Crockpot Lentil Soup with Sausage

Easy Crockpot Lentil Soup with Sausage (Freezer-Friendly)

Lentils are a personal favorite, and combined with the flavorful sausage this makes a really tasty and filling meal — perfect for the slow cooker.

When you want a hearty, budget-friendly dinner that basically cooks itself, this easy crockpot lentil soup with sausage is a winner. It’s cozy, protein-packed, and full of veggies and fiber, so you feel satisfied instead of weighed down. Best of all, the hands-on time is minimal — about 10 minutes of prep and your slow cooker does the rest!

This recipe is also freezer-friendly, making it perfect for busy weeknights, new baby meals, or stocking your freezer before a hectic season. You can assemble it fresh, cook and freeze leftovers, or make it part of a big freezer-meal prep day.

Why You’ll Love This Crockpot Lentil Soup

This slow cooker lentil soup with sausage checks so many boxes:

• Hearty and filling – Lentils add fiber and plant-based protein, while sausage brings rich, savory flavor.
• Budget-friendly – Lentils are one of the most affordable pantry staples and stretch the sausage nicely.
• Simple ingredients – Mostly pantry and fridge basics you probably already have on hand.
• Hands-off cooking – Add everything to the crockpot, set it, and let it simmer to perfection.
• Freezer-friendly – Make a big batch once, enjoy multiple meals later.

Lentils are also naturally rich in fiber and plant-based protein, which can help you feel fuller longer and support heart health when used in place of more processed options. For more on lentils as a nutritious choice, you can read about them in this helpful guide from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (a great, non-affiliate resource).

Crockpot Lentil Soup Ingredients

One of the ingredients in this recipe is chicken broth. If you’d like to save some money, we recommend making your own chicken broth at home using this fat-free chicken broth recipe. It’s a great way to use leftover bones, veggies, and scraps instead of letting them go to waste.

In the photo above, you’ll also notice a plastic liner in the slow cooker. That’s a slow cooker liner — they make cleanup so much easier, especially with tomato-based soups and stews!

How to Make Crockpot Lentil Soup in the Slow Cooker

This slow cooker lentil soup is very forgiving, which makes it ideal for busy days or for newer cooks learning how to use their crockpot. Here’s the basic process (your detailed ingredient amounts and steps are in the printable recipe card below):

1. Prep the veggies and sausage. Chop your vegetables and slice or crumble the sausage, depending on the type you’re using.
2. Add everything to the crockpot. Add lentils, veggies, sausage, broth, seasonings, and any additional ingredients the recipe calls for directly into the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook. Cook on low until the lentils are tender and the flavors have melded. This typically takes several hours, which means dinner is quietly cooking while you go about your day.
4. Adjust seasoning. Taste and add extra salt, pepper, or herbs if needed before serving.

I love that I can have this prepped and ready to cook in about 10 minutes. After that, it’s truly a “set it and forget it” kind of meal — perfect for busy weekdays, Sunday meal prep, or those nights when you’d rather be relaxing than standing over the stove.

How to Freeze Lentil Soup

This lentil soup recipe is extremely easy to freeze, and it reheats beautifully. That’s one of the reasons I love it for freezer meal cooking.

To freeze cooked crockpot lentil soup:

• Let the soup cool slightly.
• Portion the cooked soup into resealable freezer bags or freezer-safe containers.
• Remove as much excess air as you can, then lay the bags flat to freeze.

When you’re ready to eat, thaw a bag or container in the fridge for about 24 hours and reheat your serving in a large stockpot on medium to low heat. Stir occasionally until hot throughout. You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave for a quick lunch or solo dinner.

Freezing soup like this is one of my favorite ways to make sure we always have a warming, nourishing meal on hand — especially on cold days when I don’t feel like cooking from scratch.

Serving Tips and Side Dish Ideas

You really don’t need any side dishes with this crockpot lentil soup because it’s already so filling and hearty. But if you’d like to round out the meal, here are some delicious ideas:

• Keep it simple with a warm dinner roll.
• Add comforting carbs with grilled rosemary garlic potatoes.
• Lighten things up with a big green salad, like this green salad recipe with homemade zesty Italian dressing.

Those are just a few options, but if you want more ideas you can find all our side dish recipes here and build a full menu around this soup.

Recommended Crockpot for This Soup

If you don’t have a slow cooker already, here’s a nice one that you can get from Amazon for a really good price:

Hamilton Beach 33967 Set ‘n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

Learn More About Freezer Meal Cooking

If you love this slow cooker lentil soup and want to build out your freezer stash even more, these resources will walk you through everything you need to know:

• Why you NEED Freezer Meal Cooking in your life!
• How to start doing Freezer Meals (have a party? Start a group? Or do it on your own?)
• 24 Lessons I Learned While Making Freezer Meals
• What Foods Don’t Freeze Well
• Freezer Meal eBook

More Easy Freezer-Friendly Recipes You’ll Love

Once you’ve fallen in love with this crockpot lentil soup with sausage, try a few more easy dinners that work well for make-ahead and freezer cooking:

• Pasta e Fagioli Olive Garden Copycat Recipe
• Ham and Cheese Braid Recipe (Freezer Meal)
• Oven Baked Tacos Recipe
• Cream Cheese Chicken Crescent Roll Recipe
• Garlic Pork Stir-Fry Freezer Meal

Find all our freezer meal recipes here!

Easy Crockpot Lentil Soup with Sausage (Freezer Meal)

This crockpot lentil soup recipe is delicious, easy to make, and easy to freeze! Great for meal planning.

4.75 / 5 ( 4 Reviews )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours hours

Total Time: 5 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Serves: 16

Adjust Servings: 16

Equipment

• Slow Cooker
• Large skillet

Ingredients

• 1 pound mild Italian ground sausage
• 2 cups green lentils rinsed
• 1 medium onion diced
• 3 stalks celery sliced
• 3 carrots peeled and sliced
• 1 small eggplant diced
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ½ tablespoon dried thyme
• 8 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 diced tomatoes, do not drain 15-ounce cans / 411 grams
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• shredded Parmesan and/or fresh parsley

Instructions

• Brown the ground sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, until cooked through, breaking apart into small pieces as it cooks.
• Add cooked sausage, lentils, onion, celery, carrots, eggplant, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, and chicken broth into large slow cooker.
• Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
• Stir in the minced garlic one hour before soup is finished cooking.
• Garnish with shredded Parmesan and fresh parsley before serving, if desired.

PREPARING FOR THE FREEZER:

• Let soup cool. Portion cooked soup into resealable freezer bags (or individual containers), remove air, lay flat, and freeze.

PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:

• Thaw in the fridge for 24 hours. Reheat in large stock pot on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

Recipe Notes

If you want to speed up the process of cooling the soup, you can place the soup pot or container in a bath of ice water, stirring soup every few minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 10g | Sodium: 327mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 4g