Lentil and ditalini soup is an Italian soup made with tender lentils, small tube-shaped ditalini pasta, and vegetables simmered together in one pot. It's hearty, budget-friendly, and can be ready in 40 minutes.
For more soup and stew recipes with lentils, try this closely related Italian lentil soup with pasta, barley lentil soup, or Spanish-style lentejas.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our affiliate disclosure.
Quick Look: Lentil and Ditalini Soup
⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
🍳 Cook Time: 30 minutes
🕒 Total Time: 40 minutes
👥 Servings: 4
📊 Calories: ~286 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
🔥 Cook Method: Stovetop
👩🍳 Main Ingredients: Lentils, pasta
⭐ Difficulty: Easy: one-pot, stove-top recipe
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON:
Why You'll Love Lentil and Ditalini Soup
Relies on pantry items: Even if you don't have celery or carrots, you can still make this soup because you're likely to have the essentials on hand.
Cooks quickly: It takes only about 30 minutes to cook, making it an easy weeknight dinner.
Cold-weather comfort: This soup is thick but still spoonable, not stew-like and not watery. The starch from the ditalini naturally enriches the broth.
I have a decent arsenal of recipes I can trace back to my mom, like these beef, pork, and veal meatballs and this vinegar chicken with potatoes. Another recipe she made to help keep me alive as a kid was this easy lentil and ditalini soup.
Did she always use ditalini? No. But she always used water, not broth. Her version was even more budget-friendly, but I'd argue mine is a little more hearty and tasty, thanks to the broth, mirepoix, some tomato paste, and a bay leaf. Sorry, Mom.
Go ahead and make this soup. It won't break the internet, but it's crazy good and hard to mess up.
Ingredient-Stretching Tip: Don't throw away those extra carrots! Use them for this best leftover turkey soup, or pasta fazool with sausage.
Jump to:
Key Ingredients
See the recipe card for full ingredient and quantity information.
- Tomato Paste: This helps thicken the soup and deepen its flavor.
- Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth: Adds much more flavor than water.
- Brown Lentils: Brown lentils are hearty and will retain their shape in this soup.
- Bay Leaf: Adds a subtle yet indispensable taste to the soup.
Variations & Substitutions
➢You can use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, but the soup will no longer be vegetarian. You can also use vegetable stock.
➢Use another small pasta, like small shells or farfallini, if you don't have ditalini.
➢Swap the brown lentils with any lentils you want. I sometimes use red lentils; just note that they're more delicate and cook more quickly.
➢If you have a Parmesan rind lying around, add it to the soup while it's simmering for a richer, silkier flavor.
➢Add some leafy greens, like fresh spinach, near the end of the soup's cooking time.
➢Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the soup after serving.
➢Toss in some crumbled sausage---sweet or hot Italian sausage is a good choice---for the meat lovers in your life. Brown it first in the olive oil (you don't have to cook it all the way through yet), and transfer it to a plate before adding the veggies to the pot. Transfer the sausage back into the pot when you add the pasta to finish cooking it.
How to Make Lentil and Ditalini Soup
Step 1: Cook the celery, carrot, and onion in olive oil until softened. Add the garlic and cook it for a couple of minutes, stirring often.
Step 2: Stir in the tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute, stirring often.
Step 3: Pour in the broth, water, lentils, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Cook the lentils for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
Step 4: Stir in the pasta and cook it for 5-10 minutes or until desired doneness.
Pro Tips
➢Inspect the lentils first: Sometimes small debris can get into lentils, so rinse or pick through them to ensure nothing undesirable ends up in your soup.
➢Prep the vegetables ahead of time: Chop or mince them, then refrigerate until you're ready to use.
➢Make this soup the day before: It tastes even better the next day, after the flavors have a chance to mingle. You can make the soup without the pasta, then add it when reheating.
Lentil and Ditalini Soup FAQs
You can in a pinch, but the broth has more flavor and more body.
Just don't overcook it. In this recipe, the ditalini only cooks for the last few minutes.
Yes, but if you want to ensure the pasta stays al dente and doesn't turn "grey" as it sits overnight in the broth, make the lentil soup without adding the pasta, then refrigerate. After fully reheating, add the pasta, bring to a low simmer, and cook until al dente.
It's more of a lentil soup, with pasta added for more heartiness.
Refrigerator: Store the soup in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezer: Freeze the soup in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Reheat: Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave. Defrost in the fridge first if taken from the freezer.
Related Recipes
If you love this recipe, please take a moment to review it below. You could also tag me on Instagram (@forcarbssake) with a picture of your finished dish!
Lentil and Ditalini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 celery ribs diced
- 1 carrots peeled and diced
- ¼ cup yellow onion peeled and diced
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt divided (¼ teaspoon + ½ teaspoon)
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- 1 and ½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup brown lentils rinsed
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
- ⅓ cup ditalini pasta
- Italian flat-leaf parsley minced
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a medium pot. Add the celery, carrot, onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt, and cook until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often.
- Add the tomato paste and stir for about 1 minute to cook off the raw tomato flavor.
- Pour in the broth, water, lentils, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and stir everything together. Crank the heat to high to bring the broth to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Give the soup another stir, and cover it partly with a lid.
- Cook the lentils for 15-20 minutes or until desired tenderness, stirring occasionally.
- When the lentils are about done, stir in the pasta and cook for 5-10 minutes or until desired doneness.
- Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls. Top each with parsley and lots of Parmesan!
Notes
- Stir the lentils periodically as they cook to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Don't place the lid on the pot entirely. This will ensure some of the liquid evaporates, resulting in a thicker soup.
- Let the soup sit for a few minutes if you want it to thicken some more, but it should be pretty thick once done.
Nutrition
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address to get a link to this post in your inbox!
Quick, easy, and delicious!