Spanish Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup Recipe

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Our Chorizo and Red Lentil Soup is bursting with hearty rich flavor. This spicy soup is perfect to ward off those cold winter days. Made with chorizo, red lentils, and vegetables this soup gets even better the next day.

I’ve got more Easy Soup Recipes for you to enjoy – right click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one.

A bowl of red lentil soup with chorizo, topped with fresh parmesan and basil. Text overlay says"Chorizo & Red Lentil". Similar photos of the recipe from various angles are used throughout but with different text overlays unless otherwise described.

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Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup

The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions; to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required, and to understand the steps and timings involved.

If you have never tried chorizo before you are in for a real treat. The smoky, slightly spicy flavor is out of this world, and we love using chorizo in this house!

Chorizo or chouriço is a type of pork sausage. In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked sausage, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or added as an ingredient to add flavor to other dishes. Elsewhere, some sausages sold as chorizo may not be fermented and cured, and require cooking before eating.

Wikipedia

Essentially it will depend on where you live in the world.

In Spain, chorizo is made in short or long and hard or soft varieties; leaner varieties are suited to being eaten at room temperature as an appetizer or tapas, whereas the fattier versions are generally used for cooking.

In comparison to Spanish chorizo, in the United States the term generally refers to a sausage that is never dried, has a fattier filling, and is very spicy.

Wikipedia

This recipe used chorizo sausage links which require cooking before consuming. You can use cured chorizo that you chop up first and add directly to the soup when indicated in the recipe. Although, you can brown them off a bit first to add more depth of flavor.

It doesn’t matter which you use really – just make sure it is cooked!

The filling, tasty soup is perfect for cold and blustery days, as is full of delicious herbs and spices, as well as lentils which help to bulk out the soup.

Serve it with some crusty bread and a side salad for a full meal.

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Chorizo Sausage in Frying Pan

Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe

While most ingredients can be bought in grocery stores, for your convenience, some specialized or notable ingredients (and equipment) needed for this recipe have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online. The full list of ingredients with measurements is found in the recipe card.

  • Chorizo Sausage Links
  • Red Lentils
  • Dried Oregano
  • Garlic Powder
  • Dried Thyme
  • Bay Leaves
  • Parmesan Cheese RindAdding a section of Parmesan rind to homemade soup is a great way to instill additional flavor to your recipes. This is an optional extra. Save the rind when you finish a wedge of Parmesan, and toss it into a bag and into the freezer for later use.

Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).

Red Lentil Soup Recipe with Chorizo Sausage

More Recipes Using Chorizo

One of the hero ingredients in this recipe is chorizo, so here are some more recipes using the same:

More Soup Recipes

Looking for more soup recipe inspo? Check these out next:

Hearty Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup

Recipe Tips

  • Money-Saving Tip: Use a combination of broth and water instead of the 6 cups of broth listed in the recipe.
  • Time-Saving Tip: The vegetables (onion, carrot, and celery) all need to be chopped small – use a food processor to speed up the process.
Carrot being chopped in food processor.
Finely chopped carrot onion and celery.

How Do I Make Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup?

Just check out the printable recipe card below with full ingredients and instructions. Any demonstration photos do not print out to save your ink.

Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup Recipe

Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup

Yield: 4-6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Our Chorizo and Red Lentil Soup is bursting with hearty rich flavor. This spicy soup is perfect to ward off those cold winter days. Made with chorizo, red lentils, and vegetables this soup gets even better the next day.

Ingredients

  • 3 (4 oz/100g) chorizo sausage links
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
  • 1 large carrot, chopped small
  • 1 large celery stalk, chopped small
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped small
  • Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups red lentils, well rinsed
  • 1 (15 oz/400g) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 whole bay leaves
  • 2” Parmesan cheese rind (optional)
  • ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped

For Optional Garnish

  • 3 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Brown the chorizo sausage links in a large, high-sided skillet or frying pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side. Once browned, remove sausage from skillet and cut into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

    Browned Chorizo Sausage
  2. Add olive oil to the skillet and add the chopped carrot, celery, and onion. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste, and stir to combine. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables soften and develop some color.

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  3. Return the chopped chorizo to skillet, along with the chicken stock, red lentils, diced tomatoes, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, bay leaves, and Parmesan rind, if using.

    Adding Chorizo and Stock to Pan
  4. Stir to combine and increase heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Cover with a tilted lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or just until the lentils are tender.

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  5. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves and remaining Parmesan rind. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Stir in fresh basil.

    Adding Basil to Soup
  6. Serve immediately, topped with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

    Chorizo & Red Lentil Soup Recipe

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 483Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 1418mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 7gSugar: 8gProtein: 28g

This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.

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Make It A Meal!

You’ve made the appetizer starter, but what about the rest of the courses?

Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!

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