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.
- Dairy Free Chunky Cauliflower Soup
- Spicy Vegan Pumpkin Soup
- Red Lentil Dahl Soup
- Homemade French Onion Soup
- Baked Potato Soup
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!
Want to try this Kale White Bean Soup?
PIN IT to your Main Dish or Soup board to save for later!
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Kale White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 16 ounces navy beans dried
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 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
- 1/2 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.
Nutrition
IF FREEZING:
You can freeze this soup but it has to be done before you add the kale. In other words, it would be a kale-less white bean soup the first time around and after you defrosted and heated that is when the kale would go in.
Let cool to room temperature. Package in rigid sided containers as defined in my article Preparing Food for the Freezer
TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
Remove from the freezer and put in the refrigerator overnight because it is a pretty solid mass and will take longer to defrost.
THE NIGHT OF SERVING:
Put all in a large saucepan and heat through. You can add more broth if you think it is too thick. Add the fresh kale (if you like) and cook for about 15 minutes. Ready to serve.
That’s wonderful Penny. Thanks for the heads up about the link too. I fixed it.
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. 🙂
So glad you worked with it Dawn. Sounds very smart!
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?
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.
I followed the instructions exactly & my beans are still hard:(
Any suggestions???
Thanks so much Sondra! Sometimes it is nice to get two meals from one. 🙂
Sounds awesome! Love the idea of changing servings!
I am so sorry this happened Joyce. If you are on a tablet I noticed the layout was changgd a bit. Make sure you click on the Read More underneath the photo. Here is the link again – just in case you go straight from your email. https://veganinthefreezer.com/kale-white-bean-soup/
For some unknown reason I can’t get the recipe part to open up. I can get the picture of the soup & comments but not recipe. I saved it on Pinterest & had the recipe yesterday when i bought ingredients. Can you help me?
Hi Joyce, Yes, you can use spinach and you can actually use kale in the soup and then freeze it. I like my soup greens a little greener and firmer so I do it afterwards. But it will still taste great if you add the kale at the end and cook about 15 minutes, let cool and then freeze. I will add that to the directions.
Can you use spinach instead & freeze with spinach instead of adding it after. I freeze in 1 bowl serving so that wouldn’t be something I could do for adding kale after freezing. Why can’t you freeze with kale in soup?
So sorry Joyce. I believe you must be on a mobile device. Right below the photo is a Read More square and I think it is red. Click on that and the whole page will open.
I can’t find recipe for the recipe for Kale White Bean soup.
I don’t have Kale so I added celery and leeks. It smells delicious, I’m using the slow cooker.
This looks soooooo delicious! I love soups like this 🙂
Pinned!
Ahhhh, thank you Jennifer 🙂 I need to take a lesson from on in future meal planning!
Your soup recipes always look so delicious! Adding this to my January meal plan 🙂
Looks like a nice, hearty soup. I especially love kale in soup because of how it holds its shape even when cooked.
I just had a Kale & White Bean Soup at our local health food store and was thinking to myself that I have to look up a recipe and taa-dah! Found one! Can’t wait to try it!! This soup looks wholesomely delicious.
Fantastic Dani and thanks! It makes life so much easier 🙂 So cool that you have a ‘batch cooking day’.
This looks so good. And I love that it can be frozen! I’m all about saving time that way. Got this down for my batch cooking day. xoxo Dani
Yes, I was only down for a day – thanks so much Kim!
Yes, it is so rewarding Angie. Thanks!
Thanks so much Aly. Keep warm out there!
This looks so inviting and amazing. Hope you feel better. Nothing worse than working in the food industry when you don’t feel well.
White bean soup is such a great soup and I love that this one has kale in it. Don’t you love it when everyone loves recipes like that!
The chill has descended on Philly this evening – what I wouldn’t give for a bowl of this soup! This looks fantastic!
This soup looks perfect for the cold winter nights. The temperature is really starting to drop around here and I’m craving soup every single night.
Sorry you aren’t feeling well. Wish I could bring you a bowl Heather!
Seriously, beans are just the workhorse of the kitchen – I love them! This soup looks like the just the thing I need since I’m feeling under the weather (especially because I also love kale).
Thanks Kimberly! It makes you want to cozy up. 🙂
Ah, this sounds soooo comforting. Beautiful, nutritious ingredients!
Ah, thanks Renee. It is all those things 🙂 I agree with you that beans in soup are great.
I do love beans. Especially in delicious soups. This one looks like a real winner and the perfect comfort food that’s healthy too.
Hahaha Lora! Your kid 🙂 I am glad you can share the comforting warmth with your other one. 🙂
It really is a comforting soup with extra health benefits. Thanks for following Kirsten!
That makes me feel great Lauren! Thanks so much 🙂
I have met a someone…my kid! Luckily, my other one is a huge fan like I am. So I get to make lovely soups like this and we enjoy it!
Bean soups are just so comforting amid filling on a cold day. Love the extra nutrition from the kale!
This is my favorite soup! I just love this recipe, I am pining for later!
Glad you’ve come over to the wild side 🙂 Thanks so much @Stephanie!
I never liked beans as a kid, but I love them now! This soup looks hearty and delicious!
Thanks so much! They are fun aren’t they 🙂
I love making soups and this one sounds wonderful
Thanks so much Colleen! I try to add coconut oil in wherever I can even if it’s only a tablespoon. In fact, usually it is only a tablespoon. Coconut oil is so good for you. 🙂
THis is one of my favorite soups to make and eat! Your adaptation to vegan sounds delicious! I don’t cook with coconut oil, I need to try it out 🙂