This delicious Kale Soup with white beans and vegetables in a seasoned tomato-based broth is a wholesome and flavor-packed meal. It’s so hearty and satisfying, you’ll never know it’s vegetarian!
What I love about this soup is that it’s healthy (without sacrificing flavor) and it uses staple pantry ingredients along with fresh vegetables. The leftovers are delicious reheated (so it’s great for meal prepping) and it freezes well, too!
Ingredients Notes
- Fresh kale – (one bunch). I find that bunches of kale can vary greatly in size, so an 8 to 12 ounce bunch works in this recipe. You’ll need to remove the large stems and coarsely chop or tear the leaves.
- Carrots
- Garlic – minced fresh garlic is best, but feel free to use the jarred version to speed things up a little.
- Olive oil
- Vegetable broth – chicken broth can be substituted but it will not be vegetarian.
- Potatoes – peeled and cut into bite size pieces.
- Onion
- Salt and black pepper – I season with salt and pepper at the end of cooking (especially since the white beans are not drained and it adds more sodium).
- Diced tomatoes
- Cannellini beans – great northern beans can be substituted for cannellini beans.
- Italian seasoning – feel free to adjust the amount to your liking.
- Bay leaf – remove and discard before serving.
How to Make Kale Soup
Following is a brief overview – please see the recipe card at the bottom for ingredient amounts and full detailed instructions.
- In a 6 quart Dutch oven or soup pot, cook garlic and onion in olive oil until onions are soft.
- Add chopped kale and cook for an additional two minutes.
- Add vegetable broth, diced tomatoes with juices, beans, carrots, potatoes, Italian seasoning and bay leaf. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaf before serving.
This wholesome meal couldn’t be easier to prepare!
To take this delicious soup a step further, I sometimes sprinkle with Parmesan and serve with crusty French bread – totally satisfying!
Storage
- Once cooled, store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and reheat.
Enjoy!
More Kale Deliciousness
Kale Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 bunch kale (8 to 12 ounces) rinsed, large stems removed and coarsely chopped
- 1 (32 ounce) container vegetable broth
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes undrained
- 2 (15.5 ounce) cans cannellini beans undrained
- 2 cups peeled and sliced carrots (sliced ¼ inch thick) 3 to 4 carrots
- 3 russet potatoes peeled and sliced into bite size pieces (about ½ inch cubes) about 4 cups
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less, to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper more or less, to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a 6 quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Add onions and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, or until onions are soft, stirring constantly.
- Add kale and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, carrots, potatoes, Italian seasoning and bay leaf. Stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer (medium low to low).
- Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Season with desired amounts of salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaf before serving.
Video
Notes
- This recipe yields approximately 14 cups.
- Cannellini beans can be substituted with great northern beans.
- Vegetable broth can be substituted with chicken broth, but will not be vegetarian.
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and reheat.
Nutrition
If provided, nutritional info is a courtesy, is not guaranteed and should only be considered as a guideline.
Recipe originally shared February 2016, photos and text updated October 2021.
I used herbs de Provance , Ozette Potatoes and added Sheepish Pig Mangalitsa Andouille sausage. this soup is amazing. Thank you for your recipe.
My family LOVED this recipe. Only thing I did different was add linguisa, sauté it in the beginning with onion, garlic and kale.
Ohhhh this soup!! Perfect to get back on the healthy track after Thanksgiving!! I added leftover bacon, fresh grated parmesan and chopped parsley! Will be eating this for life! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Lovely flavor meld and healthy, so guilt-free delish.!It is so nice to have a robust soup as the weather turns chilly. This is a forgiving recipe – the only kind I have success with!
I love it!
Thanks so much, Haila – So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed this recipe, as ot took me back to childhood when my Tia Maria would have a pot of this waiting on cool winter evenings. Here in Bermuda, Kale is extremely popular, and used in a lot of dishes. (My mom actually grows kale, so always using it!!) Two favoured variations on the island are: with red kidney beans, crushed tomatoes for more of a hearty broth, beef, and chourico (pronounced sha-deesh), a Portuguese sausage. I would think that Linguica sausage would work well with it also, as it’s basically the same thing. The second would be basically your recipe, without the tomatoes. I cheated and put some chourico in this recipe and omitted the tomato this time, as I was feeling nostalgic. It took me back to being 8 again, soup on, chatting and helping my Tia Maria make Malasadas (Portuguese Donughts) and rolls waiting for dinner. Thank you! I have some soup left over, as i made quite a large pot. Tomorrow, I am going to add the tomatoes, and I am already pleasantly anticipating it being a meld of my two all time favourite soups! Xo
Thank you for sharing, Jess! Your versions in Bermuda sound absolutely delicious. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
This is a great recipe. Very hearty but fresh tasting. I did add celery with the onions and carrots but other than that I followed the recipe. My husband even loved it & he is never happy with soup for dinner. lol
I will definitely be making this one again!
This soup was a snap to make and a perfect use for the hodgepodge of veggies I had in my fridge – especially the half jumbo bag of fresh kale that I had bought at the market a week ago and needed to use before it wilted! I didn’t have any canned diced tomatoes on hand, but I sliced a bunch of grape tomatoes and those tasted quite nice in the finished product. Instead of canned or boxed broth, I used veggie bullion cubes and extra water to compensate for the liquid from the canned tomatoes. Very flexible recipe and the soup came out great, looking forward to a week of healthy easy lunches and dinners from the leftovers!.
That sounds delicious, James… thank you! 🙂
Love this soup, made it with sweet potatoes instead of russet absolutely outstanding. Has become a staple in our house.
That sounds so good, Kathy! So happy you love it! 🙂
This soup is delicious and I plan on making it again❣
Thanks so much, Patricia… so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Made this soup for dinner tonight and used up some of the bountiful kale coming in from the garden. It will definitely be in the fall/winter rotation as it is wonderfully hearty and flavorful. The only change I made to the recipe is that I didn’t peel the potatoes (mostly because I’m lazy) and I added a couple dollops of plain greek yogurt to my bowl. Initially, this was just to cool the soup down as it was piping hot coming right off the stove and we didn’t want to wait to eat. It turns out, I love the yogurt addition. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Cinda, Thanks so much, the yogurt addition sounds delicious! So happy to hear you enjoyed it! 🙂
Oh My Gosh, this soup was “Outstanding”! Thank You, you just made My night. You were right, not missing the meat. 5 plus Stars!
Thanks so much, Sheryl… so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
This kale soup looks like just the thing to offset all of the sweets this Valentine’s Day! I love your photos of the kale- you really captured its beautiful green colors. 🙂
Thank you so much, Demeter! 🙂
TOTAL awesome, i would also add pepper flakes for a little kick.
I just bought two bunches of Kale from Earth Fare and this will be our dinner for tonight.
Thank you for all your great recipes -)))))))
Hey Mary Frances, That sounds like it would be great too! Thanks for the nice words and I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This looks so hearty and wonderful – exactly how I’d like to recover from too much indulgence over the weekend!
Thank you so much, Valerie! 🙂