Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Carrot, red lentil and cumin soup
A smooth carrot and lentil soup with a gentle cumin note.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 12 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the lentils collapse in 20 to 25 minutes
- Photograph the finished bowls
- Time
- About 40 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 320 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 16 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
No regulated allergens in the ingredients as listed. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
Cooking steps
Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes.
Add the cumin and stir it for about 30 seconds, until it smells toasted. Watch it: spices go from fragrant to burnt in seconds, and burnt cumin flavours the whole pot.
Add the carrots, lentils and stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils have collapsed and the carrots are soft.
Blend until smooth, filling the blender no more than half full and holding the lid with a tea towel.
The useful detail
Toast cumin briefly without allowing it to scorch. Thirty seconds in warm oil is enough to change it; a minute is usually too long.
Make it work for you
One serving is A large bowl, half the pan. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
A spoonful of yoghurt on top
Softens the earthiness and adds protein. Nutrition is not recalculated.
Allergens: Adds milk.
Sweet potato instead of carrots
Sweeter and thicker when blended.
Per serving: about 80 kcal more, about 1 g more protein, about the same fat.
Green lentils instead of red
They hold their shape, so blend for longer or accept a chunky soup. Use about 300 g cooked.
Per serving: about 25 kcal less, about the same protein, about 1 g less fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A thick vegan soup. The library draft finished it with plain soya yoghurt, which FoodData Central does not record, so it is served plain here rather than with a guessed figure.
| Energy | 320 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 16 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| of which saturates | 1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 58 g |
| of which sugars | not calculated |
| Fibre | 11 g |
| Sodium | 1,210 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| olive oil | 4.5 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 40 kcal | 0.0 g |
| onion | 60 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 24 kcal | 0.7 g |
| ground cumin | 1 g | FDC 170923Spices, cumin seedFoodData Central records cumin seed; ground cumin is the same seed, milled. | 4 kcal | 0.2 g |
| carrot | 350 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 144 kcal | 3.3 g |
| red lentils | 110 g | FDC 174284Lentils, pink or red, raw | 394 kcal | 26.3 g |
| vegetable stock | 735 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 37 kcal | 1.8 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 642 kcal | 32.2 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. of which sugars could not be calculated, because one ingredient’s record does not cover it; the row above says which. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. It thickens considerably; loosen it with stock or water.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
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