Okay, I’m starting off this post with a confession:

It’s 2019, and I still don’t have (and—if I’m being honest—don’t want to have) and Instant Pot.

Trust me, I know all the details about the benefits of the Instant Pot and I’ve seen the beautiful 20 minute dinner recipes on Pinterest. But, I’ve been using the Crockpot slow cooker for over 5 years, and it has never, ever done me wrong.

From personal experience, quickly-cooked soups and stews are rarely as good as the slow cooked ones, no matter how perfectly seasoned they are. Not trying to hate on the Instant Pot or anything—it’s just a matter of preference coming from someone who’d rather wait 6 more hours than necessary to get a slightly better-tasting soup.

And in that spirit, I present to you a Slow Cooker Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup. It’s vegetarian, good for you, and full of those warming, classic autumn flavors we all know and love. And did I mention it’s super easy? It’s as easy as dumping a bunch of veggies in a slow cooker in the morning, letting it cook while you’re living your life during the day, and eating when you get home.

Slow Cooker Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup

30 mins of prep time, 6 hours of cooking time

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 5 carrots, roughly chopped

• 1 small butternut squash, chopped into 1-inch cubes

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped

• 3 potatoes, chopped

• 1 cup red lentils

• 2 quarts vegetable broth

• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for serving

• large handful of fresh thyme springs

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp curry powder

• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

• 1/2 tsp cayenne

• 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes

• salt and pepper to taste

• parmesan cheese (or plant-based parmesan if you want to keep this recipe vegan)

• optional garnish: lemon juice, extra olive oil, red pepper flakes, parsley

To make:

1. Chop all your veggies. Add all ingredients except the parmesan and garnish to a slow cooker. (Make sure you’re using the right size slow cooker—I used a 6-quart for this and it was perfect.)

2. Cook the soup on the low heat setting for 6-8 hours.

3. Remove the thyme twigs and bay leaves from your soup.

4. Blend it up: you can either use an immersion blender to blend directly in the crock, or spoon the soup into a blender in batches. The soup doesn’t have to be blended to a perfectly smooth texture—in fact, I actually prefer it a little chunky, but feel free to make it as smooth or thick as you like.

5. Serve with a lot of parmesan cheese. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon juice, drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of red pepper flakes, or whatever other toppings you want.