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You're going to love this Chard, Lentil, & Potato Slow Cooker Soup. It's filling, easy to make, and totally healthy!
I own a ton of cookbooks, but if I had to choose the one I use the most often in my kitchen, it's Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. This is my book that has notes scrawled all over the pages and food spatters on the most frequently used recipes. If you're a vegetarian and you own a slow cooker, you should really buy this book!
This recipe is adapted from a kale and lentil soup that's in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. It's not super fancy, it's not a show-stopper, but it's a delicious, hearty soup for a chilly fall evening. I replaced the kale with chard—and used a lot more than the original recipe calls for. We love Swiss chard, and if I was buying a whole bunch anyway, why not use it? I even threw in the stems, so nothing goes to waste! I also added some Yukon potatoes to make this soup even more filling, but sweet potatoes or butternut squash would probably be just as tasty.
How to Make Chard, Lentil, & Potato Slow Cooker Soup
Heat oil in a skillet.
Add veggies and cook until softened.
Add veggies and ingredients to slow cooker.
Cook on low for 8 hours.
Season with salt, pepper, and boiled chard leaves.
Full directions for how to make Chard, Lentil, & Potato Slow Cooker Soup are in the printable recipe card below.
Chard, Lentil, & Potato Slow Cooker Soup FAQs
Why do you love this cookbook?
The thing I love about Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker is that the recipes are mostly unfussy. You might have to sauté some ingredients before putting them in the crockpot. But other than that, things are pretty uncomplicated—which is what I like in a cookbook. I want realistic, everyday meals. I want a cookbook I can use, not one with lots of pretty pictures of recipes that are a such pain to assemble that I'll probably never make.
When I was working full-time and going to library school full-time (yeah, that happened), I worked my way through a good half of the recipes in this cookbook. They were so easy to put together! I could let them cook in the crockpot all day and dinner would be ready when we got home. Without fail, they were all winners. The best part was that there were always leftovers, so we could have them for dinner the next day or freeze them. The only thing easier than a slow cooker meal is a leftover meal! Or stopping at Chipotle on the way home from work. (Yeah, that happened too.)
You can easily freeze this soup. Simply let it cool down a bit, pour it into freezer-friendly containers or ziplock bags, and pop it in the freezer until you're ready to eat it again! I recommend separating the soup into serving-size portions so you don't have to thaw all of your frozen soup when you only want to eat one cup.
Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and stems from Swiss chard.
Cover and cook until softened, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cooked vegetable mixture, lentils, potatoes, broth, and soy sauce in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
Stir to combine, cover, and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
Just before soup is finished cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place reserved chard leaves in boiling water and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Drain leaves well and stir into soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Craving more veg-friendly recipes? Shop our collection of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including our new Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks!
There are affiliate links in this post, so if you click through and buy Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, I'll get a few cents out of the deal. I promise not to spend it all in one place!
Unlike other legumes, lentils do not require soaking before using them in a slow cooker. Lentils cook relatively quickly compared to other legumes and readily absorb flavors while simmering in a slow cooker. So, you can skip the soaking step and directly add them to your slow cooker recipe.
Sometimes soup just needs to simmer longer to reach the perfect consistency. Check to see if the vegetables are tender, and then taste the broth. If the soup tastes a bit watery, give it more time.
Spending some time in a pot together is a great way for ingredients to get to know one another, which is why slow cooking is especially well-suited for making soups and stews.
Our answer. Slow cookers can be useful for cooking stews, but generally the combination of low heat and a tightly fitting lid will mean that the auce doesn't get a chace to thicken (by reduction) and consequently the sauce can be a little thin.
Don't worry about soaking lentils, split peas, or black-eyed peas (or cowpeas). Lentils and peas are softer than dried beans. They'll cook within 5 to 20 minutes without any soaking time.
Over 6-7 hours, the lentils should be at least hydrated, which would not leave them "hard". My guess is too much salt too early at too low a temp. Cook for longer, and/or increase the heat for this recipe. Also, if it calls for an acid of any kind, tomato, vinegar, lemon juice, etc.
And while you could make it with any kind of lentil—brown, green, red, you name it—I think it's the most delicious version of itself when made with French green lentils. IMHO, they're just about the best kind of lentils for soup that exist.
Yes, you can overcook lentils; they will become mushy. Much depends on the type of lentil you're using. Some cook quicker and hold their shape better than others. To avoid overcooking them, always follow the cooking directions in your recipe and use the type of lentils called for in the ingredient list.
The other good news: Lentils don't need to soak as beans do (though you do need to sort and rinse them before cooking). Different types of lentils cook in different amounts of time. Red lentils are the fastest cooking and they dissolve as they cook and make for a smooth soup.
"When a slow cooker is too full, it may not heat the food evenly," explains Leal. As a result, some parts of the dish may overcook, while others remain undercooked. "This can also increase the risk of foodborne illness, because the food might not reach a safe temperature throughout," she says.
Recipes with meat like chili and pork shoulder are best when cooked for six hours minimum or up to ten hours. Vegetarian recipes are best cooked for around four hours, but can do a minimum of two hours or maximum of six hours (after which the vegetables start to get unpleasantly mushy).
On some occasions, you'll want to leave food in the slow cooker to keep warm, during Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner, for example, or any other event or holiday. While it's perfectly ok to use your crock pot in this way, try to avoid leaving food on the warming setting for more than four hours.
Business Insider asked chefs and food experts about the most common slow-cooker mistakes. Not adding enough liquid and removing the lid too frequently can mess up the final results. You shouldn't add dairy or herbs to a slow-cooker recipe until the end of the cooking time.
The difference between "High" and "Low" on slow cookers seems to differ with every brand and model. One thing that is consistent, though, is that food takes seven to eight hours to reach a simmer point (around 210°) on low; versus three to four hours on high.
Lentils to do not require soaking like other pulses. Rinse your lentils with fresh water before boiling to remove any dust or debris. Cook on a stovetop, using 3 cups of liquid (water, stock, etc) to 1 cup of dry lentils. Be sure to use a large enough saucepan as the lentils will double or triple in size.
Instant Pot Green Lentils (Perfect, Tender, No Soaking!) With an Instant Pot and about 30 minutes, you can make perfectly cooked green lentils every time!
Do red lentils need to be soaked before cooking? No, there is no need to soak red lentils before cooking but it is a good idea to give them a quick rinse.
Lentils should always be consumed well-cooked as when raw or undercooked they can cause serious health problems, food poisoning and, in very extreme cases, even death. It's all because they contain natural compounds called lectins which are toxic but fortunately, cooking destroys them!
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by Robin Robertson. This is my book that has notes scrawled all over the pages and food spatters on the most frequently used recipes. If you're a vegetarian and you own a slow cooker, you should really buy this book!
