Kale White Bean Soup is the hearty, healthy classic that you need to keep you warm and cozy through soup season and beyond! Kale fiber-rich and protein-packed, and when cooked down, transform into a rich, ultra cozy bowl of comfort. Shall we?
This is a very uncomplicated recipe for those days when "it's complicated." When it's supposed to be Spring but it feels like winter; when you don't know if you're cooking for one or two or yeah, probably just one; when you just want to sit on the couch by the front window in your flannels pajamas at 4 PM and wonder if the world outside is blurring together because the rain is coming down in sheets. Or because you're crying.
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What is Kale and White Bean Soup?
Kale White Bean Soup is a hearty soup made from kale, spinach for an added boost of vitamins and minerals, and white beans that are cooked with aromatic vegetables in flavorful liquid or broth. The kale and spinach get a quick puree in the blender along with half the beans to make the soup smooth and creamy without the cream.
Ingredients You Need for Kale White Bean Soup
A few easy-to-find ingredients in this list, and the actual prep and cooking is pretty minimal. What more could you want?
Fresh/refrigerator ingredients:
- Kale, 1 large fluffy bunch
- Spinach, 10 ounces fresh
- Garlic, 5-6 fat cloves chopped
- Onion, ½ white
- Avocado, 1-2 firm ripe
- Lemons
Dry/pantry ingredients:
- White beans, 2 cans drained
- Vegetable or mushroom stock, 8-10 cups
- Olive Oil, 2 tablespoons
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Hemp, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds, ¼ cup each
To keep this in line with the Erewhon kale salad, and add some more fiber and plant-based protein, I also like to make a savory seeded granola to top each bowl of soup. It's technically "optional," but is it really?
What Kind of Kale Do You Use for Soup?
Any type of kale will work for Kale White Bean Soup. I personally like to use the regular shmegular curly kale that is most widely available because it is the lightest green and will render a soup that looks the brightest.
Darker colored varieties like Tuscan kale, aka dinosaur kale, black kale, or its Italian name cavolo nero, will make a soup that's darker, though not that different in taste.
What Kind of Beans are Best for Soup
For this recipe, I use cannellini because they're a little bigger.
White beans are broad category of beans that are… you guessed it…white. There are different types of white beans, which vary in size, texture, taste and cooking time. The most common types of white beans are: Navy Beans, Great Northern Beans, Cannellini Beans & Lima Beans. They all hold up well in a soup, especially one that's blended; here are your options:
- Lima Beans: Named for the capital city of Peru, lima beans are not white themselves, but varieties like baby lima beans are. Lima beans are called butter beans for their buttery, rich flavor, and starchy texture.
- Navy Beans: Navy beans are the smallest of various white beans, soft in texture, and mild flavor. They are not, as I mistakenly originally thought, navy blue, but pale ivory or white color. The beans are named for the US Navy, for whom the beans have been a staple food for over 200 years. They have various other names, including Boston beans, Yankee beans, haricots, or pea beans. Best for: thickening soups, puréed dips.
- Great Northern Beans: Great Northern Beans are medium-sized, medium-skinned beans that are slightly smaller than cannellini beans but larger than navy beans. They are light in flavor which means they generally take on the taste of the foods they’re being cooked with. They hold their shape better than navy beans which makes them better for soups or roasting. Best for: soups and stews in which beans hold their shape
- Cannellini Beans: Cannellini beans are a popular white bean native to Southern Italy. They are large and oval in size with a nutty flavor and a creamy texture. Cannellini beans are also called white kidney beans.
Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources
Vegetable or mushroom stock. Nothing will beat the flavor of a homemade vegetable or mushroom stock, but since there is quite a bit of spice and seasoning in the soup, the Ina special (store-bought) is fine. Just make sure get low-sodium like this organic brand so you can season the soup to your own taste.
Hemp, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds.
Olive Oil are dried green peas that have been peeled and split down their natural seam into two halves, which shortens their cooking time. You can find them in the same grocery store section as other dried beans and lentils.
Sea Salt. Salt is an obvious and ubiquitous ingredient. I use this Kosher salt.
Spinach, garlic, onions, and other produce I get from the the regular grocery store.
How to Make Kale White Bean Soup
Look, in general, soup of any kind is not a complicated dish to make. You just throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot with liquid and as soon as a few minute to boiling, you can have a pretty decent pot of soup.
And Kale White Bean Soup is truly one of the easiest soups to make. Here is how you make it:
Sauté chopped onions and garlic in avocado oil over medium heat in a very large soup pot until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add all the chopped kale, 1 can of beans, 8 cups of broth, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes until kale is tender. Turn off heat under pot.
Stir spinach into hot soup to just barely wilt the leaves.
Ladle all of the greens and beans and about half the liquid to a blender and puree to the texture you like, adding liquid from the pot as needed. Give it 45 seconds for a soup that has some leaves that are identifiable as kale, and up to 2 minutes for a smooth puree. Return pureed soup to pot. Alternative: use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot.
