Ingredients

  • 2 Small (120g) Onions
  • 2 (6g) Garlic Cloves or 2 Teaspoons Garlic Puree
  • 2 Medium (320g) Carrots
  • 2 (320g) Red Peppers
  • 2 Tablespoons (20g) Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Pints (1L) Water
  • 2 (14g) Vegetable Stock Cubes (use reduced salt when possible)
  • 18 Level Tablespoons (200g) Red Lentils

This recipe has been added to your Meal Planner.

Allergy Disclaimer

Always check the label of each ingredient for allergy warnings.

Method

  1. Peel and chop the onion, garlic and carrots. De-seed and chop the pepper.
  2. In a large saucepan, fry the onion, garlic and pepper in oil over a medium heat until soft.
  3. Add the carrots, water, stock cubes and lentils and bring to the boil.
  4. Simmer for around 45 minutes.
  5. Serve hot.

Time Saver Tips

Soup can be made ahead and heated up when you need it for a super easy meal. Why not make double the amount so there’s enough to freeze? Let the soup cool before putting in the fridge and use it up within two days, or freeze it for later.

Cost Saver Tips

You could swap the vegetable stock cube for reduced salt stock granules if that’s what you have in – just check the label for the amount you’ll need for 1 litre of water. You could also use green or brown lentils instead of red ones. Why not try swapping lentils for other dried or tinned pulses, too – like split peas, cannellini beans or chickpeas? If you’re using tinned pulses, there’s no need to cook this for quite so long, and use a little less stock. Soup is always a good use of leftover vegetables too.

Tips for Kids

If your little one isn’t always the biggest fan of vegetables, you could try chopping them extra small or blend the soup so it’s smooth – a great way to make them a little less obvious and for a more consistent texture. Your wee one might enjoy choosing what vegetables to put in the soup, then helping to prepare them. They’ll hopefully be more likely to eat it after helping you make it, too! To up their fibre intake, serve with a slice of thick wholemeal bread.

Nutritional Information

Based on a single serving of 418g (% of an adult's reference intake)

Energy

252 kcals ( 13 %)

1,063 kJ ( 13 %)

Fat

0.6 g ( 3 %)

Saturates

36.6 g ( %)

Sugar

10.5 g ( 12 %)

Salt

1.5 g ( 25 %)

Detailed nutritional information

Per 100g Per 418g serving
Energy Kcals 60 252
Energy Kj 254 1,063
Protein 3.5 g 14.6 g
Total Fat g g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g 0.6 g
Carbohydrates 8.8 g 36.6 g
Total Sugars 2.5 g 10.5 g
NSP Fibre 3.1 g 13 g
Sodium 145 mg 607 mg
Salt 0.4 g 1.5 g

Find out about nutritional labelling

Nutrition labels on the front of packaging

  • Most of the big supermarkets and many food manufacturers display nutritional information on the front of pre-packed food.
  • Front of pack nutrition labels provide information on the number of grams of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt and the amount of energy (in kJ and kcal) in a serving or portion of a recipe.
  • The labels also include information about reference intakes (expressed as a percentage) which are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet.
  • The colour coding tells you at a glance if the food has high (red), medium (amber) or low (green) amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt.
  • The more greens on the label, the healthier the choice
  • Amber means neither high nor low, so you can eat foods with all or mostly ambers on the label most of the time.
  • Reds on the label means the food is high in that nutrient and these are the foods we should cut down on. Try to eat these foods less often and in small amounts.

Food shopping tips

If you’re trying to decide which product to choose, check to see if there's a nutrition label on the front of the pack. This will help you to quickly assess how your choices stack up. You will often find a mixture of red, amber and green colour coding for the nutrients. So when you're choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers and fewer reds if you want to make a healthier choice.

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