Healthy Chicken Soup Recipe With Lentils

Lentil Chicken Soup Ingredients:

4 cups fresh kale, coarsely chopped (about 8 ounces)
1 ½ cup chicken, cooked (about 8 ounces)
½ cup red lentils, dry
6 cups chicken broth, low fat and reduced sodium
1 cup onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cup carrots, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed or 1 tablespoon fresh basil, snipped
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
Non-stick cooking spray

Method:

Lightly coat a large non-stick cooking skillet with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat the skillet over medium heat.
To the heated skillet stir in onions, carrots, and garlic. Cover the skillet and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes or till the vegetables are tender, yet firm. Stir occasionally for even tenderness.
If using dried basil add it to the vegetables along with the low sodium chicken broth. Continue cooking to boil the contents. After a boil reduce heat and cover the skillet. Let the contents simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Uncover the skillet and add chopped kale. Season with salt and pepper and cover the skillet. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
Add cooked chicken cubes, red lentils, chopped tomatoes and fresh basil (if you are not using the dried version). Cover the skillet and simmer for more 5 to 10 minutes or till lentils and kale are tender. Red lentils will cook faster as compared to yellow or brown lentils. So if you plan to substitute red lentils with yellow or brown lentils then the cooking time might increase or you may need to add lentils at an earlier stage of preparing the soup. Check for the directions on the package and add yellow or red lentils in step 3. This recipe makes 6 servings.

Health Tip:

Kale lentil and chicken soup is a low calorie diabetes friendly recipe that provides about 179 calories, 3 gm total fat, 18 gm protein and 20 gm carbohydrates.
This recipe also provides about 736 mg sodium per serving, so if you are on sodium restricted diet then balance your intake of other sodium rich foods in the diet.
This is not only a diabetes friendly recipe but also a cholesterol lowering recipe. Kale is a rich source of vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C. The organosulfur phytonutrients in kale also help to prevent certain type of cancers.