German sausage lentil soup, called "Linsensuppe mit Würstchen" in German, is one of my favorite soups to make when it's cold outside! It’s super flavorful, packed with nutritious ingredients, and very simple to make.
If you’ve tried German dishes like German potato soup or potato pancakes before, then you already know how flavorful and aromatic German cuisine is! This German sausage lentil soup is another favorite dish I loved to eat growing up.
It is made from tasty and nourishing ingredients like lentils, potatoes, and carrots. Plus, it has fun ingredients like sausages that add a fun and delicious twist to this soup. It truly is a must-make if you love warming soups and delicious German food!
German Sausage Lentil Soup Ingredients
To make this sausage lentil soup, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Brown lentils: Brown lentils are commonly used to make sausage lentil soup, so I’d recommend buying them to make this dish. If you can’t find brown lentils, green lentils will work, too.
- Vegetables: Carrots, celery, yellow onion, leeks, and potatoes are needed to make this soup. I’d recommend using yellow potatoes like Yukon Gold.
- Vegetable or chicken broth: For the soup base, you’ll need vegetable or chicken broth. I usually use whatever I have on hand, which oftentimes means that I’ll use a combination of both.
- Sausages: Sausages like wieners are typically used for this type of soup. But you can use another type of sausage that you think would go well here.
- Bay leaf: Bay leaves are very important to make this soup taste delicious! So be sure to not skip the bay leaf.
- White wine vinegar: White vinegar is another typical ingredient in German sausage lentil soup. You can use classic white wine vinegar or something like white balsamic vinegar.
- Parsley: Parsley is used to garnish the soup. If you don’t like it, feel free to skip it.
How to make German sausage lentil soup
Making this soup is super simple. Just follow these steps:
- Sauté: First, preheat some olive oil in a pot over medium. Sauté the onion until it turns translucent. Then add the carrots and celery. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Simmer: Now add the leek, potatoes, lentils, and vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Add the bay leaf, cover the pot, and let the soup simmer for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are tender.
- Blend and combine: Take out the bay leaves. Blend the soup partially with an immersion blender. Stir in the sliced wieners and let the soup simmer for 5 minutes (uncovered to thicken it more if desired).
- Finish and serve: Now add the white wine vinegar. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!
Tips & Notes
There is almost nothing that could go wrong when following this recipe, but I’ll still leave the following tips and notes in case you want to take a look at them or need help troubleshooting.
- Use less broth for a thicker soup. I’d say that the soup is perfect as is, but if you tend to prefer thick soups you may want to use only 5 cups of liquid for 4 servings and then add more as needed. If you like moderately thick or slightly thin soups, you can just stick to the recipe.
- Let the soup simmer without the lid to thicken it. If you find that the soup is too thin, you can let it simmer without the lid when you add the wieners so it thickens. People really have different preferences here, so just adjust the soup’s consistency to your taste!
- Don’t blend the soup too much. I recommend blending the soup only a little bit as it tastes best when there are still plenty of chunks! Some people also love mashing instead of blending the soup, so consider it as an option if you don’t have an immersion blender (or simply don’t want to use it 😃).
- Don’t skip the vinegar. You don’t need a lot of vinegar, but you can definitely taste the difference when you add it. It’s needed to create that typical taste that German sausage lentil soup has. So make sure to use it and add more if desired.
Variations
This sausage lentil soup recipe is how I love to make it at home and how I ate it growing up. But there are other versions that are slightly different. If one of the following variations sounds like something you’d enjoy, feel free to go for it!
- Add some bacon. I always make the soup without ham or bacon, but other people love to add it to the soup. You can sauté it in the beginning with the onion or vegetables.
- Add a pinch of nutmeg. You could also add a pinch of ground nutmeg when you stir in the white wine vinegar. It’s a delicious addition, especially if you have it on hand anyways.
- Don’t blend the soup. A lot of people actually don’t blend the soup. I personally like to blend it a little bit. So just enjoy the soup the way you like it the most!
Frequently Asked Questions
The soup is filling and satisfying as is but you can definitely serve some delicious bread on the side. It tastes really great!
Yes! Just skip the wieners or use a vegan substitute. There are many delicious products available, so feel free to use vegan sausages to make this soup.
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days and in your freezer for up to 3 months.
More simple soup recipes
If you are looking for more soup recipes that you can add to your cooking rotation, feel free to check out the following posts.
Other delicious German recipes
If you want to try more authentic German dishes, I recommend checking out the following recipes.
- German Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)
- Chicken Fricassee
- German Potato Soup
- Frikadellen
- German Potato Salad
German Sausage Lentil Soup
Equipment
- 1 Immersion blender
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 2 carrots cut into cubes
- 2 celery stalks finely diced
- ½ leek halved lengthwise and cut into rings
- ¾ pound potatoes cut into bite-sized cubes
- 1 cup brown lentils alternatively green lentils, rinsed
- 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large bay leaf
- 4 wieners cut into slices
- 1 ½ teaspoon white wine vinegar more to taste
- parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat some olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Then sauté the onion until it turns translucent.2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 yellow onion
- Next, add the carrots and celery. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.2 carrots, 2 celery stalks
- Then add the leek, potatoes, lentils, and vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper. Add a bay leaf, cover the pot, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and let the soup cook for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are tender.½ leek, ¾ pound potatoes, 1 cup brown lentils, 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth, salt and pepper, 1 large bay leaf
- Now take out the bay leaf and blend the soup partially with an immersion blender. Add the sliced wieners to the soup and let the soup simmer (uncovered if you want the soup thicker) for 3-5 minutes.4 wieners
- Add the white wine vinegar and stir. Garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy!1 ½ teaspoon white wine vinegar, parsley
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