French Lentils with Chard Recipe (2024)

Add a couple generous tablespoons of red wine vinegar at the end of cooking. Add it gradually, tasting as you go. Suddenly lentil soup tastes incredible! It's umami or something, I guess. The flavor is addictive. From the "Greens" cookbook.

It really bothers me when people remove a key ingredient in the posted recipe (in this case, chard) and feel that their adaptation merits being shared with others.

I add 2 tbsp tomato paste, cup of fresh chopped mushrooms, When lentils are almost done, I add parboiled chopped carrots to retain their color & firmness. I omit chard, and serve over fresh spinach leaves in bottom of each bowl. This combo always brings compliments!

Seeing the numbers of folks who tried this and found it tasteless, I'll weigh in with the opposite. Made this per recipe the first time per recipe. Then per recipe minus chard the second just because I didn't have any in the kitchen so made it as a lentil "stoup".. We found it quite flavor filled both times from the bouquet garni, veg and the cheese the recipe calls for to finish it. One doesn't need to have tastebuds whalloped for things to be tasty.

It really doesn’t bother me when people remove even a key ingredient in the posted recipe and share it with others. To my way of thinking, any and all adaptations merit being shared with others—so long as they taste good!

A good alternative to the parmesan rind if you're trying to do it vegan is some red miso. Adds a nice bit of umami.

Glad I looked at the notes before I made this soup as I was able to use a couple of them, namely the addition of red wine and tomato paste which boosted the flavor and provided the acid note. Doubled the garlic and added a couple pinches of red pepper flakes. Swapped the chard for zucchini, because I had it on hand. Next time I'll try the chard.

I chopped up and cooked the (red) stalks from the chard with the celery and carrots. This added great color and flavor.

One thing I find useful here, as in any vegetarian soup, is to cook the vegetables over low heat for around an hour, until they break down and become jammy. It provides a wonderfully deep flavor base.

The chard may fade in color but the flavor definitely improved overnight. I loved it with a drizzle of white balsamic vinegar. I wondered why the salt was not added until the end but some research indicated salt added at the beginning might keep the lentils from softening enough.

I used red wine for 1 cup of the liquid and would use more the next time, perhaps also trying substituting some chicken broth as well (for non-vegetarians). I also added some pre-cooked spicy chicken sausage that added a lot of flavor. Used red lentils which I had on hand and they cooked much more quickly than this indicated - not sure why or what difference it would have made if I used what is called for.

People calm down with calling this tasteless. You'll notice the recipe has you saving the salt and pepper until the end. It's true, the flavors are subtle until it's all come together. Plenty of salt and pepper turn the tide. I used red-stemmed chard, which gave the broth more color, and added a generous glug of balsamic vinegar for acid and sweetness. It needs nothing else.

I make this per recipe....weekly. It’s perfect. If I don’t have fresh chard .....i’ll toss in frozen spinach. Guess you could add a can of diced tomatoes for a little change. Add some feta for extra saltiness.

Simple, delicious, healthy and nourishing vegetarian food. No one can beat that! Perfect for a cold night.

Added cayenne pepper to perk up the taste.

Used a red stemmed Swiss chard to add some color and some andouille sausage for some smokiness. Delicious.

Used a red stem Swiss chard for color, adding the chopped stem with the celery to soften. Also added a boar sausage to get some smokiness. Delicious

Very satisfying stew! We substituted chard with kale, which takes five minutes longer to cook and still remain its texture. We also added a little bit of leftover tomato soup which blended superbly.I also recommend substituting the water with a broth, to enrich the flavors even more. If you use kale, this makes a great winter dish.

Somewhat bland until I added significant ginger and just a splash of sriracha.....BINGO!

Added hot sausage, a little vegetable bouillon and a mix of leafy greens. Delicious!!

Try this recipe with fresh bay leaves. It makes all the difference.

Added tomato paste. 50/50 water & chix stock.

I added about a tbsp of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of powdered porcini mushrooms to make the flavor a little more complex.

Make this regularly as an easy "comfort food" with the addition of some sherry at the end of cooking." Also sometimes mix it up a bit by adding mushrooms and/or fennel. This time I threw in a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and used vegetable broth that I had in my freezer. All were good. I've also added extra broth to leftovers and made a thinner soup. Just had to add more thyme, salt and pepper along with whatever vegetables in the fridge that needed to be used up.

I started by cooking 3 slices of bacon cut into small squares. I kept the rendered fat in the pan, and saved the crisp bacon to sprinkle on at the end. I cooked the vegetables, including the chopped red chard stems, in the rendered bacon fat and followed the rest of the recipe. Also added a bit of fino sherry for acid before serving. Turned out very well.

This was a hit in our house. I followed the recipe as written, although I was out of celery so I doubled up on the carrots, and spiced it up with a little cayene toward the end. Used french green lentils from Rancho Gordo. My only gripe, and it's a minor one, is that 1 quart of water is way too much. When fully cooked, the lentils were still swimming in broth, almost like lentil soup. So I strained it and wound up with 1-1/2 cups bean broth in addition to the lentils. Yum!

Kind of lackluster even w balsamic and cheese and lemon

I added a ham hock and cooked it slowly until the meat fell off the bone. I then removed the meat, chopped it up and returned it to the soup. So very tasty. It makes this more like split pea soup, but the lentils kept their form and texture.

I would no make this again. Despite using chicken broth and tomato paste and balsamic vinegar the result lacked flavor. Not worth the effort...

I love and appreciate it when people omit and replace ingredients and share! That way I get to learn what creative cooks do, as I am a go-by-the recipe kind of girl. Also,I find that sometimes cook times written into recipes are longer than necessary, so I adjust to both maintain flavor and texture. That being said, I love this recipe and used some spinach I had on hand that needed to be cooked instead of the chard, and added mushrooms that I sautéed with olive oil and white wine. YUM.