Easy Lentil & Sausage Soup Recipe

Warm up on a cold winter day with this 2 WWFreestyle Smartpoint Lentil and Sausage Soup. Yep, you heard that right – this soup comes in at only 2 Smartpoints for a heaping 1 1/2 cup serving. This isn’t a boring or bland as it is packed with spicy Italian sausage, smoky fire roasted tomatoes, protein packed lentils, veggies and fresh herbs.

Grab your favorite bread, a bowl and spoon then dive into this deliciousness!

LENTIL & SAUSAGE SOUP (print!)INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Jennie-O Hot Italian Sausage Links, casing removed
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled & diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 15 oz Fire Roasted Diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and sorted
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 sprig Thyme and/or 2 Bay Leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Spray a large soup pot with non-stick spray and heat over medium high heat. Add sausage, cooking until until browned. Set aside.
2. Add olive oil to the same pan and add onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
3. Add diced tomatoes, lentils, brown sugar, broth, water and fresh herbs. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes until the lentils are softened.
4. Add the sausage back to the pan and cook 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and add cilantro.

Makes six 1 1/2 cup servings, 2 WWFreestyle Smartpoints 

Nutrition facts per serving for all ingredients:

STEP – BY – STEP:

Brown sausage in a large soup pot until cooked through. Chop your veggies while the sausage cooks. Remove from pan and set aside Add olive oil to the same pan along with the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook until  softened, about 8 minutes.While the veggies cook, measure, rinsed and sort lentils. Prep your fresh herbs and garlic.

I highly recommend using fresh versus dried herbs in soup as it really elevates the flavor. Add the diced tomatoes, lentils, brown sugar and fresh herbs.Then the broth and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes until the lentils are softened. Return the sausage to the pan and cook 5 minutes longer.Remove from heat, remove thyme stem/Bay leaves and stir in cilantro or parsley if using. You do  not need to do this step but it adds great flavor and a bit of green to an otherwise brown dish 🙂Scoop, serve and slurp up every last bit of this 2 point soupy goodness!Night all!