Lentil soup with pasta (+10 months)

A super food for babies…and for the whole family. A tasty, nutritious and complete meal, super simple to prepare.

You can start introducing lentils, legumes and dry beans in your baby’s diet at around 8/10 months.

Even if many parents start offering lentils at an early age (6 months), I suggest to wait few more months as lentils are a high protein food (like other legumes) and that makes them difficult to digest by a young tummy. Basically the lentil’s skin contains a cellulose that the young baby’s digestive system can’t break down. The cellulose ferments causing gas and tummy ache 🙁

Instead, an older baby’s digestive system (8/10 months) will be able to break down the lentils without side effects 😉

That being said lentils are a superfood, highly nutritious (minerals, vitamin B, protein) and high in fiber.

Thanks to their fiber amount lentils are a natural remedy for baby constipation or just to keep bowel regularity.

If you consider that lentils are a nice source of vegetable protein (they contain the same amount of protein as meat), simply adding a carbohydrate to the recipe (like pasta or rice or cereals) will give you a nutritious, healthy and complete meal for your baby and for the rest of the family 😉

Let’s start cooking now!

Lentils do not require to be presoaked (even if some people like doing so), but I suggest to always rinse them under water and check for little stones or debris before cooking.

This recipe will make 4 adult portions of lentil soup. I suggest to add the pasta when you want to serve the meal. It only takes 10 minutes to cook. If you will add the pasta to the whole soup than it will be difficult to store for another meal. I do not like overcooked one-day-old pasta 😉

My suggestion is to prepare the lentil soup, remove a baby portion (or as many portions you will serve right away) and store the leftover lentil soup either in the refrigerator for up to three days or in the freezer for up to three months.

Than you will add the freshly cooked pasta in the soup right before serving it.

Print

Lentil soup with pasta (+10 months)

Ingredients

• 1 Cup lentils 220gr
• 1 stick celery chopped in big pieces
• 6 parsley leaves
• 2 carrots peeled and chopped in big pieces
• 2 oz. tiny size pasta "pastina" half handful per baby portion, 1 handful per adult portion
• 6 Cup water 1.5 liter
• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil
• 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive oil per portion
• 1 tsp grated Parmesan Cheese per portion

Instructions

1. fill a medium pot with water
2. add the carrots, the celery, the parsley leaves, the lentils and one tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive oil
3. bring to boil
4. reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes or for the lentils’ cooking time specified on the packaging
5. using an immersion blender prepare a nice and smooth puree
6. fill a small pot with water, bring to boil and cook the tiny pasta following the cooking time on the packaging. Mine was 11 minutes
7. in a baby bowl add a portion of warm lentil soup
8. drain the pasta and add the pasta to the lentil soup. mix.
9. top with 1 tsp of Extra Virgin Olive oil and 1 tsp grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
10. you can store the remaining lentil soup in the refrigerator in an air tight container for 3 days or freeze it for up to 3 months. You will prepare the pasta at the very last moment and add it to the soup.