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
Spiced pumpkin and red lentil soup with yoghurt
Pumpkin and red lentils cooked down with cumin and turmeric.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 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 rinsed red lentils collapse in 22 to 28 minutes
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 50 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 555 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 33 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk. 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
Rinse the red lentils in a sieve under cold water until the water runs clear. It takes about a minute and it decides how the soup tastes.
Soften the diced onion in the oil over medium-low heat for 8 minutes.
Add the cumin and turmeric and cook for a full minute before any liquid goes in.
Add the diced pumpkin, the rinsed lentils and the stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 22 to 28 minutes, until the lentils have collapsed and the pumpkin gives to a spoon.
Blend until smooth. Serve with the yoghurt spooned in and the coriander scattered over.
The useful detail
Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear. The starch and dust that come off them are what makes an unrinsed lentil soup cloudy, slightly gritty and oddly dull.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl with a spoonful of yoghurt. 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.
Butternut squash instead of pumpkin
Sweeter and denser, and it gives a thicker soup.
Per serving: about 45 kcal more, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Quark instead of Greek yoghurt
Thicker and sharper against the spice.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about 1 g less fat.
Leave out the yoghurt
The soup becomes vegan and loses about 7 g of protein a serving. A squeeze of lemon juice replaces the sharpness.
Allergens: Removes milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A blended soup that still carries real protein, because the lentils are the body of it rather than a thickener, with the yoghurt adding more on top.
| Energy | 555 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 33 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| of which saturates | 2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 86 g |
| of which sugars | not calculated |
| Fibre | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1,350 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| rapeseed or other neutral oil | 14 g | FDC 172336Oil, canola | 122 kcal | 0.0 g |
| ground cumin | 2 g | FDC 170923Spices, cumin seedFoodData Central records cumin seed; ground cumin is the same seed, milled. | 8 kcal | 0.4 g |
| ground turmeric | 1 tsp | Not calculatedA quarter teaspoon of ground turmeric weighs well under a gram, which is under 2 kcal at the energy density of any dried spice. | · | · |
| pumpkin | 500 g | FDC 168448Pumpkin, raw | 130 kcal | 5.0 g |
| red lentils | 180 g | FDC 174284Lentils, pink or red, raw | 644 kcal | 43.0 g |
| vegetable stock | 880 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 44 kcal | 2.1 g |
| Greek yoghurt | 150 g | FDC 170903Yogurt, Greek, plain, lowfat | 110 kcal | 14.9 g |
| fresh coriander | 10 g | FDC 169997Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw | 2 kcal | 0.2 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1108 kcal | 67.0 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. Ingredients marked “Not calculated” are excluded and could add at most 2 kcal to the whole recipe. 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 to a paste in the fridge; loosen it with stock or water as it reheats.
- 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.
Try another recipe
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Roasted squash and white beans blended into a smooth sage soup.
About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
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