Add drained beans from second can (about 1½ cups) to the pureed soup in the pot. Bring soup back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are warmed through. Season with sea salt. Stir in juice from 1 lemon.
Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish each bowl with avocado and about 1 tablespoon each of hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Serve extra lemon wedges and granola on the side.
Pro-tip: If you prefer a soup with more of a stew-like texture, skip the blender/food processor step completely. The soup will be ready after all the baby spinach has wilted.
Substitutions and Variations
This Kale White Bean Soup recipe, as with most soups, is generally forgiving and flexible. In terms of ingredient amounts and ratios, you can just eyeball a lot of it. There aren't many ingredients in the recipe but there are a few substitutions you can make to fit the recipe into taste preferences and dietary restrictions.
I have made this recipe many times as presented, as well as with the substitutions and variations as noted below:
Different Broth or Stock. If you eat omnivore, you can substitute any broth or stock in for the vegetable or mushroom stock, including chicken bone broth. Just make sure to taste the soup before seasoning with salt as different broths and stocks have varying levels of salt.
Add meat protein. Again, if you eat omnivore, you can add crumbled cook sausage to the soup after you blend/puree it.
Other Beans. You can absolutely substitute any other type of cooked beans, including chickpeas, for the white beans.
Spice it up. Add heat to the soup by adding sliced serrano or jalapeño peppers or a little pile of chopped kimchi as a garnish with the avocado and seeds. You can also swirl Chili Crisp into each bowl.
Add Rice for a Complete Protein. Beans are almost a complete protein, in that they do contain all nine essential amino acids, but two of them, cysteine and methionine, at much lower levels. If you're going the meat-less route with the soup, add a spoonful of cooked rice with the soup to make up for the amino acids cysteine and methionine to make Kale White Bean Soup a complete protein source!
Kale White Bean Soup Health Benefits
Depending on your health and dietary needs, Kale White Bean Soup can be part of a healthy lifestyle! Both kale and spinach are nutrient dense, that goes without saying. White beans are are rich in fiber and packed with protein.
One serving of split peas, about ¼ cup dried, or ½ cup cooked, offers:
- a whopping 8.3 grams fiber
- 8.3 grams of protein
Dietary Considerations of Kale White Bean Soup
As published, this recipe for Kale White Bean Soup is:
- 100% plant-based, suitable for vegans if you don't use the optional yogurt topping
- vegetarian
- dairy-free
- gluten-free/wheat-free
- grain-free
- refined sugar-free
- anti-inflammatory
Tools and Equipment
As I always say about almost every recipe on this website, especially soups, you don't need any special equipment to make Kale White Bean Soup. You can simply use a knife and cutting board to mince the garlic and chop the vegetables. However, that doesn't mean there are a couple of gadgets and tools that might make Kale White Bean Soup even easier than it already is.
Stock Pot: I use a very large stock pot by this cookware company. It has a heavy bottom and easy-to-hold handles. Any large pot that fits the ingredients will do. A large Dutch oven is great for this.
Slow Cooker: I have this 6-quart programmable slow cooker. If you are going to use a slow-cooker, I highly recommend getting/using a slow-cooker that has a timer or auto-shut-off so you can truly "set it, and forget it," which is kind of the point of a slow-cooker, imho.
Vegetable Peeler. Current favorite all-purpose vegetable peeler to use for the carrots.
Chef's Knife. This is my workhorse chef's knife, slightly more pricey than others, but definitely worth it. I have had it for more than 10 years and use it every day.
Immersion Blender. Great for pureed soups with a little more texture.
Food Processor. I have been using an older model of this mini food processor for 15, maybe 20, years.
Blender. You don't need a high-power blender, but this one works well for soup because of it's large pitcher.
Stainless steel tongs
What Else to Serve with Kale White Bean Soup
I am an executive member of the "Soup is a Meal" club, so I generally would serve the soup perfect as-is, with nothing more than the suggested Savory Seeded Granola. However, if Kale White Bean Soup is a starter at your table, here are a few additional dishes that work particularly well with it:
- Caesar-ish tri-colore salad with an Anchovy Vinaigrette
- Roasted broccoli, or steamed if you want to keep all your cooking on the stovetop
- Stay on all-green theme with Crispy Shredded Brussels Sprouts
- Baked Salmon as a main protein, and just leave the shredded ham garnish off the soup
Wine for Kale White Bean Soup
I'm not saying you should open a bottle of wine to pair with a bowl of soup that you're eating at the kitchen counter for dinner on a Tuesday night, but I'm not not saying that either. Let's just say this is a lesson in food and wine pairing.
- Grüner Veltliner. Something green and vegetal like split peas naturally call for a white wine. Grüner Veltliner is perfectly light and herbal, like a slightly more interesting Sauvignon Blanc.
