I made tomato soup thicker and tastier by adding 69p ingredient

I made my tomato soup thicker by adding one ingredient, and it made all the difference. Tomato soup is the ultimate comfort meal. Whether you are enjoying it for lunch with some buttered bread or as part of your dinner after travelling home in the cold weather, tomato soup is good for the soul. Plus, you can pack it full of great ingredients that are nutritious, which makes it the ultimate healthy yet filling meal.

However, some people struggle to get their tomato soup to a thicker consistency. I tried one method that worked wonders, and all it takes is a 69p ingredient that is readily available in most large supermarkets. The secret is a bag of split red lentils. This handy ingredient not only adds a thicker consistency to your tomato soup, but it is also a great source of protein, fibre and iron. Next time you are making tomato soup, try this hack to get the consistency that you want. It's such an easy way to get great results.

To make my thick tomato soup, I use:

• 6 medium tomatoes
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 medium white onions
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 bulbs of garlic
• 80g split red lentils
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• salt and black pepper

Make sure you wash and rinse your lentils before you cook them. When you measure them out, it might not seem like a lot. But just remember that lentils expand quite a bit when they cook, and just half a cup of them lends itself perfectly to a thicker tomato soup.

To make my thick tomato soup, here are the steps I follow

Preheat the oven to 180C and chop the tomatoes, pepper, chilli and onions. Split the garlic into cloves and peel them.

Place all of that onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a pot and add the roasted vegetables. Add two cups of water and one vegetable stock cube.

Add the lentils and allow them to simmer with the vegetables in water for 20 minutes, covered.

Uncover and take off the heat. Use an immersion blender to blitz the contents of the pot. If you don't have an immersion blender, then you can transfer the pot's contents to a standalone blender, and then add it back into the pot.

Add the tomato pastes and seasonings and stir. Let that simmer for another five minutes.

This small amount of lentils made a huge difference to the consistency of the soup. And I only used a small bit of the pack I had bought in the supermarket, making it a super cost-effective way to thicken up my tomato soup and give it some extra nutritional benefits.

In fact, I added a bit more water once the lentils had cooked because of how much they expanded. Next time I make this thick tomato soup, I will probably only use around 70 to 75 grams of split red lentils.

This recipe gave me enough soup for three to four portions. Considering how cheap and easy it was to make, I think this will be one of my regular dinners during the cold winter months.