, so take that into account when you’re timing the soup.)
2. You’ll also need 1 medium onion, chopped small, and 1 cup of celery, also chopped fairly small. (Do this the night before if you want to get this in the slow cooker early in the morning!)
3. Put the lentils, onions, celery, vegetable or chicken stock, Greek Seasoning (affiliate link), Dried Thyme (affiliate link), dried oregano, minced garlic, black pepper, and canned tomatoes with juice into the slow cooker.
4. Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for 8-9 hours, until the lentils are as soft as you prefer. (Slightly longer cooking time won’t matter much, either on high or low.)
5. Here’s how the soup looked after we cooked it nearly 4 hours on high.  The lentils were soft but still kept their shape.
6. When the lentils are softened to your liking, chop the spinach (and wash in salad spinner if needed.)
7. Add the chopped spinach to the soup with the lemon juice, turn to high if cooking on low, and cook on high for 30 minutes more.  (Add a little more stock at this point if the soup seems thicker than you’d like.)
8. When the spinach is nicely softened, serve soup hot, garnished with Feta cheese if you’d like!

This is great with a tablespoon or two of crumbled Feta on top of each bowl if desired.

More Meatless Dinners You Might Like:

Slow Cooker and Pressure Cooker Vegetarian Index ~ Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker<
Mexican Red Lentil Stew with Lime and Cilantro ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Greek Lentil Soup ~ Healthy Green Kitchen

Weekend Food Prep:

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

Print

Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup

Yield 8 servings

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Total Time 4 hours 55 minutes

Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup has tomatoes and spinach and this meatless soup is delicious with a sprinkle of Feta.

Ingredients

• 2 cups brown lentils (washed and picked over if needed)
• 8 cups vegetable broth (or more)
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 1 cup chopped celery, chopped into fairly small pieces
• 1 T Greek Seasoning
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
• 1 T minced garlic
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• one 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 bunch spinach leaves, stems cut off, chopped and washed
• 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice (or a little less if you’re not that into lemon)
• crumbled Feta Cheese for serving (optional, but good)

Instructions

1. Chop onions and celery and measure 2 cups brown lentils. (Do this the night before and store in the fridge in a Ziploc bag if you want to get this into the slow cooker quickly in the morning.)
2. Put the lentils, onions, celery, vegetable broth, Greek Seasoning (affiliate link), dried thyme (affiliate link), dried oregano, minced garlic, black pepper, and canned tomatoes with juice into the slow cooker.
3. Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for 8-9 hours, or until the lentils are as softened as you’d like them. (Cooking time will partly depend on how fresh your lentils are; lentils that have been on the pantry or store shelf for a while will take a little longer to cook.)
4. When the lentils are softened as much as you’d like, chop the spinach and wash in salad spinner if needed.
5. Add spinach and lemon juice to the soup, turn slow cooker to high if you were cooking on low, and cook about 30 minutes more.  (A little longer won’t hurt, but the longer you cook the spinach the darker green it will get.
6. Add another cup or two of stock at this point if the soup seems thicker than you’d like.)
7. Serve soup hot, with a tablespoon or two of crumbled Feta sprinkled on each serving if desired.

Notes

I used a Crock-Pot 5-Quart Programmable Smart-Pot Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe. If you’re going to cook all day, this type of slow cooker is a good choice because you can set it to cook for 8 hours on low and then it switches to “warm” after 8 hours.

Recipe inspired by Greek Lentils in the American Heart Association Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 108Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 1367mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 6gSugar: 5gProtein: 7g

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.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Slow Cooker Greek Lentil Soup is probably too high in carbs for a low-carb diet plan, but low-glycemic dried beans or lentils are approved for all phases of the original South Beach Diet although portion size is limited for Phase One. In a soup like this other ingredients you can have a little more, but I would still eat a fairly small bowl of this with a moderate amount of Feta for Phase One, with something like a big green salad on the side.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there. Click here for Slow Cooker / Pressure Cooker Recipes on my other site!

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