Kale White Bean Soup serves up a complete meal with this one recipe. An easy and delicious recipe that you need to make asap. Great on any night of the week.
Thank goodness for beans! Have you ever met anyone who doesn't like beans? Even kids?
Well, my nieces have to have refried beans, in the can, that say vegetarian not natural. I mean they can really tell!
But ... small particulars aside. Beans are wonderful! They are lifesavers - especially when picky eaters are involved.
I was a bit nervous when I made this soup. It has all the classic flavors of a good soup but there is a questionable ingredient to many. Kale.
Not that it isn't any good because, believe me, it is delicious but so many people don't want to try new things. So, with trepidation I put the new, beautiful, eye opening, soup on the table.
Of course, the question 'What's this?' was asked. 'A flavorful hearty soup' was my answer. You can't fool me!
So ladles of soup filled the bowls and people started eating. Whew! They loved it. Compliments started immediately and crusty bread disappeared along with it.
Yeah! A new bean soup with more nutrition and fiber. Kale White Bean Soup 🙂
How Do You Remove the Stems From Kale?
- The tough ribs need to be removed. A super simple way to do this is to fold your kale in half right down then stem.
- Take a sharp knife and slice just to the side of the stem.
- Start at the top and come on down to the bottom of the leafy part and cut that stem away. Beautiful! No holes anywhere and no tears.
- Some people tear the leaves off the stem but it takes longer and it looks messy. You'll probably have holes in the leaves.
- So I prefer the single cut per leaf and done.
I'd love to show you a picture of one of these soups. I was going to try to show the one that is the most popular on the blog.
They are all pretty much neck and neck so maybe I'll choose the one that has been on the blog the longest and is still being made like crazy. Oh my gosh, it's so good!
Prett good, heh? Now we can get back to some lovely bean soup that just happens to have good old kale included. I think you'll love it!
📋 Recipe
Kale White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 16 ounces navy beans dried
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ½ cup onions coarsely chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 tomatoes plum/Roma, chopped
- 2 cups carrots sliced into chunks
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 6 cups water, divided 4 cups and 2 cups
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning my homemade recipe is linked below in Instructions
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lb kale stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Place beans in a large stockpot and cover with water by about 3". Let it sit overnight to let the beans expand.
- If you want to do the quick method for preparing the beans t(instead of soaking overnight) then cover beans with water by 2 inches in a stockpot. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Drain beans.
- Put the oil in the same stock pan and heat over medium heat.
- Add the onions and saute for about 15 minutes until soft and translucent.
- Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
- Add beans, red bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots, broth, 4 cups water, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and turn down to a simmer.
- Cook until beans are tender, about 60 to 90 minutes.
- Stir in kale and remaining 2 cups water and simmer, uncovered until kale is tender. About 12 to 15 minutes.
Ginny McMeans
I am so sorry about that Dawn. I would say to cook longer. Up to 1 1/2 hours. Sometimes if the beans are older it takes longer.
Dawn
I just bought them at the store so I'm not sure if they were old but they didn't really expand from the soaking. I ended up putting the soup in my slow cooker overnight. Tried it this morning before I left & it was great. Last night dinner is now tonight's dinner?
Ginny McMeans
So glad you worked with it Dawn. Sounds very smart!
Penny
I'm making an inspired version of this right now! Thank you! I know it's going to be delicious. But oh hey, I couldn't find the link to your italian seasoning so I just winged it. 🙂
Ginny McMeans
That's wonderful Penny. Thanks for the heads up about the link too. I fixed it.