This Slow Cooker Sausage and Lentil Soup is a cozy and hearty meal that basically cooks itself. Lentils, sausage, veggies, and warm spices simmer away all day to create a rich, protein-packed bowl of goodness. Your whole family will love this simple, dump-and-go dish.
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📝Ingredient shopping list
To make lentil sausage soup, you will need these ingredients. For quantities and full preparation instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
- Lentils: Brown and green will hold their shape best for this crockpot lentil soup
- Chicken broth
- Veggies: Diced tomatoes, onion, carrots, and celery.
- Spices: Minced garlic, dried minced onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, green hot sauce, and a bay leaf
- Sausage links: Chicken apple sausage is my go-to for this recipe, but you can use any you prefer. Your soup will take on the flavors of the sausage you choose.
Why you will 💜 your slow cooker for this recipe
- Hands-free cooking. This slow cooker lentil soup is the ultimate dump-and-go recipe. All ingredients cook evenly without any monitoring
- The slow-cooking time allows your lentils to soften perfectly without turning mushy. Just like Copycat Madras Lentils and Black Bean Tacos, no pre-soaking is required.
- This dish is meal prep-friendly! It is great for batch cooking and can be easily doubled.
🎥Watch how to make it
Preparing your slow cooker
- Coat your slow cooker with a non-stick spray or oil before cooking
- Oil works better than spray for some non-stick surfaces (check your slow cooker's manual)
- Olive oil and avocado oil are my go-to coatings.
- You can also use a slow cooker liner for even easier clean-up.
Get Cooking
Rinse beans
Rinse the lentils to remove dust and debris, and check to ensure there are no rocks or other foreign objects.
Add to slow cooker
Place rinsed and checked lentils into a greased slow cooker.
Add remaining ingredients
Stir all remaining ingredients together and top with a bay leaf. Cover and cook.
Serve and enjoy!
After cooking, remove the bay leaf and stir. Be sure to break up any chunks of beef that may have formed during cooking.
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🍽Serving suggestions
- Alongside some crusty bread or crackers for dipping
- Topped with grated parmesan cheese for savory richness
- With some chili flakes or hot sauce for more heat
- Underneath a dollop of Greek Yogurt for added cool, creamy texture.
🔁Substitutions
- Green or brown lentils both work well in this high-protein lentil soup. Red lentils will work, but you will have a softer, thicker soup.
- Try using your favorite sausage. Use a spicy sausage to dial up the heat or an Italian sausage for a more savory kick. The chicken apple sausage I use adds a touch of sweetness.
- A green hot sauce is my favorite with this recipe, but any hot sauce will be delicious!
Storing sausage lentil soup
Store unused sausage lentil soup in airtight containers. It will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer
TOP TIP
Defrost frozen slow cooker sausage and lentil soup in the refrigerator overnight before gently reheating in the microwave. If reheated soup is too thick, stir in some additional broth. Be sure to stir the reheated soup to refresh and even out the texture
😉Hints & hacks
- Feeling extra lazy? Purchase Mirepoix already cut. It is available in the produce section of most markets.
- I am a huge fan of pre-minced garlic.
- Use a slow cooker liner for the easiest clean-up.
- Don't forget to turn on and plug in your slow cooker. Coming home to a cold slow cooker that was never turned on is the worst!
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📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Sausage and Lentil Soup
(Click on the stars to leave a rating)
Print Pin Rate SaveAll nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
Equipment
- 6 quart slow cooker
- cutting board and knife
- measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cups lentils Use strainer to rinse, sort and remove any stones
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 14 oz can diced tomato
- 12 oz mirepoix chopped. Or: 1 small onion, 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 2 teaspoon salt optional
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoon hot green pepper sauce
- 1 Bay leaf
- 4 links cooked sausage sliced. I like to use chicken apple sausage for a sweet touch.
Instructions
- Add 2 cups lentils, 6 cups chicken broth, 1 14 oz can diced tomato,12 oz mirepoix , 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon dried minced onion, 2 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce , 2 teaspoon hot green pepper sauce, and 4 links cooked sausage (sliced) to a greased slow cooker2 cups lentils
- Stir to combine
- top with 1 Bay leaf
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours
- Remove bay leaf before serving and enjoy!
Final Step
If you love this recipe, please let everyone know by giving it a star rating and leaving a comment. This will help my business to grow and allow me to keep on testing and sharing free recipes with you.😊
Video
Notes
- Brown or green lentils will hold their shape best for this recipe
- Sausage links used were already fully cooked.
- For a spicier soup, use spicy sausage here.
- I like green hot sauce with this recipe. You can use your favorite instead.
- Turkey or pork would all work in place of chicken sausage.
- For more substitution and serving ideas, please refer to the write-up above.
Nutrition
All nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
Stacy says
I don’t care for spicy so delete that, add dill instead. My preference is Nathan’s hot dogs. Much tastier and give that deli hot dog taste I know quite well. The frozen mirepoix is a nice, easy touch. I should try that!
admin says
Awesome! Hope you love it!
Mel says
These are brown lentils you use? Hard to tell from picture. All my local stores only seem to carry red and green lentil which to my knowledge provide a different flavor? Thank you!
The Lazy Slow Cooker says
Hi Mel,
So funny - I usually use brown lentils because they are generally the most readily available near me. I have only used brown in this recipe - so I guess you have given me a reason to try it different ways and post an update!! I would recommend going with green since red lentils seem to have a shorter cooking time and can get mushier. Based on my experience, green should work for the given cooking times. It may just be a little creamier since green lentils can occasionally split during cooking (which I think is a good thing!).
Enjoy the soup - I would love to hear which lentils you choose and how it turns out!
Thanks for reach out and asking!!
Susan
Jose Armando Paniagua says
Can I slow cooker in high for 2 hours?
admin says
Hi Jose,
On high, the lentils should take 3-4 hours to become soft enough.
I hope this helps and that you enjoy the soup!
Thanks for asking!
Jose Armando Paniagua says
I did 6 cups and it looks more Lentil than soup.
The Lazy Slow Cooker says
It is a very thick, stew-like soup. I haven’t tried it, but I would think you could add some additional broth if you want to thin it out a bit.