Kale, Lentil, and Bacon Soup

Author Notes

A super cozy, warming yet fresh and healthy soup, if ever there was one. Earthy lentils, verdant, good-for-you kale, and a little salty hit of bacon — so good. As ever, I feel a splash of dry sherry enhances a vegetable-based soup, but it is up to you. This depends on using some good stock; I don’t always make my own, but ensure I buy a quality one. I used chicken stock for this, but you could use a vegetarian stock and omit the bacon to make this vegan. —Anna May

Test Kitchen Notes

This soup may be short on ingredients, but it is NOT short on flavor! I was tempted to add a little of this and a little of that, but it’s really not necessary — the soup stands on its own. I used homemade chicken broth and included the optional dry sherry, which I recommend. The only change I made was in the cooking method to cut down on the fat. I baked the bacon and then used 1 tablespoon of the rendered grease to cook the onions, added them in, then proceeded with the recipe. Soup to soothe the tummy and soul! —anotherfoodieblogger

Ingredients

• 
  1 tablespoon
  
  olive oil
  
  
• 
  1
  
  onion, chopped
  
  
• 
  1 splash
  
  dry sherry (optional)
  
  
• 
  1 liter
  
  stock (chicken or vegetable; see above)
  
  
• 
  100 grams
  
  kale, chopped
  
  
• 
  1 sprig
  
  thyme, leaves picked
  
  
• 
  4
  
  rashers streaky bacon, chopped
  
  
• 
  100 grams
  
  Le Puy green lentils