Slow Cooker Italian Chicken Lentil Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Combine green lentils, tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, paprika, onion powder, and salt in a slow cooker. Pour in chicken broth and stir gently to evenly distribute seasonings into the broth.
• Settle chicken thighs into the broth, ensuring they are submerged in the liquid.
• Set slow cooker for High heat and cook for 4 hours, chicken should be falling off the bone and lentils should be tender (if not, cook a little bit longer).
• Use tongs and remove chicken from the soup and set on a cutting board. Pull meat off the bones with tongs and either rough chop or break apart into bite sized pieces with the tongs. Return meat to the soup. Discard bones.
• Stir the meat in and taste test; adjust the seasonings as desired.

Steps:

• Remove fat from chicken. In 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix onion, zucchini, carrots, lentils, broth, salt and pepper. Add chicken.
• Cover; cook on Low heat setting 5 to 6 hours.
• Remove chicken from slow cooker. Use 2 forks to pull chicken into shreds. Return chicken to slow cooker. Stir in mushrooms and tomatoes. Cover; cook on Low heat setting about 15 minutes longer or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with basil. Serve with cheese.

Steps:

• Combine water, ham, tomatoes, lentils, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, pepper, salt, thyme, and bay leaf in a slow cooker.
• Cover and cook on LOW until lentils and vegetables are as soft as you like, 6 to 8 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Steps:

• In a large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage, breaking it up with a spatula, until it is in small, coarse pieces, and starts to brown and sizzle in its own fat, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked sausage to a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker. There should be a thin layer of fat covering the bottom of the skillet. If there is much more than that, pour a bit of the fat off. If there is not enough fat to cover the bottom of the pan, add a drizzle of olive oil.
• Add the onion to the skillet, season generously with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, add garlic and cook until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic powders, the herbs, red-pepper flakes and several generous grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine. Increase heat to medium-high, pour in the wine and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot. Let the wine bubble until the pan is almost dry, about 3 minutes.
• Scrape the skillet mixture into the slow cooker with the sausage. Add the bay leaf and the lentils. Add the tomatoes with their juice. If using whole, crush the tomatoes into pieces using your hands as you add them with their juice. Pour in the chicken stock. Season generously with pepper and add 1/2 teaspoon salt if you are using low-sodium stock or 1 teaspoon salt if using homemade unsalted stock. Do not add salt now if you are using fully salted stock. Stir well to combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low until the lentils are tender, about 6 to 8 hours. (Taste the lentils to make sure they are firm but creamy on the inside; black lentils can vary in their cooking time depending on their age and the heat of your slow cooker.) The soup holds well on warm for 2 additional hours.
• Switch the heat to high. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Stir in the greens and cook until wilted and tender, about 2 minutes for baby spinach, 10 minutes for kale. Stir in the vinegar. Serve in bowls, topped with chopped basil and grated Parmesan.

Steps:

• Place the chicken stock, carrots, lentils, artichokes, celery, sun-dried tomatoes and tablespoon of their oil, bouillon paste, oregano and onion in a slower cooker. Cook until the lentils are tender, on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Stir in the escarole, lemon zest and juice and let sit 5 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve with crusty bread alongside.

Steps:

• In a 3 1/2 quart or larger slow cooker combine the lentils, celery, carrots, onion, garlic and ham. Season with basil, thyme, oregano, the bay leaf and pepper. Stir in the chicken broth, water and tomato sauce. Cover and cook on Low for 11 hours. Discard the bay leaf before serving.