German Lentil Soup

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German lentil soup made with carrots, potatoes, leek, bacon, and frankfurters is a farmhouse classic.

German lentil soup with frankfurters is one of those recipes that remind my husband of his childhood. The last time I made this soup, my oldest son kept remarking that he had forgotten how much he loved this soup because I hadn’t made it in years.

When I was growing up, we never ate lentils that I can remember. Sometime early on in my marriage, my husband told me that he loved lentil soup. So what is a newlywed to do, but to find an easy lentil soup recipe to make for her husband?

If you are interested in reading more about our time living in Germany, check out our story.

To Make German Lentil Soup With Frankfurters You Will Need

To Soak or Not to Soak Lentils is a Good Question

There is some debate as to whether or not one should pre-soak lentils before cooking. This website is 100% gluten-free and is written for people who have a history of digestive issues. Soaking lentils makes them easier to digest, which seems like a good reason to do it.

And while it won’t ultimately make or break the quality of your dish, soaking lentils before cooking will help neutralize some of the lectins and phytic acid and potentially reduce your digestive upset.

Soaking and or boiling foods that contain lectins and phytates can neutralize these compounds and potentially reduce your digestive upset.

How to Soak Lentils

Step 1:

Wash and rinse lentils. Pick out any debris or stones.

Step 2:

Put the lentil in a ceramic or glass bowl and cover it with at least one inch of tap water and let them soak for 2-4 hours.

Step 3:

Drain the lentils, then rinse them once more with fresh, cold water before using them in your recipe.

German Lentil and Potato Soup – Step by Step

Prepare the lentils by rinsing and soaking them as instructed above.

Wash and finely cut the carrots, celery, and leek into small pieces. Dice the onions and peel and cube the potatoes into bite-sized morsels.

For this recipe, I used pork bacon from the pigs we had butchered in the fall. We asked our butcher to cut half of the bacon into slices and the rest into larger chunks.

This recipe uses 3.5 oz (100g) of bacon which is equivalent to 4-5 slices of extra thick-cut bacon available in the grocery store. Dice the bacon slices into smaller bite-sized pieces.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and fry the bacon until it is crisp, but not burnt. Add onion, celery, and carrots and stir fry them together for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Drain the lentils, rinse, and add them to the pot with the marjoram and bay leaf. Add your favorite gluten-free broth or stock to the pot and stir everything together. Bring to a boil and simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes.

Taste the soup and flavor it with salt, pepper, sugar, and additional marjoram to taste. Add the diced potatoes and continue cooking the soup for approximately 20 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.

Just before the potatoes are tender and almost finished cooking, cut the frankfurters into bite-sized pieces and add them to the lentil soup to warm them up. Serve the soup and garnish with chopped parsley. Enjoy with your favorite gluten-free crackers or biscuits!

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of our easy lentil soup recipe and if you happen to make some, tag me @underthreeacres on Instagram.

Optional Substitutes

In Germany, you would use celeriac instead of celery stalks. It is a root vegetable and has a stronger flavor than stalks of celery. They actually sell a little bundle of “Suppengemüse” at the grocery store in Germany and most soup recipes over there calls for a bundle of it to be added to the soup.

If you can’t find gluten-free frankfurters, you can use your favorite gluten-free hotdogs, morsels of ham, or simply add more bacon.

Other gluten-free soup recipes you might enjoy!