- Chardonnay. Though it's green and made mostly with vegetables, Kale White Bean Soup is rich, thick, and hearty. Medium-bodied, lightly oaked Chardonnay would be able to stand up to the texture, especially if you're serving the soup and wine when it's cold outside.
- Spanish Red Wine Like Rioja. Highlight Kale and White Bean Soup's background notes of salty and smoky with a light-bodied red from the Rioja region of Spain, usually made with the Tempranillo grape.
Advance Prep, Leftovers, and Storage
Make a huge pot of Kale White Bean Soup in advance then store and/or freeze in single serving containers to thaw and eat all through soup season.
How Long Can You Keep Kale White Bean Soup in the Refrigerator? You can store leftover Kale White Bean Soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Re-heat in a pot on the stovetop.
How Long Can You Freeze Kale White Bean Soup? You can freeze Kale White Bean Soup in an airtight container or plastic zipper bags for two months. Re-heat in a pot on the stovetop with a splash or two of water or broth so the frozen soup doesn't burn before thawing out.
FAQ
No, you do not have to massage the kale before cooking like you have to do for a salad. Cooking will soften the kale.
Yes! Kale White Bean Soup can support health, specifically because it is both fiber- and protein-rich.
How to Eat More Kale
- Tabbouleh with Kale and Cherries
- Green Shakshuka with Kale
- Eggs Florentine with Kale
- Kale Caesar
- Kale Slaw
- Kale Pesto
Best Hearty Vegetable Soups
- Spicy Carrot Lentil Soup
- Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
- Vegetarian French Onion Soup
- Butternut and Black Bean Chili
- Split Pea Soup with Ham
Kale and White Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Kale White Bean Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ onion
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 1 bunch kale thick stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
- 8 cups rich vegetable or mushroom stock
- 10 ounces spinach
- 1 teaspoon sea salt plus more to taste
- 2 cans white beans, drained, about 3 cups
- 1 lemon
- 2 avocado
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
- ¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Sauté chopped onions and garlic in avocado oil over medium heat in a very large soup pot until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add all the chopped kale, 1 can of beans, 8 cups of broth, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes until kale is tender. Turn off heat under pot.
- Stir spinach into hot soup to just barely wilt the leaves.
- Ladle all of the greens and beans and about half the liquid to a blender and puree to the texture you like, adding liquid from the pot as needed. Give it 45 seconds for a soup that has some leaves that are identifiable as kale, and up to 2 minutes for a smooth puree. Return pureed soup to pot. Alternative: use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot.
- Add drained beans from second can (about 1½ cups) to the pureed soup in the pot. Bring soup back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are warmed through. Season with sea salt. Stir in juice from 1 lemon.
- Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish each bowl with sliced half avocado and about ⅓ cup Savory Seeded Granola. Serve extra lemon wedges and granola on the side.
Food for Afterthoughts
It's official.
You're committed.
But every once in a while...
You pull back. Maybe you withdraw a little. You definitely pull passive-aggressive maneuvers like scary "I just think I might need a little space" silent moments.
You threaten to leave.
Oh, you don't really want to leave. And you don't really intend to leave. It's not like something bad has happened.
But it's not like something good has happened, either.
And maybe that's just it. Nothing has happened.
You want attention. You're insecure. You feel like you've lost control. Because you can't make decisions and you can't make things happen in the rest of your life.
So you do something, anything, in your relationship.
Because you can.
You.
Me.
Spring.
Early last week, it became Spring, but somehow I wasn't paying attention. I only realized it, five days in, when Spring decided to take it all back. "Oh yeah? You're not even going to acknowledge I'm here? Fine then! Then I'm not here! Not anymore! See how you do without me!!!" A wet, windy storm is blowing through LA, pouring big, cold rain over the city as if it were November.
I'm actually quite surprised that I missed the Equinox. The seasons may not be all that significant, may not even exist at all here in LA, but they are pretty important to me. Maybe not the literal seasons themselves, but the subtle transition from one season to the next. It is the only way for me to recognize the passage of time. I guess I was just too busy with work, too involved with settling into the house, too absorbed with...myself.
Spring made her point. I'm definitely paying attention now. It's only been a day, but I miss Spring. I want Spring back.
Michael Silverstein says
I wish it were always the kind of weather when this would be a perfect dinner.
Sarah J. Gim says
michael: now that you mention that... this is the perfect dinner for a busy spring weeknight (with baby kale), or a lazy summer evening, or a quick work-at-your-desk lunch in the fall, or...
Hej says
when do you add back the sausage?
Sarah J. Gim says
hej: add the cooked sausage back to the pot when you add the beans! (wow, thanks for catching that!)
Beck & Bulow says
Best chicken I have ever made in my 35 years. We used Zatar as the seasoning on top. So moist! and please visit us: https://www.beckandbulow.com