Easy Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill. most popular recipes of March 2023. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Old Fashioned Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill

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My easy chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill makes one of those endearingly old-fashioned chicken soups that will transport you back to simpler times. It’s a quick and easy soup to make, especially if you use leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken and canned lentils. We poach chicken breasts and use the liquid as the soup stock.

This easy and endearingly old-fashioned chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill has quickly become one of my favourite chicken soup recipes. I’ve been eating it for three days! It will make you a healthy, light, comforting, and nourishing soup that’s perfect if you’re ‘feeling poorly’, as my English friends say.

Don’t make this soup recipe if you’re looking for a big bold bowl of broth that’s brimming with flavour and texture or intensely spiced. You’ll find plenty of recipes in our archives for those, such as a whole collection of spicy noodle soups from Southeast Asia, such as this khao soi gai recipe for a Chiang Mai curry noodle soup.

Now before I tell you more about this chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.

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Now let me tell you more about my chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill.

Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill

My comforting chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill will make you one of those endearingly old-fashioned chicken soups that your grandmother might have made if you weren’t feeling well.

It’s a quick and soup to make, too. We poach chicken breasts and use the liquid as the soup stock, but it’s even faster to prepare if you already have chicken stock in the freezer and leftover chicken to use or you buy a rotisserie chicken.

Packed with healthy vegetables and clean flavours, thanks to at simple clean chicken stock, loads of fresh fragrant dill, and a little pickle juice, the soup is lightly seasoned, which is just what I need right now.

Easy Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re not feeling off-colour, you could cook the soup longer for a denser texture, bump up the flavour with more seasoning, herbs and spices, and add a dollop or two of sour cream for tang as much as creaminess.

Just a few tips to making my easy chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill.

Tips to Making this Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill

I created this chicken lentil soup recipe as I’ve had a stomach bug that I haven’t been able to shake. I wanted a simple healthy chicken and vegetable soup with a stock made from scratch, so I knew exactly what was in it.

I also wanted to incorporate lentils, which are high in protein, potassium and iron, but are also a good source of prebiotics that feed gut flora and help prevent digestive diseases. I’ve just used canned lentils, but of course you could use dried lentils.

Easy Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

The first part of this chicken lentil soup recipe simply involves poaching the chicken breasts, both to create that clean chicken stock, which would be sodium-free if I didn’t add salt. One of the biggest problems with store-bought stocks are high sodium levels.

We poach chicken breasts at least once a twice a week and use that chicken if everything from soups to salads. See our shredded chicken recipes here for ideas if you don’t want to use all the poached chicken in the soup.

That means we always tend to have stock either in the freezer or the fridge. It will last a few days and you can use it as the basis for so many soups. While all I’ve seasoned it with here is salt and bay leaves. If we’re not we’re going to be using it for a Southeast Asian soup, we’ll add ginger and lemongrass to the pot.

Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill

Easy Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill. most popular recipes of March 2023. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill

Our easy chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill makes one of those endearingly old-fashioned chicken soups that will transport you back to simpler times. It’s a quick and easy soup to make, especially if you use leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken and canned lentils. We poach chicken breasts and use the liquid as the soup stock.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine Australian, Eastern European, European
Servings made with recipe4
Calories 286 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 400 g chicken breasts - or leftover chicken pieces or rotisserie chicken
  • 1 litre water
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 purple shallots - roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves - finely sliced
  • 2 large potatoes - peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
  • 1 large carrot - peeled and quartered
  • 8 celery stalks - cut into 1cm wide slices
  • 1 can lentils - drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup fresh dill - roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp pickled shallots
  • 1 tsp pickle juice

Instructions
 

  • First poach the chicken breasts: in a medium-sized soup pot, lay the chicken breasts beside each other, pour in just enough cold water to cover the chicken breasts, and add bay leaves.
  • Turn the heat to high, bring the cold water to boil then reduce heat to simmer. Use a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken; when it reaches 70°C (160°F) in the thickest part, remove the breasts and set aside.
  • Use a strainer to remove impurities and scum from the poached chicken water, which is now your stock, add a litre of water and salt, and boil for 5 minutes.
  • While the stock is boiling, in a separate pan over medium-high, heat the olive oil, fry the purple shallots until soft, add the garlic slices and fry until fragrant (don’t let the garlic brown), then transfer to the stock.
  • Add the chopped potatoes, carrots and celery stalks to the stock and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender.
  • Use two forks or clean hands to pull the chicken breasts apart into large pieces and add them to the soup, along with the lentils, stir, and cook for five minutes.
  • Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed, add the fresh dill, a teaspoon of pickled shallots and pickle juice, stir, and serve immediately with crusty bread.

Nutrition

Calories: 286kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 25gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 770mgPotassium: 1037mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 3578IUVitamin C: 36mgCalcium: 71mgIron: 2mg

Please do let us know in the comments below if you make this chicken lentil soup recipe with potatoes, carrots, celery and dill, as we’d love to hear how it turned out for you.

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A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

2 thoughts on “Old Fashioned Chicken Lentil Soup Recipe with Potatoes, Carrots, Celery and Dill”

  1. The first time I made this I used leftover rotisserie chicken. But then I used poached chicken breasts and I liked it more. The rotisserie chicken was moist, but a little greasy compared to the poached breasts.
    This soup is on repeat at out place!
    Thanks!5 stars

  2. Hi Ava, so pleased to read this! Poached chicken breasts are definitely healthier but if you’ve got leftover chicken, whether it’s a shop-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover roast chicken, this is a fantastic way to use it up :) Thanks for taking time to drop by and let us know!

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