Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup. A hearty yet healthy soup that makes the most of leftover roast chicken or even turkey.

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup

Leftovers can be a bit of a bore, but it doesn’t have to be that way, especially if your leftovers are planned.

I’ve mentioned quite a few times before that we rarely if ever roast only one chicken at a time at our house. That’s true, even if there are only a few of us here for dinner.

We can generally make our way through a whole roasted bird at one dinner. Maybe the most common meal in our house is our version of One Hour Roast Chicken, with Roasted Potatoes (or mashed), Savoury Dressing and gravy.

How to Roast a Chicken

Since the potatoes roast in about the same time as the chicken, it makes a perfect weekday, comfort food meal for us. One tip for this simple meal is to roast the potatoes and chicken on the same sheet pan, turning the potatoes often.

I usually remove the chicken after the hour, then return the potatoes to the oven for an extra 10- 15 minutes while the chicken rests before carving. This allows them to get just that extra bit crispy.

In my opinion an aluminum baking sheet works best here because it doesn’t carry the heat too quickly and overcook the potatoes. The chicken fat from roasting makes the potatoes extra delicious too.

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup with the leftovers.

But enough about the foundation meal, what about the leftovers? One of the things we almost always plan for leftover chicken or turkey is a great soup.

Spouse is, and will always be the Soup Queen. I swear she could live on the stuff if she was forced to; actually, I don’t think it would be forced at all! She’d probably happily live on it.

She gets up before me most mornings. I cannot count the number of times I have woken to the scent of chicken stock already being started downstairs. It’s not a bad way to start the day or your appetite.

Generally, when we cook the two chickens, we remove the meat from the bones of the second chicken and any leftovers from the first. That leaves us with a great start on some incredible Homemade Chicken Stock.

How to make chicken stock in the oven.

The meat can be used for sandwiches and some added back at the end into a great recipe like this Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup. It’s a deliciously healthy way to start a Monday too, if you’ve had a roast chicken dinner on Sunday.

There are plenty of leftover chicken ideas on Rock Recipes, that we have added over the years. Be sure to search for some of those as well.

 
Looking for more chicken recipe ideas. Be sure to check out this collection of our Most Popular Chicken Recipes of the last decade.

Like this Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup recipe?

Be sure to browse the photo index of delicious dishes in our Healthy Eating Category and be sure to find plenty more great Soup Recipes here.

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Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup

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Yield: 6 servings

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Chicken Thyme and Lentil Soup. A hearty yet healthy soup that makes the most of leftover roast chicken or even turkey.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
• 1 cup diced parnsip
• 1 medium red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 6-8 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 4-6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 2-3 cups chicken ( grilled or roasted, diced)

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, parsnip, salt and pepper and saute together until the onions begin to soften.
2. Add the chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves and lentils.
3. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are almost cooked.
4. Add the cooked chicken and taste, seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
5. Simmer for only an additional 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 304Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 34mgSodium 650mgCarbohydrates 16gFiber 3gSugar 7gProtein 38g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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